Thingiverse
Hanging Spool & Buffer Shelf
by Thingiverse
Last crawled date: 6 years, 4 months ago
This is a full Filament Management System. It is a hanging shelf that holds several Spools of filament. Under each spool is a filament buffer so the system can be used with an MMU2s. This was designed to be used inside of a Double Stacked LACK enclosure like this one. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3711021 . But it could be used/mounted under a wooden shelf or something similar.
UPDATES:
1/9/2020: I am starting to experiment with a new Buffer idea. Click here for more info. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4093621
"Why" you ask, well these hanging buffers work but they are kinda in the way. They seem to take up a lot of room in the enclosure. And while they are a lot easier to load than the old universal rewinders they do still seem like more work than should be necessary to load up. Also I have had trouble loading some brittle PLA filament because it kept breaking. That is another issue but it was frustrating me so I started my new buffer idea experiment.
1/1/2020: added a suggestion from another user to use 7mm rods instead.
11/18/2019: I think I have finally landed on my final version. I dropped the 13 and 18 cm buffers and have moved to a 15 cm buffer. This new 15 cm buffer has several advantages over the previous two. It is small enough to allow room for the MMU2s but large enough to be easier to load the filament. It is also large enough to have a little room to spare when the filament rewinds back into the buffer. This new buffer has an improved lid design that is easier to open/close. The geometry was tweaked to relieve pressure that the filament could put on the lid. This prevents the filament from pushing the lid open a little and escaping. I don't expect any more major revisions after this. I have removed the old files and photos to prevent confusion. Enjoy! Happy printing.
10/16/2019: I am happy with the initial results of the 13 cm buffer. I have posted the new files along with some pictures so you can see the difference. One picture will show how the filament would only take up about 12 cm diameter when the MMU2 unloads. So the new design only uses a 13 cm diameter. The old 18cm version was originally intended to have the filament wrap around the wheel twice. That is why it needed the extra space. However the results worked better with three loops around the buffer wheel. I will be testing this new buffer more and more over the next few days/weeks. I may choose to make some additional tweaks.
10/15/2019: I am testing a version 1.8 of the Buffer. It is much smaller 13 cm diameter where the previous versions were all 18 cm diameter. This new version is faster to print and uses less material. It also takes up a LOT less space in an enclosure. Give me a day or two to test and if I like it I will post the new version files here.
10/14/2019: I have noticed that my double stack ikea LACK enclosure V1 is about an inch and a half shorter than the V2 that I designed this system for. As a result the buffers hang low enough that they get in the way of the MMU2. I may design a whole new build with shorter/small buffers But for now I am trying to space out the buffers like you see in the pictures so they are resting to the sides of the MMU2. I have also uploaded a 15mm shorter version of the shelf mounts in case anyone wants it.
10/14/2019: The new version of the lid has been tested and I like it. I have uploaded it and some pictures so you can see the difference. Enjoy!
10/10/2019. Rob S. helped me come up with an idea on how to change the main buffer and lid parts so the Lid doesn't require supports to print. I will work on that version update and post in the next few days. So if you are interested in waiting for Version 1.7 just know that it will probably be available 10/15/2019. But the supports are not very difficult to remove from v1.6 so it may not be worth the wait.
10/7/2019: Posted original version 1.6 files.
UPDATES:
1/9/2020: I am starting to experiment with a new Buffer idea. Click here for more info. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4093621
"Why" you ask, well these hanging buffers work but they are kinda in the way. They seem to take up a lot of room in the enclosure. And while they are a lot easier to load than the old universal rewinders they do still seem like more work than should be necessary to load up. Also I have had trouble loading some brittle PLA filament because it kept breaking. That is another issue but it was frustrating me so I started my new buffer idea experiment.
1/1/2020: added a suggestion from another user to use 7mm rods instead.
11/18/2019: I think I have finally landed on my final version. I dropped the 13 and 18 cm buffers and have moved to a 15 cm buffer. This new 15 cm buffer has several advantages over the previous two. It is small enough to allow room for the MMU2s but large enough to be easier to load the filament. It is also large enough to have a little room to spare when the filament rewinds back into the buffer. This new buffer has an improved lid design that is easier to open/close. The geometry was tweaked to relieve pressure that the filament could put on the lid. This prevents the filament from pushing the lid open a little and escaping. I don't expect any more major revisions after this. I have removed the old files and photos to prevent confusion. Enjoy! Happy printing.
10/16/2019: I am happy with the initial results of the 13 cm buffer. I have posted the new files along with some pictures so you can see the difference. One picture will show how the filament would only take up about 12 cm diameter when the MMU2 unloads. So the new design only uses a 13 cm diameter. The old 18cm version was originally intended to have the filament wrap around the wheel twice. That is why it needed the extra space. However the results worked better with three loops around the buffer wheel. I will be testing this new buffer more and more over the next few days/weeks. I may choose to make some additional tweaks.
10/15/2019: I am testing a version 1.8 of the Buffer. It is much smaller 13 cm diameter where the previous versions were all 18 cm diameter. This new version is faster to print and uses less material. It also takes up a LOT less space in an enclosure. Give me a day or two to test and if I like it I will post the new version files here.
10/14/2019: I have noticed that my double stack ikea LACK enclosure V1 is about an inch and a half shorter than the V2 that I designed this system for. As a result the buffers hang low enough that they get in the way of the MMU2. I may design a whole new build with shorter/small buffers But for now I am trying to space out the buffers like you see in the pictures so they are resting to the sides of the MMU2. I have also uploaded a 15mm shorter version of the shelf mounts in case anyone wants it.
10/14/2019: The new version of the lid has been tested and I like it. I have uploaded it and some pictures so you can see the difference. Enjoy!
10/10/2019. Rob S. helped me come up with an idea on how to change the main buffer and lid parts so the Lid doesn't require supports to print. I will work on that version update and post in the next few days. So if you are interested in waiting for Version 1.7 just know that it will probably be available 10/15/2019. But the supports are not very difficult to remove from v1.6 so it may not be worth the wait.
10/7/2019: Posted original version 1.6 files.