Spool Holders  

Re: Spool Holders

I'm expecting my MMU in mid-October. In the mean time, I have been trying to adapt the spool holders to my setup much like mike.m13 has. I'm finding that there is sometimes too much friction for the filament coming through spool holder lever A (the L shaped one closest to the spool) and the extruder has a hard time pulling the filament through. But if I drill out the hole to make it bigger, there's not enough friction and when the filament retracts (pushing it back manually to test) the filament slides right back through the lever to the spool and the "brake" doesn't engage.

How much friction should there be on the filament going through the spool holder lever?

Re: Spool Holders

I also need to engineer a solution here as the Prusa solution simply won't work. My printer is in my garage and here in the southern US it is very humid in the summer. If I don't keep my spools in a moisture-controlled environment (box with desiccant) they turn into popping garbage within a week. Even the back-fed loops will need to be enclosed somehow.

I also have zero space behind the printer. This is going to be interesting.

Here is my current setup, which works very well for holding multiple spools ready to print from. I have a roller bottom which I designed ( https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3124124 ) which goes into a Sterilite 20-qt sealed container ( https://www.target.com/p/sterilite-20-qt-gasket-box-clear-with-blue-latches/-/A-15066036) .

HEPA filter for printing ABS: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2629388

Re: Spool Holders

Here is my current setup...

Please add your photos as attachments and not as external links. Not everyone has access to view your private photos 😉

Peter

Re: Spool Holders

I love the loose desiccant in the bottom. I spend some much time printing/engineering containers for bulk desiccant because I'm too much of a wimp just to sprinkle it in the bottom.

Re: Spool Holders

Just stumbled upon this:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3099309
A simple mod, but he says that it works even better than if the spools were behind.

Re: Spool Holders

Just stumbled upon this:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3099309
A simple mod, but he says that it works even better than if the spools were behind.

I'm new to 3d printing. I've had my MK3 for a few weeks and I'm having fun. I've been thinking about where the printer will live, an enclosure, and thinking about getting an MMU in the future. (Right now the printer is on the corner of my desk which is okay in the short term.)

I was thinking about an enclosure design that had the spools at eye level and the printer below that.

When I saw the Thingiverse 3099309 mod I then went down the rabbit hole of "just how big will the enclosure have to be to support an MMU?" In the first picture I noticed how far forward the printer was verses the Lack.... And then I noticed the space for the filament runs behind ... (Thanks lunchb0x6669 for the pictures & the design.)

All of this is making me reevaluate my path forward. <sigh>

Just another design problem to solve. Which is what I enjoy even though I may complain about it from time to time.

Re: Spool Holders

This seems to be the smartest solution so far: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3094325

Re: Spool Holders

This seems to be the smartest solution so far: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3094325

And simple

Re: Spool Holders

Hey Guys,

Awesome work with all the solutions that you've come up with to accommodate your new MMU2.

I took the following approach because mainly I already had five Spannerhands Spool Holders but it is working great so may help out someone else.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3128344/comments/#comment-2103071

Re: Spool Holders

Very impressive! I'm digging into spannerhands now. I love the idea of permanent desiccant storage even on the printer.

Re: Spool Holders

My simple solution. 9,5/4,8 x100mm heat shrink tube`s.

Nice Weekend

Re: Spool Holders

in actual fact, I found that turning the printer 90 degrees works better because it gives you better access to the MMU V2 platform which you will quickly find out you will be needing!!

Re: Spool Holders

in actual fact, I found that turning the printer 90 degrees works better because it gives you better access to the MMU V2 platform which you will quickly find out you will be needing!!

I solved this by leaving the printer facing forward (so I can easily access the print bed and the controls), and turned the MMU2 sideways (for access to front and back of MMU2)

Re: Spool Holders

I also end up with my printers rotated like half the time.

You know, I've had every sort of spool feed system fail on me except all the spools lined up on a large diameter PVC pipe. It never hangs, jams, over-coasts, under-feeds.....

My filament dry boxes that work the best work that way as well. I've used smaller poles, adapters, bearings, other material pipes, but nothing works as well in practice.

There's a lot of stuff that can be printed, right now I'm remixing this:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3172330