My stock hubcaps for my Mickey Thompson M/T Metal wheels (I believe they are MM-489) were showing their age. Unfortunately, the MM-245 hubcaps which fit these wheels are pretty hard to come by nowadays. So I decided to print replacements.
These smiley face hubcaps are designed such that the outer caps are weighted and ride on bearings so the smiley faces always face up.
For each hubcap, you will need:
* 1x Printed base
* 1x Printed smiley
* 2x Very good quality 608 bearings
* 2x M8x20mm button head screws to mount the base to the wheel
* 1x M8x50mm button head screw for the design to ride on
* About 3x M8 washers (depends on how your prints come out) to space the design away from the bearings
* Somewhere around 9x M8 nuts to press into the back of the design to weight it
To assemble:
1. Print both parts.
2. Color in the smiley's eyes and mouth with a black marker. Sharpie ultra fine point marker pen works great for this, because you can color right into the corners without hitting the sides, giving you a nice clean line.
3. Press the nuts into the back of the design, starting from the outside and proceeding toward the inside, making sure to balance them so the weight is distributed symmetrically and as far away from the pivot as possible. There are extra places to put weight nuts if your bearings are not quite as good, but if your bearings are good you may only need about 9 nuts.
4. On the base, press one bearing into the outside center and one into the inside center. It is a snug fit, so I would recommend feeding the M8x50mm screw in from the back through both the inside and outside bearings and then place a nut on the outside. Tighten until both bearings are seated. This also ensures the bearings are pressed in in alignment with each other. Then take the nut back off.
5. Place the screw through the base from the back side, through both bearings. Add approximately 3x washers to add some space between the design and the base, then thread the screw into the center hole in the smiley. Do not tighten all the way. You want to make sure it's a nice easy spin with as little friction as possible.
6. Use the two M8x20mm screws to mount the hubcap base to the wheel.
After installation, check periodically so ensure they are still spinning properly. If not, take the hubcap off and loosen the design a bit.
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Printers
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* Heavily-modified 8" dual-extruder machine that started its life as a MakerFarm i3v. Most of the parts on it have been replaced with improved versions.
* Large format machine similar to a C-Bot.
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Materials:
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