Low Friction Sideways Filament Roll Holder for Prusa I3

thingiverse

I got into printing flexible materials and this project started when I began reworking my extruder with [this excellent design](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2905638) created by Petehagoras on Thingiverse. In addition to that, it also required a low friction straight path feed of the filament into the extruder head. It had always bothered me that the filament roll axis was perpendicular to the movement path of the extruder head. I discovered [this spool holder design](https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3020026) by HugoHuge, who kindly provided STEP files of his design, and made my own version. When orienting the spool this way, there are a few things to watch out for: clearance of the extruder head to the frame of the printer is critical, leaving little room to fix the spool holder arm to the frame. I had a snap-in design that was working nicely but it had clearance issues so I switched to a thin design around the frame held in place by zip ties. The zip ties are regular Prusa issue ones (2.5 mm width, 1 mm thickness). I modified HugoHuge's design of the roll holder for easier printing, though it still requires supports on one end. To complete the build, you will need two 608 bearings. You can get a ten-pack off Amazon pretty cheap or if you have old skateboard wheels these are pretty standard.