Open sourced linear bearing.

A recent post on HackaDay.
I'm sharing it for ease of find for myself or anyone else that is having a very hard time sourcing a linear bearing system.

Open Source Linear Bearing

it's a great idea, but I wonder why not just use regular aluminum extrusion and use the channels as your guides? the rails he wants to build into the extrusion make it easier, it seems, to use a flat piece of aluminum as the carriage, but since we can print complex carriages, we probably don't need the extra rail.

And unless he is planing on milling the rails after extrusion, i don't think the rail will have any more accuracy than the channels. However, i don't know the ins and outs of the extrusion business, and maybe you can specify high precision when making a big order. the commodity stuff we get in low quantities is probably not high precision.

I've seen the same idea available commercially, but the V on the extrusion is protected by steel for vastly better durability. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I saw it.

@Dale
You are probably thinking of PBC Linear (Formerly Pacific Bearing Co.)
Integral V

Yep, those the ones. Thanks.

I'm amazed that the project has gotten so much funding. Open source or not, structural aluminum is not inexpensive, or easy to manufacture. It's a little like re-inventing the wheel to produce such a system. I would rather see a miniaturized t-slot system, more along the lines of maker beam, or Lego Technics in metal, now that would be awsome.

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I would rather see a miniaturized t-slot system, more along the lines of maker beam, or Lego Technics in metal, now that would be awsome.

sure it would be... but wouldn't that even more expensive to fund?

The problem here is: all these are getting farther away from a self-replicating concept.

I think part of the problem is we want more accuracy and precision, which requires greater rigidity, which most likely means metals.

threaded rod is just as much of a cheat as extruded aluminum. the rod is easier to source, but the aluminum is more rigid.

I like the idea of printed t-slot, but i don't know if it will be rigid enough.

Maybe a printed tslot with a threaded rod in the center is a good compromise?