Magnetic Filament Guide by Menneset

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

The funny thing is, I needed a filament guide to attach to a plastic part. I didn't want to visually damage it, and I needed the filament guide to be secure but with a bit of give. What I came up with is magnets! The guide has a few neodymium magnets in it's base and there is another matching piece with magnets that snaps to the other side of the panel--holding the entire thing in place very securely.
I had 1/4 inch by 1/16" magnets on hand, but 1/4 by 1/8 will do just fine. 6mm by 3mm magnets would fit but they would be a bit loose so there is a version for everyone else in the world too.
After printing, mix up some epoxy and put a dab in the round holes, then start pushing in your magnets. They should be a snug fit, you will most likely need pliers to get them in all the way. The bottom piece will hold one 1/8" (3mm) magnet in each hole. the base for the guide will hold two in each hole. Make sure you get the magnetic poles all going the same direction!
Specifically I made this to sit on top of a daVinci 1.0 printer. In that case, hold the bottom clip under the lid, magnets up and set the guide over it. Everything will snap into place. After I was satisfied with the hold and the position I epoxied the lower clip in place underneath the lid. You don't have to do that, but I was worried about someone moving it and having the clip fall on my bed or print.
It holds very well on a metal piece of the frame, or with the clip to a plastic panel. The opening in the loop also allows you to insert or remove a filament strand even if the end of the strand is already loaded in the extruder.
enjoy!