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I finally got tired of the old PVC pipe holder for the filament spool. The PVC pipe caused too much friction and was always in the way/taking up too much room.
In the pictures attached I printed out four parts (two of each) and added extra threaded rod/nuts and in no time I had a great setup to hold the filament ON the H-1.
This setup gave me more room on my desktop and since it used 608 bearings the filament spool glided freely!

This is modeled after others doing the same with their huxley/makerbots.
The threaded rod/nuts are all 1/4-20 hardware found at your LHS.

Here are the items I needed to print:

2x Filament spool holder/spacer (uses 608 bearing). This one is different then the one I printer previously, this fits the 2Kg filament spool sold by Ultimachine.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:14361

2x Bar clamps to hold 1/4-20 threaded rod together (see pictures for details).
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:18637

I like it but doesn't it torque the frame?

Chris Muncy wrote:I like it but doesn't it torque the frame?

I was worried about that at first, but with the lighter filament spool (2Kg) and cross bar attached to both Z axis, most of the weight is distributed evenly.
It actually seems to act like a dampener, helping remove the wobble when X or Y change direction quickly.

Hmm....
I like the idea of a dampener, specially with the widened print area. I might have to test that.

Mike,

Did you use ReplicatorG to make the spool adapters? I can't make them with Slic3r as there is no way to generate support material and it screws up the bearing pocket.

Thanks,

Chris Q

Are you printing it flange down. If so change it so the counter bore for the bearing is on the inside and then no need for support material.

Dave,

Printing it outside portion (sticks out of the filament spool) down.

This is the orientation.

cquinby wrote:Mike,

Did you use ReplicatorG to make the spool adapters? I can't make them with Slic3r as there is no way to generate support material and it screws up the bearing pocket.

Hey Chris,

I used slic3r, the pocket was printed using bridges, there was a little slop (in the pocket) at the beginning which I cleaned up after the print completed.

Thanks Mike.

How did you do that? The problem I see is that it wants to print the perimeter first (which falls right into the hole) then do the bridge.

How many perimeters did you use on the print? I used 3 and I wonder if that was kicked up higher it may work with less slop. I don't see any way to clean the part I made up other than turning a 22mm chunck of aluminum down and heating it up and pressing it into the hole to melt the ABS.

I use 3 perimeters and 4 solid layers. The first solid layer is mostly garbage (gets cleaned out). The second layer just builds up on the first and so forth.

And for cleaning, I just use an exacto knife and gently cut out the excess.

Thanks Mike. I will give that a shot after these Owl's are done printing... Boy did I make a mistake getting talked into that one by my 7 year-old. She thinks scraps are a gift from the gods!

Mike,

Still waiting for these dang owls to print!!! Once that is done I will give the spool adapter a shot again. If it doesn't work, I think this one will: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:18909

You know, those are much better looking spool spacers. I might give them a try later this week.

That's pretty cool. I have ,y spools hanging from the rafters overhead but they are just on a 3/4" dowel so I have to constantly pull the filament. This would allow the extruder to self feed. I'm going to have to see what I need for my spools and print them.

Cheers,
Michael

Mike,

I printed out one of the 18909 spool adapters last night to take a look at it and so far, so good. I am expecting my bearings in the mail today so once I get those I will post up some pics of the adapters and the bearing spacer I just made and currently printing. Getting some use out of "Lift Z" function in Slic3r!

Got my bearings and put my stuff together!!!

First off, i made some spacers (bushings) to go between the 1/4-20 all thread and the 608 bearings. You need to print these slow with 1 perimeter and multiple at a time. Also I had to use the Z Lift function to keep from nocking the parts off the table. This actually worked very well... Print in ABS. You will have to almost thread them onto the 1/4-20 rod. I have attached my Slic3r profile for these parts, change the txt extension to ini then load into Slic3r.
Here is the spool adapter printed out (ran out of blue ready to go but had red hanging on the wall!)
Next was to put the bearings into their home... Ya, I got blue shielded bearings.
Next we use some 3mm screws, lock nuts and washers to set the bearings into the pockets.
Finally, put together and enought room for 2 more spools if I want!
Printing two more adapters right now to see how well this works. Little worried about the weight on top as the machine doesn't seem quite as stable but watching it work right now it seems to be OK.

Crap, almost forgot to pos the bushing STL...

I like this. Maybe respelling the filament on a smaller spool so it isn't as heavy would help? Also, the wooden "box" I built for my H-1 with the electronics underneath would be a good place to mount the uprights for the spools. Photos in my build thread.

cheers,
Michael

Nice looking stuff here. Mike, yes, re-spooling onto smaller spools is a good idea. Especially when you have 5lb. spools of filament! It eliminates any chance of extruder slippage, and just makes sense, doesn't it

johnoly99 wrote:Nice looking stuff here. Mike, yes, re-spooling onto smaller spools is a good idea. Especially when you have 5lb. spools of filament! It eliminates any chance of extruder slippage, and just makes sense, doesn't it

My black is on a 5 lb spool and the extruder has no issue grabbing filament off of it. I see pics all the time of guys that respool their filament and never understood why.

I'm thinking more to cut down the weight suspended off the machine. Mine can pull the filament from a wood dowel through the 2" hole, no bearings!

cheers,
Michael

Chris Muncy wrote:

johnoly99 wrote:Nice looking stuff here. Mike, yes, re-spooling onto smaller spools is a good idea. Especially when you have 5lb. spools of filament! It eliminates any chance of extruder slippage, and just makes sense, doesn't it

My black is on a 5 lb spool and the extruder has no issue grabbing filament off of it. I see pics all the time of guys that respool their filament and never understood why.

I like the fact that I have a smaller spool that allows me to carry/travel with ease.
BTW NC Maker Faire anyone?? Anyone local thinking of going or even setting up a table with our H-1's?

BTW, I change from a 1/4" threaded rod through the spool to a 5/16" rod. The 1/4" was bowing a bit and I didn't like how flimsy it felt.
I got a 5/16" rod from my LHS and cut it to 16" length, ran it through the bearings and holders. So far so good.