Anet A8 Dovetail Accessory and Spoolholder Mount

thingiverse

Dovetail mount spool holder with ability to mount future accessories such as a filament guide, light or camera, perhaps even a bowden extruder. The holder mounts between the printer frame and the LCD board (after removing original spacers). Spool holder tower spacing is adjustable, so either original threaded rod or a customized rod can be used. Rod openings are closed on the outsides so that there's no need for nuts or other devices to keep the rod positioned horizontally. End walls can be cut or broken out if a longer rod is used. The adjustable position plus closed-end rod holders allows for the use of wide spools or large spool adapters. Dovetail test pieces are provided to test whether the dovetails will work with your printer settings before you commit to printing the large pieces. This design was inspired by DeAtHfOrToLd's and dldesign's creations on Thingiverse, but it doesn't use any of their designs directly. I printed dldesign's spool holder, but some wide spools didn't fit between the posts, so a wider one was needed. Another option I discovered later is tzahov's design, which uses a unique mounting technique. Update: Simple filament guides have been added to the design. One guide is 50mm long and the other is 70mm. Print Settings: Printer: Anet A8 Supports: Yes Resolution:.25mm Infill: 25% Notes: All dovetails should be printed facing up, in the same X/Y orientation. Printing one side horizontally on the print bed and the other vertically can result in variations in scaling between the two axes. Only supports are needed for the openings on the top ends of the towers (called "arms" in files). The dovetail fit may be a bit finicky. Print test pieces first to ensure the dovetails fit together before wasting plastic and time on larger pieces. If you can't find slicer settings that give working dovetails, let me know for assistance. Design Process: I originally used a single dovetail but the spool holder towers were too wobbly. Using two dovetails fixed this problem. Additional holes were added to attach clamping pieces, but these weren't needed so they weren't designed. The grooves across the backs of the parts reduce warping possibilities.