BIBO Top Filament Feeder

thingiverse

My version of filament feeder for BIBO2 Touch printers, part of my Bibo Overkill project (http://steepsoftware.com/Default.aspx?ss=3). No support needed to print. But you need to rotate parts into a proper position for this. I am including the FreeCAD source along with STLs in case if someone wants to make changes or borrow parts of the design. Please, make a reference to this page if you do. This project took a long time and a couple of filament spools to complete. Still, there are things I will add to it in the future. Some things need an explanation. - Many parts are glued together. I use Diclormethane for this. The process is called "chemical welding" and is much stronger that any other method of gluing PLA. Dichlormethane is available on Ebay. Only few drops will do the job, but it evaporates very fast. - Spool axle is made of identical 2 halves, only one half is included. Make copies. There is a hole in the middle of the axle for a 1/4 threaded rod. This insert make an axle very sturdy. Although, it will work (for some time) without the metal rod. To make it better hold a weight of the 1 kg spool the axle has a slight incline (1 degree). - I used 12x24x6 mm bearings just because they have 12 mm inner diameter which allowed me to use a thicker axle. And at the same time they are pretty slim. You can adjust to whatever bearings you have - I included the source for the project. - "Spooler" part is also consist of 2 identical parts. In my case I did not glue them together as they are held with the outer "Finner" part. - "Finner" part is made of TPU. I printed it vertically with 1 wall and 1 top/bottom layer. 8% infill. All this to make the part as soft as possible while maintaining it's strength. - Filament giudes have cutouts for standard BIBO filament runout switches. You need to adjust the switch position so it would operate freely. Inserting a hard filament does not require any additional stepe. Switch will be pushed up (TRIGGERED) by the filament. To insert soft filament (TPU) you need to either press on the switch plate from the front or use the "Disabler" part to block the switch from operating. - "Disabler" is not really a nice solution, I need to change this. But it works for now. Depending on the filament for it's printing some sanding might be needed. - Flat clips are used for stopping cheap chinese bowden tube clips from releasing the tube. Other clips are for holding bowden tubing nicely. - "StopTensioner" part is made of TPU and used to put some tension on the spool/filament as bearings make it spin too freely. Test print video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crdOTi6omXY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbYAOgPMD40