Filament Reel Holder W/ Weight Progress

thingiverse

Taking the cheap way out to determining how much PLA is left on my reels. The holder arm shaft inserts into the base. A 2 inch 1kg spring crudely measures the weight left on 1kg PLA reels. I measured it 100g at a time as I printed and the spring decompressed. I recommend getting a full reel and empty reel and verifying where at least those 2 benchmarks show on this set up. For the spring, I used mcmaster carr #9657k384 for the model in my assembly. But went to my local menards and got 1/4" x 2" compresssion spring #2026954. The holder shaft needs some clean up. The dimension tolerance is only .01 between the ID in the base and OD on the holder shaft. But inserts with ease after some sanding/scraping. I also recommend printing the base vertical as shown in my cura screenshot. The support settings I use require just a little pressure/trimming to remove. If you have better recommendations, leave a comment! I'm using the version that slides into the gantry profile grooves on my Ender 3. But also have included the option for using t-bolts.