Filament Spool Holder for Replicator 5th Generation by jakereeves

Last crawled date: 2 years, 12 months ago

This filament spool holder is designed to be used with the MakerBot Replicator 5th Generation 3D printer. It offers a low-friction alternative to the built-in spool holder.
This design is compatible with the standard MakerBot filament spools (thin and tall), as well as the smaller spools (fat and short) that are preferred by many third party manufacturers. All you have to do is slide the filament supports closer together or further apart and change the retaining dowel from the bottom to top (or vice versa).
Two long dowels are used to bridge the top of the printer, while a third (smaller) dowel is fed through the centre of the filament spool to ensure that it doesn't move anywhere (this is optional, and really just a secondary safety check).
Should you find that the bottom supports move around more than you like, I advise 3M Command strips (small) to adhere the support to the MakerBot chamfer.
You need to print 4 of the bottom components (either short or tall, as per your preference) and 2 of the top components.
In addition to the filament of your choice, you will also need:
2x 5/8 inch wooden dowels cut to at least 20 inches (I used 21 inches)
1x 5/8 inch wooden dowel cut to about 6 inches
4x standard skateboard bearings (I used ABEC 7 bearings)
Please upload your prints, as I would like to see further successful jobs.