Spool Location - side or above ?
Hi All,
I'm hoping to get my Prusa Mini within the next few weeks and I'm designing an enclosure for it .
Do any of you mount your spools above the printer ?
I'm a little limited for space and want to put the printer in the enclosure with the spool mounted over the printer. This will allow me to control the environment (temperature , humidity and noise) and keep all the filament in a clean area.
I'd appreciate any comments
Peter
Proposed Enclosure design Prusa Mini
RE: Spool Location - side or above ?
I have my spools below the printer, it's a more natural angle for the extruder. But top mount should work ok, might need a longer PTFE tube to get a reasonable bend radius.
RE: Spool Location - side or above ?
@bobcousins
thanks for the reply , I hadn’t thought of mounting it below , might work out better
regards
Peter
RE: Spool Location - side or above ?
Especially with the filament sensor, the most direct path for the filament is on the side. This printer, with the Bowden extruder, already has more friction in the filament path, and it causes issues. I made a hole in the side of my enclosure and left the filament on the side with the most direct path.
If you do put the filament above or below and have issues, move it to the side to see if things are better before doing anything else.
Regards,
Mark
RE: Spool Location - side or above ?
@marklgoldberg
Thanks Mark , I’ll try different orientations before I build the enclosure
Peter
RE: Spool Location - side or above ?
Hi,
I have mine mounted above the printer and using a filament sensor holder and this mount for the spool
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/25449
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/4610
and if your spool is not directly above the filament sensor this guides are perfect to align it
https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/21748
This are the parts of my setup.
RE: Spool Location - side or above ?
@herbert
Thanks for the reply.
I'd prefer a top mounted arrangement as long as it doesn't cause problems with the Filiment Sensor and Bowden tube.
I want to store all my filiment inside the enclosure as I will be controlling the temperature and humidity
Is there any chance of posting a photo of your arrangement ?
Thanks
Peter
RE: Spool Location - side or above ?
Mounted mine above as in the pics at the top of this thread:
https://forum.prusa3d.com/forum/user-mods-octoprint-enclosures-nozzles/show-your-enclosures/
Been working great.
RE: Spool Location - side or above ?
Thanks @stevensmith
Thats really helpful !
I think I'll do mine the same as it will give me somewhere to store the spools I'm not currently using
I'll post some pics when it all up and running
RE: Spool Location - side or above ?
Hi @herbert
Thanks for the image , that looks a really good arrangement
I think thats made my mind up as to how I'll mount the spools
I also like the mount for the sensor .
My list of thing to print is getting longer and longer , and that before I start on the project I'm working on !!
Thanks
Peter
RE: Spool Location - side or above ?
I have all my spool holders above my enclosures. I put them in either an eBox by eSun or a PolyBox by Polymaker.
I like to have the filament outside my enclosure. I use a food dehydrator to dry the filament out and store them in Print Dry Containers to keep them dry.
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Chuck H
3D Printer Review Blog