Introduction: Filament Holder

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The problem of holding the filament spool while printing long jobs in a way that prevents filament knots is one of the most common problems in the 3D printing world. Just taking a look to Thingiverse about this gives us an idea of how much work has been dedicated to solve this issue.


Our solution, compatible with frame-based 3D printers, avoids the free movement of the spool. This is controlled with the tensions applied to the nuts that keep the spool in place. this way the filament can moove, but offering a slightly resistance. The spool brackets allow the use of any filament spool, independently of its inner diameter. Also, with a bar long enough, it is possible to put two or even three (depending of the spool thickness) spools in the same support. This is very useful while working with multi-filament 3D printers.

The kit consists of two M8 nuts, two 608zz bearings , a 20cm M8 threaded rod , two 3D printed brackets, two caps and a set of acrylic arms with spacers.

There are several kit depending of the frame thickness. For Prusa STEEL printers with 3mm frames, for 5mm acrylic frames, and for 8mm frames (Used in our ION printers).

You can buy this kit on Thingibox store

Step 1: Input Support Bearings

Enter 608ZZ bearing on printed pieces. The bearings must be completely sunk in the pieces. You may be taken to file the printed piece or warm the inside so that they can enter correctly.

Step 2: Input Nuts Caps

M8 nuts cover with printed covers. They must get right. If not enter, some sanding the inner edge of the lid to make it easier to introduce the nut or heat the interior. And if you are a little loose, you can fix it with instant glue.o

Step 3: Mounting on the Threaded Rod

To mount this step we need a metric threaded rod 8 about 20 cm. We introduce a printed part carrying the bearing by the threaded rod, after the spacer methacrylate. Finally We screw M8 nut with the cap, the whole. Between the spacer and nut we leave a space to put the support methacrylate. As shown in the picture, this would support our coil filament, once assembled. Before mounting the other side of the support, we introduce the coil and close the bracket with the second set. We tightened the nuts enough so that the coil does not rotate freely. It must take into account that the set is aligned.

Step 4: Final Appearance

That must be the support filament mounted on the structure of our 3D printer.