Vertical Spool Holder

thingiverse

I am building a Vertical Spool Holder for my M3D Micro. The design of the base is stronger now because I refused to settle for a flimsy piece that could tip over with two kilograms of filament on top of my printer. For this particular build, I'm using high-pressure PVC pipe with an inner diameter of half an inch (21.4 millimeters outer diameter). The rod has a protective cover that ensures it fits snugly into the bearings and features two caps that allow easy slide-in/out functionality when switching filaments. Inside, there's a bearing housing designed to accommodate a filament spool with an inner diameter of 1.25 inches; this same space is where you'll find a 28 millimeters outer-diameter bearing in place. The chosen bearings feature rubber/plastic covers – which I carefully removed on one image because adding that extra friction would undermine the entire purpose: having everything as smooth as possible, so I opted to shave off half a millimeter of the inner plastic cover for better results. Last but not least, there's an essential clip that provides additional stability by sealing the gap between the mount and its bottom; in addition, it fastens securely to maintain stability throughout printing. These ideas owe their initial inspiration to http://www.thingiverse.com/make:129683