Print spool holder for 30x30 T-Slot frames
Posted by NovaHuta
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Print spool holder for 30x30 T-Slot frames June 17, 2022 11:55AM |
Here is a holder for keeping your spools within the chamber. Fits nicely on a Rat Rig Core V3, probably others to but check clearances!
Printable Link
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Re: Print spool holder for 30x30 T-Slot frames June 18, 2022 09:32AM |
IRIC, the Ratrig printer is open frame which means most people will probably be printing PLA on it a lot. It has been my experience with full spools of filament, especially PLA which is very stiff and springy, that the filament loves to jump off the spool over the flanges resulting in tangles that will ruin prints. For that reason I use a spool holder that has rollers that contact the flanges of the spool and prevents the filament from jumping off. I've been using two such spool holders for > 5 years and have never had a tangle since I started using them. The spool holders are designed to be stand-alone because I just place the spools on top of my printer, but the design could easily be adapted to fit inside some printers. Here's what the two spool holders look like:
The base of the holder is printed as a single piece, so you need a relatively large printer to make it. The rollers have F608 bearings at each end and the top roller slides up and down to accommodate different size spools. The tapers in the rollers keep the spool centered in the holder. I used rubber bands to pull the top roller down, or you could use springs, but it isn't entirely necessary- if the top roller has just a little weight (fill it with gravel, lead shot, etc.) you really don't need the rubber bands/springs. Someone at the makerspace who has lathe skillz made a top roller out of steel for a spool holder:
That roller has plenty of weight (maybe a bit too much) and definitely doesn't need the rubber bands.
If you want to show off a little, and have a bunch of old HDDs laying around, you can pull the bearings from them and use 12 of them them to make this sort of contraption:
The interesting feature about this design is that the weight of the spool keeps the rollers pressed against the flanges of the spool. The rollers are printed as single walled vases and fit tightly on the HDD bearings. The pivot points also use HDD bearings. You could probably skip the HDD bearings and just use steel pins for the axles, but I had a bunch of bearings, so I used them. The base of this spool holder is also printed as a single piece and also requires a pretty large printer, though it could be designed to print in multiple pieces on a smaller printer (or rotated diagonally on the bed?):
Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]
The base of the holder is printed as a single piece, so you need a relatively large printer to make it. The rollers have F608 bearings at each end and the top roller slides up and down to accommodate different size spools. The tapers in the rollers keep the spool centered in the holder. I used rubber bands to pull the top roller down, or you could use springs, but it isn't entirely necessary- if the top roller has just a little weight (fill it with gravel, lead shot, etc.) you really don't need the rubber bands/springs. Someone at the makerspace who has lathe skillz made a top roller out of steel for a spool holder:
That roller has plenty of weight (maybe a bit too much) and definitely doesn't need the rubber bands.
If you want to show off a little, and have a bunch of old HDDs laying around, you can pull the bearings from them and use 12 of them them to make this sort of contraption:
The interesting feature about this design is that the weight of the spool keeps the rollers pressed against the flanges of the spool. The rollers are printed as single walled vases and fit tightly on the HDD bearings. The pivot points also use HDD bearings. You could probably skip the HDD bearings and just use steel pins for the axles, but I had a bunch of bearings, so I used them. The base of this spool holder is also printed as a single piece and also requires a pretty large printer, though it could be designed to print in multiple pieces on a smaller printer (or rotated diagonally on the bed?):
Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]
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