The Smoothest Ender 3 v2 Spool Holder

thingiverse

This spool holder will center your filament on the spool, and provide a smooth ride. No more jerking and flopping around, which is hard on your extruder and causes vibrations which may result in errors in your print. Not to mention the default overhead spool on my ender 3 causes the filament to shave and collect on the outside of the extruder - it's a mess and certainly not good for prints. Pair this print with your favorite side-mounted spool bracket holder. It can be used overhead, but not recommended because half of the problem with the ender 3 is friction from the overhead spool basically feeding at 90 degrees. You need to print 2x nut, 1x shaft, 1x spool cap outer and 1x spool cap outer 2. Parts you still need: - 1x M8x150mm bolts - 3x M8 nuts to fit the bolts - 2x Skateboard bearings measuring 22mm diameter, 7mm wide, 8mm center hole diameter (might be model 608rs) How to install: - First, install both nuts on the shaft several times until they spin with relative ease. They don't print perfectly and unless you have an M40 tap and die, you need to work with these until they are smooth - Install the bolt, spool cap outer and spool cap outer 2 along with 1x M8 nut and the M8x150 bolt on to your stock creality ender 3 v2 spool holder. Tighten the nut relatively tight but dont split your spool caps - Press the bearings into the shaft. I found this to be pretty easy. If your print was decent quality, yours should be easy too - Install 1x nut on to the shaft on the inside - Install the shaft on to the bolt with the nut side first. This nut is basically stationary and won't move much - Install 2 nuts on the end of the M8x150 bolt. Tighten the inner nut until the spool just gets a small amount of resistance. Install the second nut using 2 wrenches (you will need a skinny wrench or some kind of skinny pliers. Tighten the nuts together so they don't spin, or as an alternative, use a tiny bit of thread lock ***UPDATE 9/19/22 After making 2 of these, the below changes should make for a better experience, and less prep work on the threads - Uploaded new STL files to address some minor issues - Increased thread tolerance for the nuts by 0.1mm (now total of 0.2mm offset) - Increased diameter of the bolt tunnel through the shaft from 8mm to 9mm to eliminate friction - Increased diameter of the bearing tunnel by 0.2MM to reduce fit pressure