Pillow block

A bolt-down housing whose pocket is cut for a bearing you already own.

A bearing is a bought part with published dimensions. A housing for it is not — the one your build needs is rarely a size anyone sells, which is what makes this worth generating rather than buying.

The pocket comes from the bearing, not from a number you type. Name the bearing and the pocket is cut from the same published table the bearing generator uses, so 608 means 22 mm across and 7 mm wide whatever else you change. A shield or seal suffix is understood: 6204, 6204ZZ and 6204 2RS are the same boundary size and all three work.

The pocket is a press fit, and that is deliberate. Everywhere else a bore is cut so something can pass or turn. Here the opposite is true: a bearing that spins in its housing has turned the housing into the bearing surface, and a printed one wears away. A printed hole already comes out a couple of tenths small, so the pocket is cut a tenth over nominal and still presses. If it will not go in, loosen the Fit; if the bearing turns in the housing, tighten it.

Two things move on their own, and the panel says when. Raise the shaft centre far enough and the round housing stops reaching down to its feet — which would come off the plate as two loose pieces — so the centre height is brought back down instead. Bring the bolts in far enough and a hole would be cut through the housing wall rather than the foot, so they are moved back apart. Thicken the wall or the feet to get either one back.

Slotted feet are the default because a block bolted through round holes has to be in exactly the right place first. Slots run along the line between the bolts, so you can slide the block into line with the shaft and then tighten.

What it does not do. There is no shoulder inside the pocket, so nothing stops the bearing pushing right through if you press too far — press until it is flush. Nothing here holds the shaft: to stop the shaft itself sliding, put a shaft collar against the inner race. And it has not been printer-validated, so treat the fit as a starting point and run Print check before committing filament.

1. Open the Generate panel from the left sidebar and choose Pillow block (under Fasteners).
2. The block drops in as one printable body. The parameters open in the Properties panel.
3. Name the Bearing you own — 608, 6204 and 104 others — or pick Type a size and measure it.
4. Set the Shaft centre height to suit what the shaft has to line up with.
5. Pick the Bolt and the Bolt spacing to match the holes you are bolting it to.
6. Print it exactly as it arrives: feet on the bed, nothing needing support. Press the bearing in.