Design Example: Laser-Cut Bearing Structures

Ball bearings are reliable components for creating low-friction degrees of freedom. The following examples demonstrate several solutions for integrating thin section ball bearings into laser-cut structures. These designs use joinery techniques to create structures from laser-cut wooden flat stock using shaped features such as tenons, mortises, and wedges to hold together without fasteners.

The parts are designed with a 0.2 mm laser cutter kerf in mind. E.g., the radial bearing inner key is drawn with a 50.2 mm diameter expecting to cut at 50.0 mm diameter for a close fit. The tenons (tabs) have tapered fits to accommodate slight cutting variation.

These building-block designs are intended to be customized into articulated joints for specific machines. The SolidWorks model files may be found in the following folders:

• thrust-bearing-demo

• radial-bearing-demo

Or may be downloaded as zip files:

• thrust-bearing-demo.zip

• radial-bearing-demo.zip

Thrust Bearing

Laser-cuttable thrust bearing structure incorporating a pair of 6810 thin section bearings. The wooden parts are designed to couple axial loads to the side faces of the bearing races. The bearing dimensions are 65x50x7 mm, all wood is 6 mm plywood.

Section view of the thrust bearing structure highlighting the joinery structure and the bearing support points. The wooden parts primarily constrain the bearings at the inner edges of the inner faces and the outer edges of the outer faces.

Radial Bearing

Laser-cuttable radial bearing structure incorporating a pair of 6810 thin section bearings. The wooden parts are designed to couple radial loads to the inner and outer faces of the bearing races. The bearing dimensions are 65x50x7 mm, all wood is 6 mm plywood.

Section view of the radial bearing structure highlighting the joinery structure and the bearing support points. The wooden parts primarily constrain the bearings at the outer edges of the inner faces and the inner edges of the outer faces.