Filament box bearing rod holder by mdirkse

Last crawled date: 3 years, 3 months ago

I made this part because I suck at woodworking.
I was making my own version of the epic Build Comics Prusa Mini case for my own Mini and I also wanted to copy the design for the filament box. The nameless narrator of Build Comics created a box with a wooden floor and several wooden supports which carry rods, which in turn have ball bearings on which the spools are placed. And, well, let's just say my attempt at creating those supports out of wood didn't go too well. Jigsawing stuff in a straight line is hard, dammit.
Anyway, after some initial sulking it hit me: I have a 3D printer, and 3D printers are really good at making stuff that has straight edges, precisely measured holes etc. So I designed this simple part that has two holes for screws and two channels for 8mm (metal) rods. Take two of these, put the metal rods in, screw them onto something and, hey presto, everything lines up neatly, the rods are parallel and the sense of accomplishment will soon make you forget about the fact that you failed to impose your will on a piece of wood (at least it did for me).
The channels are slightly recessed beyond the center so that the rods "snap" into place. The screw holes are not threaded. I printed mine using PETG because I keep reading that's what you have to use if you want to produce Sturdy Things. The little cat details in the picture were added later and are not in the STL or F3D models.