Filamentholder with a twist

thingiverse

Adjustable Filament-holder for 8mm axles. There are several Filament-holders that are using ball bearings. But non of them (at least not the ones that I have seen so far) grabbed the spindle and centered it. Some of the solutions are very nice but I wanted to do it "my way". Isn't it all about printing stuff yourself when having the opportunity to do so? Anyone who has an axle with at least 7.5 cm of length that fits the center bore of an 608ZZ ball bearing (8mm) should be able to use this. _Features:_ * Centers each spindle on the axle (radial center) * Compatible with inner diameters between 52mm and 62mm. Any diameter above that may be possible but is not optimal. * straight common axle/thread that does not have to be removed when replacing the filament * easy grip nut * proper threads with enough clearance so that you can actually use it * low friction ball bearings * no supports needed! Initially developed for a Snapmaler 2.0 printer. What I did and why: According to what I learned at University you should have the biggest leverage on pulling when the turning point is exactly in the middle while pulling the filament at the outer edge. ... and why not use the axle that is provided by Snapmaker so that it is comaptible with the standalone Snapmaker machine as well as the Enclosure. And it should be tolerant to slightly different inner diameter spindle sizes and of course it should be able to hold 1kg (2 pounds) and 0.5 kg (1 pound) filament spindles - which are different in width. So how about two tapered pieces that you can screw together with some plain ball bearings in the center of the common axle? This adjustable arrangement should fit for many spindles. The spindle runs terrifying easy on this construction. Just the slightest pull causes it to start spinning. So far physics (law of the lever combined with low friction) works pretty amazing! The Thread is a M36 4mm thread. At the ends of the "screw" are inserts for 608 ball bearings (press fit, slight deburing might be needed) The thread was a little bit tight in the first version. Therefore I changed some parameters to add some play. The new nut runs smooth without excessive force as it was needed before. Needed Material: - Some PLA - 2 ball bearings Type 608 ZZ - 6 hours 45 minutes of time using my print settings