Simple spool holder. Easy to print and assemble.
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updated May 14, 2023

Description

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Yet another spool holder! I couldn't find the perfect spool holder, so I decided to make my own. The key features of this spool holder are

  • Easy to print
  • Simple
  • Sturdy
  • No screws, glue or special tools needed
  • Easy to disassemble
  • Spool guide

Printing Guide

  • No supports necessary
  • Print the peg in different sizes until you find one that fits your bearings and spool holder base
  • I've printed this with a 0.4 mm and 0.6 mm nozzle, using the default Prusa Slicer settings

Design

Other spool holders I tried to print were either tricky to print, fiddly to fit together, required screws or special tools, to big, to small, hard to disassemble, complicated, flimsy, etc… This spool holder uses a simple shape and connector mechanism, to prevent issues with complicated bridging and supports. It's made of only a few pieces that are easy to assemble. Requires no screws to hold together, relies simply on the pegs fitting tight enough in the base and bearings to hold it together. The pegs are small and quick to print, so even if your printer isn't dialed in exactly, it's still easy to test a few pegs until it fits right.

Alternatives

I tried to find simple solutions to the issues I kept having with other spool holders, and incorporate them into my spool holder. I'm listing a few spool holders below and the results I had with them. If my spool holder doesn't work for you, hopefully one of the ones below will.

The Ultimate Spool Holder - love the simplicity of this model. But I don't want to have to buy specific screws and nuts just to assemble it. I tried printing this, but couldn't get the horizontal bars to fit right. One of the reasons my model is one solid base, is to prevent this issue.

Filament Spool Holder 2021 - great mode if you want something slim that uses very little filament, but is still pretty sturdy. My issue with this model is the screws. The screws require the threading on the base to printed almost perfectly to feel like they fit well enough. I tried printing the base twice and had different threads fail to print well enough, that the screws could even screw in. This is the reason my model uses a simple square hole in sides of the base to put the pegs in. Even if the bridging in the square hole is a little off, it's not going to prevent you from putting the pegs in, you can easily sand down bad bridging if necessary.

Spool holder - huge fan of this model. It's SUPER simple and just works. The only reason I'm not using this type of spool holder is because I need to put my spool holders on a wire rack, so the spool holder needs to have a long solid flat base.

Prusa Mini Spool Holder - I tried the spool holder that comes with the Prusa Mini for awhile. But realized quickly that having to adjust the width for every roll of filament is the worst design idea ever. I understand no spool holder is going to be the perfect size for all filament roll sizes. But my model at least easily supports all of the basic filament I buy, and I can just use the one larger spool holder I need for special rolls of filament.

Prusa MINI base leg extensions and spoolholder - I've tried a few horizontal spool holders, and every single one has failed in the same way. The center point, where the pin goes through the ball bearing and holds up the platform the filament sits on, has broken. It just doesn't make sense to hold so much weight from the filament, on a single small point.

Todo

  • Upload a few more sizes of the pegs, so people can find the one that works best for their printer.
  • Change orientation of the base and roller model to be flat on the bed

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Model origin

The author marked this model as their own original creation.

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