Bissell 15" Brush Assembly Bearing Holder

Years ago I had a Bissell vacuum that worked great, except fine animal hair would build up in the ends of the beater brush and friction would melt the bearing holder. The replacement part (203-2449) now costs $32 and is a whole assembly, where all I needed was the part that centers the bearing inside the end of the brush.

The attached picture has the original part on the left and the first printed prototype for this part on the right.

To get to this part of the assembly you have to pull either end off the brush assembly, then hook the caps off with a screwdriver inserted through the axle hole. I was able to reuse the bearings themselves by poking them out with a screwdriver. Once the bearings are inserted into the 3d printed part just reverse the above steps to reassemble.

I haven't owned the vacuum I designed this for years, but in the spirit of sharing replacement parts that the current printables contest is promoting I figured I'd post this in case anyone else has a need for the part.

Printing Tips:

Seeing as the failure mode I saw in the original part was that it melted due to friction, this is best printed in something with a high glass transition temperature. PLA works in a pinch, but something like ABS would last longer.

I'd recommend bumping up the perimeters so the section around where the bearing goes is solid. Inspect it in the slicer before printing to verify.

A couple elements in the design are for ease of printing and have to be trimmed off:

• The middle of the top should be a through hole, but the first layer is solid to bridge straight across instead of needing supports. Cut the middle of the bridge out with a knife.
• The inner ring on the bottom (as oriented for printing) is only there to support the next step up in the inner profile. You should be able to pop it out by putting a flat blade screwdriver in the groove and twisting, then trim smooth with a knife as needed.