Front facing spool holder?
Is this... dumb? Had an idea, designed it, printed it, used it... It works and I've just done a version 2.
STL available on request. I couldn't attach it.
Re: Front facing spool holder?
The built-in filament guide is a nice touch. Other than perhaps convenience loading, is this meant to solve a particular problem?
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Re: Front facing spool holder?
Mainly having to lean over the desk to see what filament I have loaded 😛 That's all... 😳
It also never made sense to me that it came of the spool like it does, pulling the spool left to right. This feels more natural.
Dunno, just mucking about, new version has a slot instead of a hole for the filament guide.
Current version https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2985306
Re: Front facing spool holder?
Huh. Well, that's simpler than my idea of putting an NFC tag reader into the spool holder, interfaced to a Raspberry Pi running an MQTT Broker to send messages to an IoT LED that glows with the color of the filament! 🙂
Seriously though, I've been reading up on the possible downsides of putting weight high on the frame. I've got a stand behind my printer, but have played with the idea of a side mount. That said, moving the spools hasn't made any real impact on my print quality. It looks like a good solution to a practical problem. I notice it seems to hang off the front of the frame. Have you tested X axis movement at max Z? I've been surprised at what catches near the top.
and miscellaneous other tech projects
He is intelligent, but not experienced. His pattern indicates two dimensional thinking. -- Spock in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan
Re: Front facing spool holder?
I like this idea but I think you have limited your Z travel. When the X carriage gets near the top it is going to hit your filament guide at least, perhaps the whole bracket. There is a reason the Prusa holder is mounted on the rear of the frame.
Looking forward to your v2!