For the last 2 years or so since getting and building my 3D Printer (a Prusa i3 style clone from China), I have always used the spool holder that came with it. That was not ideal, as it took up space on my shelf to the side of the printer. It also took a lot longer than should be necessary to change filament, and it only easily took regular sized spools – some of the ones I have are wider than usual. I looked for designs of spool holders on thingiverse, but none of the ones I could find matched what I wanted, so I designed my own.
I wanted it to take up as little room as possible, and it could not be mounted to the center of the top acrylic piece like most other designs do because it would be too tall, and would interfere with the hockey equipment above it. I opted to attach it to the top left of the printer as shown.
This spool holder is entirely 3D Printed – no metal rods or bearings necessary. I still have to make a few changes to the design to minimize print time and add a bit more strength. I have uploaded the STL files to Thingiverse. They can be found here.
Project By: Micah Black
Written By: Micah Black