Quick Change Universal Spool Holder Crank by Kevin-Halbert

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

This is a spool crank REMIX I made to fit this thing by "Forever Winter" https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1241566
You will need to download the thing above in order to have the other half of the design.
I have uploaded a new smaller handle for the crank... its your choice if you want the larger or smaller handle. It works great!!
This crank is great if you have a bunch of half used spools of filament and know how to "weld" them together to make one large spool. This way your filament won't run out during a print. Even if you have a filament detector you still have to come change the filament when it runs out... but not if you have multiple spools of half used filament that are now spooled together as one...
Here is a video on how you can fuse your filament together with just a lighter and a piece of foam... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq6Ik4E7pkA
You can transfer filament to a new spool to make sure the filament isn't anchored to the center of the spool and messes up your print when the filament gets to the end and the filament won't let go of the spool.
With this you can also transfer your filament to a spool that you like better. I've had spools that were so overly full that when I opened the air tight packaging the filament immediately came off the spool in multiple loops and wrapped around the holder. Also some spools are clear and have markings on them to easily see how much filament you have left.
Spools sometimes get tangled... now you can transfer them to a new spool.
I over engineered this piece, it is very thick and looks like a toy... but it works like a charm. I like that it looks like it is just glued to the original thing's nut. The crank is short so as to not stick out too far from a spools outer diameter. I will probably make the knob slightly smaller in the future. It is small enough to spin on my CR-10 without bottoming out on the control box.
I don't recommend printing with this crank in place as it will weight the spool to one side and will swing down once the crank is pulled over the top.... use the original nut from the original thing when printing.
You don't really need to use two skateboard bearings to make this work... but it does make it smooth and quiet. I murdered a fidget spinner for its bearings, I got it from the dollar store and used some pliers to twist them free of the plastic frame.
You will need a 3 1/2 inch long 5/16 threaded rod and a four nuts ( I used lock nuts) I also used some washers do distribute the pressure of the nuts on the crank arm. I would suggest you tighten down the threaded rod to the crank arm first so it won't move and rotate when you put the other nuts on.
Just an FYI... you will need separate hardware for the original "thing" 5/16 rod and nuts to make the Universal spool bolt.
UPDATE: You shouldn't make two spool cranks.... you need drag on the donor spool so it doesn't spin to fast and make all the filament come of the spool in loops and make a tangled mess. I would suggest you use just a bare threaded rod to hold up the donor spool. If you do print and use two spool holders with bearing I would suggest you put some drag on the donor spool... plus it helps you wind the filament tight on to the new spool.