What’s your advice then? Do you recommend covering them or not? I’m guessing so, but thought I’d ask just to be sure.
Generally, I stick with whatever is stock, or it can become creeping elegance, with diminishing returns.
You can print a replacement collar, search for “Bamboo Lab X1C: Z lead screw” in makerworld 
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I am assuming you used TPU to print that collar out. My machine lost it collar and I asked support for a new one and they are currently refusing to supply one. I am in agreement, there a reason for it else why would they put it there.
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I have noticed a loose bearing/screw fit. Particularly when the bed is lowered down it is more apparent and I have opened a ticket to find out what this is. I came across this post while trying to look for a solution to my problem.
lol you have z screw covers?
It is meant to be loose at the top.
That does look very, very weird. Which model printer do you have?
I have an X1C, and mine appears to be metal all-the-way. i.e. very different than what the rest of you are showing in your photos with whatever worn-out-looking rubbery/plasticy thing you’ve got going on.
Also, mine never had a cap.
I have the X1C as well. I think they went from your design, to the design with the silicone ring, then to the design with the silicone cap.
They probably went away from your design because it is supposedly better to have some freedom of movement at the top.
Could be! As long as you’re getting accurate prints, it shouldn’t matter, even if they fill the gap with chewing gum (which is almost what it looks like). I had an Ender 5 once and it was completely unconstrained on the top. Even so, it squeeked loudly going up and down, and I had to keep re-applying superlube to keep it quiet. Nonetheless, I could watch the white superlube turn grey as the screw kept grinding away on the threads. I’m guessing that if the top had been constrained, it would have seized up entirely. I am so glad I sent that printer back. That was my one and only experience with Creality.
I agree. The rotating screws are only there to move the bed up and down. The stiffer smooth rods next to each of them keep the bed fixed in x and y directions. Letting the end of the screws float a bit prevents the binding that would occur if any of the screws were misaligned or even slightly less than perfectly straight.
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Yeah… it’s better for Bambus pockets!
Even the cheapest and most horrendous noodles identifying as lead screws can do the job in this bearing ‘arrangement’ 
In non-kindergarten engineering this doesn’t exist. The lead screw would be axially and radially fixed in the bottom bearing and axially (and only axially!) floating in the top one.
Its an X1 Carbon Printer. Just one year ago acquired… I think it is made from some sort of plastic. My suspicion is that the frames are not 100% good and the flexible material is made so the structure and assembly can flex. That smacks the quality we were led to believe we were getting. I have a machine shop and can fix but I will wait for what they have to say because I can have the sleeve made from brass… I am incensed with the quality. Was thinking of getting more X1`s but I am no longer impressed
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We are talking about a 1.5K printer now…
I figured as much. It takes a good eye to notice these things in the first place, let alone have the will to follow up on them.
As for the price, it seems about right. It only seems high because we’re thinking printers should cost $179, thanks to Ender 3. My coffee machine actually cost more than my X1C. I thought it was wildly overpriced when I bought it, but it delivers an entire barista at absolute perfection, and after experiencing it, I feel like it’s worth every penny.
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Found these alternate dust covers:
The same author has posted quite a number of other BBL tools, many of which look like they’d be helpful.
Whatever one buys has to be perfectly functional. Never bought any low cost stuff for the the sake of being cheap. I bought also 4 AMS units simply to have different filament types on tap,a have a range of different hot ends and bed playtes plus a host of spares.
Now support have got back to me and they say
" Regarding the bearing wear problem, please note that the distorted white ring you mentioned is actually the rubber ring and not a part of the bearing. This distortion is a normal phenomenon and should not affect the printing process."
I have not taken it apart, however it seems to me that the shaft of the lead screw is smaller than the inside race diameter and the rubber or whatever is just a kind of flexible sleeve. apparently this sleeve has shrunk or deformed.
I don`t like it whatever they say because a bearing has a purpose and having the internal diameter of the bearing loosely fitting in a shaft is simply not on. I understand fully how they conclude, because the bed proper has linear bearings but the wear in this rubber sleeve is substantial as there is roughly around 1mm gap on the left bearing while very little on the right bearing.
If it were me, I wouldn’t rush into opening what may turn out to be a can of worms. I may have sounded flippant when I said it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t affect the quality of your prints, but, again if it were me, I don’t think I’d mess with it until it does. Maybe it never will. Or maybe you’ll move on to another printer before it does. Or maybe other things will wear out before it does and you’ll decide it’s not worth the cost of rebuilding/maintaining versus buying something else that’s new. Consider: 1. Across the market, prices for 3D printers are in free-fall right now. 2. We’re already starting to see some improvements coming to market, and the longer you can hold out by waiting, the more likely you might find something you prefer.
Of course, you may be wired differently. If it turns out it’s the splinter in your mind… driving you mad… you may have no choice but to deal with it. 
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