Octave filament holder for the MakerBot Replicator

thingiverse

The one problem with the great series of MakerBot Replicator printers is that MakerBot markets filament (ABS, PLA, etc.) on reels with a center hole diameter of 2.06". I can't find any other company which uses reels of that size. The filament holders which come with the MakerBot printers are made to fit only that size hole. I've come to appreciate Octave brand filament. But Octave reels have a center hole size of 1.25". Because of this I've designed a holder to fit the Octave reels. Instructions I designed this holder in SolidWorks, and saved it as an STL file. My first design proved to be too weak where the weight of the reels would be greatest - where the octagonal base of the holder attached to the square bracket that fits inside the printer case. I've redesigned the holder to increase the strength in that area. I would suggest positioning this Thing on the build plate with the square bracket down, and the holder vertical on a raft with support. A Standard setting (.2mm) with 2 shells, and 100% infill. If using ABS with a heated Build Plate, I'd set the extruder temperature for 240C and the Build Plate temp to 115C. The higher extruder temp will help the ABS fuse together, and be stronger. If you are using PLA I will leave it to you to decide your settings. There will be a good bit of cleaning up of the support structure, but what is really important is that the filament reels turn easily on the holder. You can crank out two of these at once, and be ready to use Octave filament and others having a hole at least 1.25" in diameter.