V Slot Frame Spool Holder by Dzinr

Last crawled date: 3 years, 4 months ago

Yet another spool holder. Over the years I have encountered some intermittent trouble with consistent prints. With my spool mounted on the left of the printer, and as the hot end moves toward the right away from the spool; if the spool was not free, it would sometimes leave under-extrusions on the right side of my part. I developed a ball bearing spool holder using 6mm AirSoft BB's which can be found at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4502641
Upon buying a new Artillery Sidewinder, I was disappointed like others with the provided spool roller system. I upgraded with Thingiverse rollers, but still was not satisfied. This Spool Holder unrolls the filament with extreme ease. I have a video clip showing just the weight of a paper clip unrolling the filament from the spool where it doesn't even budge on the rollers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBHEiNo-ZBY&feature=youtu.be
I utilize and re-mounted the Artillery run-out sensor provided with the printer. The spindle ratchets on with extremely light pressure and holds just enough to not back off. A button in the rear releases the ratchet with a feather light touch to remove the spool. The button uses a spring from any cheap retractable ball point pen laying around.
I printed all my parts in ABS, yet was having some issues keeping the main Base Post stuck to the bed. Rather than reprint, I opted to make my post from wood in my shop in far less time than it would have taken to re-print. So the main post in these images is not a printed part and the stl file for the post has been technically unproven.
You will find some built in supports on several of the spindle parts. There are 3 rows of small triangular shaped ribs where the ratchet teeth are that need to be cleaned out with a knife. The teeth should be open and continuous across the width of the spindle. There are a couple of other ribs that need to be cleaned out as well. Relying on random supports generated in my slicer program won't cut it. So the only file that should need any supports is the Main Base.
You might want to add a touch of glue to the cap inside the spindle and the small round cap in center that plugs the hole where BB's are loaded. I have a pretty snug fit and no glue was necessary.
If you choose to make this, please post your make and send me a message if you encounter any issues with the base. I don't expect any as my wood base was made from the same geometry.