Store & Use Sealed Filament Container

thingiverse

Looking around, commercially available filament reel containers are expensive. Non-commercial solutions seem quite large and not handy for use, so I decided to create my own. This filament storage container is based on a widely available, relatively inexpensive, clip-sealed food storage container with easy-to-print parts. Some parts were inspired by Things 3376951 (thanks to VICLER) and 2070272 (thanks to butchja), but reworked from scratch in Onshape (link below). The spool holder clamp accommodates a variety of centre hole diameters from about 40mm to about 77mm. I have one brand of spool that is wider at one side than the other, and I use this spool design with the wider side uppermost or tolerate some friction from the spool side resting on the Spool Holder Corner struts. The short clamp thread works just fine with the wide cardboard spools from Ooznest (80mm deep). The long clamp thread is 19mm longer than the short one, so it would work with a spool up to 99mm deep. I use these boxes sat on top of my Anycubic Kossel Linear Plus, held in place by the 2 Small Box Brackets and 1 Large Box Bracket (I suppose they're also partly held in by the caps that I've fitted to the top corners of the frame - Thing 2731456, thanks to Thump2010). The filament exits the box through one of the Pneumatic Connectors and down a 50cm length of 4mm OD 2mm ID PTFE tube and into my extruder. When the filament is not in use, I pull it back out of the extruder and unhook it. You can either open the box lid and rotate the reel to wind the filament back or just push the filament extracted from your Bowden tube (or direct extruder!) into the box through the other Pneumatic Connector. To make this, you need to print: 4 off Spool Holder Corner 2 off Small Box Bracket (only if you intend to use the box resting on top of the Kossel frame) 1 off: Large Box Bracket (only if you intend to use the box resting on top of the Kossel frame) Spool Holder Base Clamp Thread (short) Clamp Knob Desiccant basket and Clamp Thread (long) if you need to accommodate wider spools. You also need these parts: There are many sources of pneumatic connectors, but I got mine from Amazon. PC4-M6 Pneumatic Connectors - Amazon B07M9YLH7T I also needed M6 A2 Stainless Hexagon Half Nuts (GWR Fasteners on ebay, item number 291748724121). GWR Fasteners can also supply M3 x 8mm socket head bolts to fit the Small Box Brackets and the Large Box Bracket if you're going to use them. You'll also need some M3 T-nuts. I got my 608RS skateboard bearings from ebay. 8x22x7mm ABEC-5 608RS Skateboard Bearings (item number 392604796294) You need a suitable length of 4mm OD 2mm ID PTFE Bowden tube to connect the filament in the box to your extruder (any colour you like!). There are many sources for this, including ebay. The container is available from Sainsbury's supermarkets. I got mine from Sainsbury's 5l Klip Lock Container (Item code 131431388) - https://preview.tinyurl.com/u7nzmaw. I use 10g colour indicating desiccant bags in the desiccant basket (the desiccant turns from yellow to green when wet). I got mine from Amazon. 20x Self-Indicating Yellow Silica gel Pouches 10g - Amazon B07M9YLH7T You'll also need some self-adhesive hook and loop type fastener (Velcro) to act as a motion damper. You only need the loop side, about a 40mm length of 20mm wide for each spool holder. All the printed parts were drawn in Onshape. https://preview.tinyurl.com/w57hhma