Upcycled Used Filament Spool Parts Wheel

thingiverse

This is a rotating wheel parts bin using empty printer filament spools upcycled. a "bin rolodex." Suitable for items like screws, glue sticks, or other small items. Printed on a Bambu X1C with ABS.The spools used for this project are made by Hatchbox, Please check the images for spool dimensions as the parts are made to fit this spool specifically with 0.25-0.5mm clearance for some parts. Assembly - The assembled wheel is designed to use a 3/8" allthread rod trimmed to length. The standard big-box hardware length for the shortest pre-cut rod is 12" which is long enough for 3 spools. Recommended hardware is acorn or fiber locking nuts on the ends, and use 2 nuts (one as a jam nut) for each support side to keep the supports centered and reduce friction. I do not recommend using fiber locking nuts for the interior as it's a pain to thread them down the allthread length. You may also print ferrules, avoiding interior nuts, and install them over the rod as spacers between the supports to keep the supports from placing pressure on the spool sides, but be careful not to crush them with the end nuts. The holes in the flange for the bucket pegs are larger to prevent binding for minor errors in misalignment, but some care has to be taken to align the holes correctly to prevent binding and ensure the buckets' free movement. You can print 2 additional buckets 2 mm wider for assembly puposes, insert them during glue-up. and they will function as alignment tools and support the rings as the glue cures. Recommend that first one side of flanges be glued together/on the spool on a flat surface. Place newspaper down to avoid the glue sticking to anything important. Place (glue, cement, epoxy) on the spool inside edge, the inside of the printed flanges, and the alignment tabs. Assemble and lay flat with something to weigh the flanges down and press into the spool flange to ensure good adhesion and maintain clearances. Make sure the flange ends are pressed together too, to minimize circumference and keep it as snug as possible to the spool. When this assembly has cured, do the second side the same way. Take care to align the holes! If you printed the extra set of wider buckets, use them now to help align the holes. If you used ABS and ABS cement, there is a period where the cement has become very tacky and you can still move the parts slightly. This is a perfect time to pick up the wheel and see if the buckets are binding or are free, and you can push the flange ring around just slightly to adjust the alignment. The parts are printed in ABS, and the spools are ABS, ABS cement was used to assemble the flange to the spool for good adhesion. A strong glue of some sort is needed to assemble the flanges to the spool if you don't use ABS parts.*Please note that the Bambu Slicer reports non-manifold edges. I've been through the parts top to bottom and tried to find any errors and couldn't find any, they save correctly. The automatic repair in the Bambu slicer works fine and they print fine.