Spool Storage Rack

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My latest skirmish in the never-ending battle against filament spool encroachment has come to an end. These racks provide exceptional storage density, nearly doubling what you can get from a shelf of the same depth, and they look quite impressive too. The shelving was purchased at Lowe's, it's their "Style Selection" brand of heavy-duty double-row rails and brackets. The brackets are designed with a hollow slot facing upwards, into which the tangs on the bottom of printed parts fit perfectly. Standard 1/2-inch black iron plumbing pipe is used for the frame. I bought 72-inch lengths and cut them in half to create 36-inch racks. Galvanized pipes would also work well, but they're twice as expensive as black iron. The rear pipe holder has an extended tang that supports the shelving rail from behind. The front holder doesn't have this feature, but you could print spacers to prevent it from sliding backwards if necessary; so far, it hasn't been a problem. If you want to get really creative, you could slide short pieces of plastic tubing over the pipes, allowing the spools to rotate and enabling direct access to your printers. Keep in mind that fully loaded racks can weigh nearly 50lbs, so screw into studs if possible, or use good sheetrock anchors and follow proper installation procedures. UPDATE: I've added new "clip-on" versions of the pipe supports because having pipes lift out of their holders while loaded with spools is a very bad idea - trust me, I know how that feels. The pipes now snap securely into place, thanks to colorFabb PLA/PHA's flexibility; regular PLA might not work as well. Print Settings: Printer: Raise N2 Rafts: No Supports: Yes Resolution: 300µ Infill: 25% Notes: The pipe holders were printed in colorFabb PLA/PHA on the Raise N2 for its exceptional strength, and the end caps were printed in Sainsmart TPU on a Zortrax M200 with Z-Temp and ZT-HE hot ends. You could print the caps in rigid plastic, but they might need to be redesigned for a good fit. If you cut the iron pipe like I did, you can end up with threads on one end but not the other - using flex filament allows enough stretch so that the caps will fit either way.