Spool Divider (parametric)

thingiverse

Like anyone else who 3D prints, I have a decent supply of "end of the spool" filament. You know, lengths of filament that are too short to trust finishing any decently sized print, but perfect for making smaller parts or adding a dash of color to a larger print. I had many full-size spools with such lengths lying around taking up room in my desiccant box. To save space, I designed this thing in FreeCAD 0.17. I had several Hatchbox brand spools with remnants on them which I wanted to use as cores (they are wider than the others so can fit more different colors). So the uploaded STL files fit Hatchbox spools (40mm ID, 100mm OD). There is also my spreadsheet parameterized FreeCAD 0.17 file if you want to make adjustments to fit other spools. There are some other spool dividers I've seen in the wild, but most of them lacked either the fit or the features I was after. Besides the obvious need to fit Hatchbox spools, these things also have a starter filament clip near the base and plenty holes around the rim that you can use to secure the filament end for storage (working with just 2 or 4 holes gets annoying). Both the starter clip and rim holes are sized to fit 3mm filament by default. They work fine for 1.75 filament. Updates: Version 03 has lightening holes to save some filament. Version 05 is the same as 03 but with a 0.3mm clearance between the tabs for a better fit, and outer notches for a more secure grip. Enjoy tidying up with these! p.s. After the first time using it, I noticed my fingers were way too big to get the filament on the starter clip after the divider was installed on the spool. It makes life a lot easier if you first attach the filament to the starter clip, then clip the divider onto the spool. Also, after a few months of playing with these, I noticed the snap tabs don't work as well as I would like. They tend to fall off too easily. I was going to redesign the tabs for a beefier lock, but I found it way too easy and effective to just use small pieces of masking tape across the seam to hold them together.