Maker Box Filament Spool - 180mm total diameter

thingiverse

I've been with Maker Box for a period of time, but the loose filament poses a challenge. I tried many different filament spools, but I found that none were well suited to the Maker Box filament. I tried many, but I was never happy. Some were too small spool size, so the filament would spring open even after leaving them on the spool taped in place. Others I wouldn't print because it was way too much material cost to build. I tried using spent filament rolls from 0.5kg and 1kg rolls, but they usually have smaller spool size interiorly, so they too would spring open and not wind nicely. So, at the end of the day, I decided to engineer my own. I had some design guidelines in my head. First off, it had to work with my filament stand. Not only the core needed to be small enough to fit my stand's rod, but narrow enough to fit alongside another filament roll for dual color prints. I wanted it to be low filament usage. I also wanted a hole to put the filament through for winding, and a lower filament guard to prevent it from skipping out when you were winding. My design came out nice, and has withstood two full windings and uses. The diameter of the spool is just a hair bigger than the widest part of the Maker Box filament, and I did this so the wind would be wound slightly tight on the spool, but still come back off and be able to go back into the bag. It splits open and the filament comes off easily. Some key notes on this design; The core where your rod passes through, does not go together, and I left them shorter. I found that it would create an alignment issue for trying to get it all to snap together, but I still left more of a 'collar' inside to reduce wear and make alignment better. There are two versions currently; A 20mm core, and a 30mm core. If you'd like a different size, let me know. It's easy to change. Print Settings Printer Brand: RepRap Printer: EG1+ Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 0.3mm Infill: 100% Notes: Recommended settings: 0.3mm layer height 0.5mm layer width (Except first layer - Use whatever you need for adhesion) 100% infill 3 perimeter layers If you want to do this at any other layer height, I don't see any issues coming from this. However, I DO encourage using the 0.5mm layer width due to how the two halves fit together. My printer worked best on this with 20mm/s 125% width first layer, 85mm/s balance. Post-Printing As long as you have zits/blobs under control, these will push together with little issue, but still friction-fit. If you feel they are too loose, I recommend 2 pieces of tape opposite each other on the inside of the spool. You can slide the filament off smoothly once you split the spool. Have not tested if you can load directly, but I do recommend winding the filament on by hand to ensure a good wind that won't tangle. How I Designed This Used Fusion 360 to design this. I've been learning parabolic design for a while, and this was my first serious project with it.