Parametric Filament Spool Mk2

cults3d

Lately, there have been numerous spool holders published on Thingiverse. I made a promise to fellow members of the community that I'd share this design last week, and now it's finally ready for release after months of rigorous testing. Here is an improved version of my original filament spool system with several key advantages. Firstly, it's 100% printable without any additional hardware required for either the mount or the actual spool. The entire spool and mounting components can be printed on a Cupcake / ToM using only two .stl plates and four prints. Its standard size is ideal for 1lb rolls of plastic and has been thoroughly tested with Ultimaker and MBI rolls. Even if you order 5 lb rolls, it's likely that you'll need to cut them into smaller bundles due to the hydrophilic nature of the plastic which tends to absorb moisture. The spool attaches securely to the side of the Cupcake (I don't have a ToM but expect it would work just as well) using friction-fit clips. An optional PTFE tube acts as a guide for the filament, highly recommended but not essential (I've successfully printed about 3 lbs of plastic both with and without the guide tube). The spindle can be easily removed by squeezing the bird's mouth tabs on the end of the spindle post and pulling off the hub. The hub and filament can then be placed in a plastic bag to keep it dry when not printing. The hooks that hold the filament feature clips to secure the tail end of your filament (to prevent tangles) and clip the working end for storage. The design is almost fully parametric, allowing you to print different sized hubs and clips for various spool diameters and filament sizes (I've successfully tested 3mm and 1.75mm). Initially, I used bearings on the hub but found it caused too little friction, resulting in the spool free-running and spooling off too much plastic. Although you can still use bearings, some tension is necessary. The spindle post includes code to print a spring tensioner as shown in the photos. The stl's can be printed directly, but if you'd like to create parametric designs from the OpenSCAD file, also download Libs.scad from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6021 as it contains necessary modules.