• Project Codename: Tuna

    Nicoli • 05/22/2018 at 00:04 • 0 comments

    When I first assembled the printer and went to print my first benchy I realized something tragic... there was no filament holder! I decided to set up a temporary spool holder using a bar clamp attached to the side of my desk until I could come up with something more permanent. I printed out one of the spool holders available on thingiverse and it worked... for a while. One intrinsic property of PLA plastic is that over time it gets very brittle and weakens significantly. So after only 2 weeks the printed holder cracked and broke in half. 

    It was apparent that I needed to take matters into my own hands. I set out to create a very robust yet easily printable and easily usable spool holder. I initially ended up settling on a 2 pillar system that would distribute the weight of the filament evenly and direct the forces into the tapped metal screws that hold it on. 

    I designed the holder to mount to the threaded ends of the openbuilds v-slot extrusions where the handle used to mount. It uses the original hardware and requires no additional hardware to build.

    The completed model can be downloaded here.