Customiser: Filament reel stand on top rods

thingiverse

This design supersedes http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1801124, and has been created specifically for use in conjunction with http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1792366, which is designed to strengthen the frame of the Prusa i3 Pro B. I deliberately chose not to design this without metal ball bearings or other non-printable parts like metal rods because I'm a collector and enthusiast who values reusing materials whenever possible. 3D printing enables me to give new life to these materials, so it would be counterproductive for me to go out of my way to work around their reuse. Steel ball bearings with metal rods are a solid choice and work well in this application. I'm glad that I was able to incorporate them into the design without sacrificing performance or quality. Print Settings Printer Brand: RepRap Printer: Prusa i3 Pro B cheap China clone Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 0.3mm/layer, 0.4mm nozzle Infill: 15% 3dhoneycomb Notes: These prints are easy to produce, but you may want to verify that the first layer is properly set because there are four parts in this placement. Filament use is moderate: from a one kilogram reel of material, about eighty sets can be printed. The barrels on which the reel rests are relatively close together - I still need to observe whether this causes any problems with filament tangling, which could pull the reel down. The reason for this spacing is that the reel's mass rests entirely on the support rods, but I'm considering adding a configuration option to adjust the bearing spacing. Post-Printing Bill of Materials: Four ball bearings, any reasonable size will do (customizable). Presets are set for 6x10x3 bearings (MR106ZZ). Two pieces of rod or pipe, fitting into the above bearings. Lengths should be slightly longer than the widest reels you're using. The widest reels I have are 88mm wide. From the used two millimeter wall strength six millimeter outer diameter aluminum pipe I cut two ninety-six millimeter long pieces. Eight bolts M3, ten millimeters (or more depending on configuration item "wall"), eight nuts also M3, and eight or sixteen washers. Printed parts of this design: A Prusa I3 (or other), modified (or standard) with two horizontal rods at the top, to which this stand can be clamped to. For printable modification parts for the i3, refer to http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1792366 Afterthought: It might have been easier to simply push four U-groove ball bearings with an internal diameter of the rods onto those very same rods, and let the reel run on those. But these seem to be hard to find - most I've seen feature an inner diameter of 4mm, which is too small for the used rods. Cylindric bearings with guards added both sides may be an alternative. I'm considering adding a mount point for a bowden extruder while raising the bearings and therefore the reel rest.