spool holder by fernydx

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

i received my 3d printer recently with a spool holder that i feel can be improved even if just a little
my printer came with a filament spool that had 55mm hub, later i bought 2 hatchbox rolls that had 30mm hubs, while printing they roll on an 8mm rod.
this is my attempt to making a spool holder for both.
i tried using a bearing at first but it failed, due to the bearing not having a cage built in.
after that i designed one with a cage, however the cage was too close to the inner and outer races so it bonded during print. so back to the drawing board.
------UPDATES-----
11/9 - edit 1:uploaded version 4 of bearing, have not tested but it should solve the original cage problem edit 2* i noticed a hiccup in repetier where the cage has a section that will still bond,therefore i do not recommend printing this yet, im currently redesigning the bearing itself.
edit 3 i have uploaded spool holder version 3 with edited internals to prevent contact with the inner bearing race
final edit uploaded bearing version 5 a lot less plastic but hopefully works :)
11/10 - Still haven't been home, but i just want to make it clear on the specs and how to use this, I recommend using an 8mm threaded rod, maybe 135-145mm length (I'm currently using 125mm), you may need the extra length for the 30mm hubs.
The bearing-less version has a 9mm pilot hole purposely meant to allow it to float on the shaft - i recommend using washers on each side and maybe a lock nut setup(2 nuts tightened into eachother) if possible, to hold it in place.
The bearing version on the other hand..... you may need to experiment with, currently up to date is the v5 bearing and the v3 spool holder, I have not had time to print this so all this is untested, except for bearing versions 1 2 and 3... which were for the most part failures...version 1 and 2 had problems where the actual ball bearings would group together causing friction, aaaaand version 3 the cage designed to prevent such issue bonded with the inner and outer race, making it 1 solid piece haha. version 4 had an issue were the bearing separator of the cage still bonded with the inner race, at least in Repetier-Host, which made me redesign the bearing to allow more space between the inner and outer races.
in theory all i was going to use the same lock nut setup mentioned up top, the i made the inner race pilot hole exactly 8mm to allow some friction with the shaft, this will ensure bearing operates properly.
Upload pics if you try id like to see them :)
any suggestions please let me know in the comments or pm me, im all ears!