I am building my 3rd printer and so far i have had better luck printing my own bearings / bushings vs buying bronze bushings. The problem seems to be partly that every shaft for the X Y axes isnt exactly what its suposed to be, maybe .0005" / .0010" difference and thats the difference between perfect sliding rails and sticking rails. Add into that the machined tolerence of the bushings and its very hit or miss. Also its very difficult to get the metal bushings aligned perfectly, i know there are self aligning bushings that can be used but id rather not spend $20 on bushings if i can help it.
I can print bushings that fit like a glove and have no measurable play in them on the rails, and its easy to adjust the printed bushings just a hair if need be. And using PLA bushings on ground shafts i cant imagine would were them out very fast. I still have one printing thats had printed bushings on it for almost a year.
So what is the advantage for going with bronze bushings or even linear ball bearing? Is it longevity? Cause i just dont see a real benefit in accuracy. And using a ball bearing on a shaft is sure to grind down the shaft over time isnt it? Something has to wear and its either gonna be the bushings or the shafts, hard metal on hard metal with no lubrication sounds like a bad idea to me.
