Filament spool holder  

Re: Filament spool holder

Luc

Hi, I have to say that the one supplied works fine with me. You have to have a gap between the holders and the spool and no filament ends coming out from the spool.

I did print something similar for my Afinibot; that was similar end pieces and a rail between. Sorry but I can't find my STL files for that. If I do, then I will upload them for you to have a look at.

Peter

Re: Filament spool holder

Thanks for the reply Peter. I will give it a try with some more gap between the roll and the holder.

Luc

Re: Filament spool holder

Luc - one more thought. Do you have the springs on the extruder feed tight enough? They should not be too tight otherwise they will damage the filament, but they do need to be tight enough to pull the filament off the spool.

Peter

Re: Filament spool holder

look at this

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:938464

Hi everyone, anyone build a better filament spool holder for the i3 Plus?
The one shipped with the i3 isn't smooth enough so sometimes the extruder can't pull hard enough resulting in faulty prints.

Luc

Re: Filament spool holder

Hi everyone, anyone build a better filament spool holder for the i3 Plus?
The one shipped with the i3 isn't smooth enough so sometimes the extruder can't pull hard enough resulting in faulty prints.

Luc

I'm a big fan of this one here.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1194386

takes a little extra hardware, but you can put the rod in the spindle and pop it on top of the holder (plus you can make extra rods for you favorite filaments for quick changes.

Re: Filament spool holder

Thanks for the tips. Have to say that Peter's tip on having a bigger gap between the holders and the spool solved it for me. Although I'm tempted to print one of the options and feed back my experience.

Re: Filament spool holder

I had the same issue with the filament roll not moving consistently but that is a thing of the past!

I just printed this about a week ago, including new designed arms to go with it. I liked the original Prusa arm design and kept as much of the original design as I could when I re-drew it. I only used the cone.stl design from Thingiverse site. I like this cone idea as its flexible for different size roll ID's. You can get bearings from the Amazon link below. Recommended threaded rod is 8mm but 5/16" works good also. It really rolls nice and smooth and I have noticed this setup provides a nice and even slack in the filament as it actually advances just a hair when rolling. You can of course adjust the rolling resistance by tightening the fasteners, in this case I am using wing nuts which make it easier to remove or adjust.

I got a bit carried away when printing these as I was using them as test prints as I just got my printer and printed 3 sets, so I now have a set for every roll of filament I have which is nice as its a Nascar type exchange when switching filament LOL,

Thanks,

Dennis

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:485438/#files

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BBGTK6?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00

Re: Filament spool holder

Nice job on the redesigned spool holder Dennis. I assume it could probably also hold more than one which is what I designed my double sided spool holder for. (I realise this doesn't eliminate the friction issue originally mentioned).

Here's the thing if anyone else wants it:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1264721

Please excuse the colourful 1970's curtains - they'll soon be gone.

Re: Filament spool holder

I found it easiest to just drill out the center of the supplied holder, stick a smooth rod with one end bend over through the spool and vola, plastic spool now spins on steel rod very easily.

i used a tent peg for mine

Angus

Re: Filament spool holder

High Gents,

Just add two ball bearings to the round 16mm spool holder. Thats what I did.

Dear Joseph, please make the original ones with either 15mm oder 17 mm attachment knob. This would allow to use cheap std. bearings, as 16 mm is an option and cost here in Austria about 20 Euros.
I have some 20 mm i.d. plastic ones around so I printed a sleeve to press on the 16mm knob and hold the 20mm i.d. bearing snap fit in place.
No more foul prints because of stalling the x- axis motor.

[img]2016-01-14%2015.36.41.jpg[/img]
[img]2016-01-14%2015.35.07.jpg[/img]
[img]2016-01-14%2015.33.08.jpg[/img]
b.r.
Wolfgang

Re: Filament spool holder

Finally made my own one although the one shipped with the printer works fine when you leave enough room between the spool and holder.
Based on the original spool holders. Changed it so they clip tight under the top of the frame. Press them down from the top and push the bottom in place.
Also added support for a 8mm rod. I used a 110mm long rod and combined it with a spool hub to adapt the 50mm spool inner diameter (plenty of those on Thingiverse).

I used a customized version of this one http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:605360 .
Also included the clip on system with the original Prusa i3 top spool holders as I found them to also work great.

This thing was made with Tinkercad. Edit it online https://www.tinkercad.com/things/laMFsRZ4VUX

This thing was made with Tinkercad. Edit it online https://www.tinkercad.com/things/lVfuZxUlZLV

Will soon make a double middle one so we can mount 2 spools.

Re: Filament spool holder

I think this filament clip is nice too to hold your filament in place when you're not using it: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12516 . You can use this clip instead of using tape or sliding the end under one of the strands.

Re: Filament spool holder

Hi,

I used a similar approach, but I didn't want to risk the holders to bend on the side, so used a longer threaded rod, with nuts only on one side, blocked with loctit.

I'm pretty happy with the result, changing spool is now very easy and the spool is well secured. (Yes I know, it's really messy ^^)

I put it on thingiverse here: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1454160