Thing-O-Matic Reel and Filament Control System

thingiverse

Here is a very simple system with a number of advantages: No gluing is necessary for assembly; parts snap or push together. The Reel Arms allow two 8 inch reels to hang from a side or back of Thing-O-Matic or, for color freaks, on all three sides at once! That's six reels! Filament won't easily spill off the reels and, if it does, it's trapped inside the arms and readily reloads. The Filament Guide Arm can be positioned facing in or out of the frame, and the Filament Guide Tip on top of it swivels. I like to use it as shown, which gives the filament a very smooth path. Friction is not a problem; filament pulls off the reel with virtually no effort, and the reel turns on the rod very freely. All parts clip onto the frame of the Thing-O-Matic and need no fasteners. The whole thing sets up and takes down in seconds and stores in very little space. It includes a Filament Clip (derived from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12516) to hold an idle filament to the reel. Instructions The Reel Arms are a very tight fit on a 110mm x 110mm build platform and the Filament Guide Arm requires 106mm in the Z plane. You may have to move the arms around a bit to get them on. I've put each part on separate .stl files and the full arm/guide/clip assembly on its own file. Print all parts using 0 extra shells and 100% fill. The reel arms and the guide arm will need minor cleanups within the openings that build vertically. The bar sitting across the arms should be approximately 1 inch in diameter by 12 inches long. The extra length allows you to grab it outside the arms when holding two reels and load it more easily with just one reel. The end caps help prevent the bar from slipping out of the arms and also help the appearance; a bar of any material will look raw without them. You may have to increase or decrease the size in your slicer to get them to fit your material. I used a wood dowel, nominally 1 inch but measuring 7/8 inch in diameter. Assembly: The Filament Guide Tip snaps onto the top of the Filament Guide Arm, which then slides into the clip. It's a bit easier to push the clip onto the frame first, then decide which way the arm faces and slide it into the clip. The Reel Arms are pushed onto the sides of the frame, with the top edges level with one of the T-slots in the top or center of the frame opening. Those are the strongest places, though you can clip them on at any height. I jammed on the end caps by shaving the edges on the dowel ends a little, placing one cap lying flat on a hard surface, setting the dowel into it, placing the other cap on top of the dowel, and whaling away with a hammer. For a less compressible material, make them a slip fit and glue on. About that Filament Clip: When you pull a filament out of the extruder, push the end into the hole, bend it a bit to hold it in, and clip it to the side of the reel. When you use the reel again, TAKE OFF THE CLIP rather than just pulling out the filament. The clip (or anything) projecting from the reel as it rotates will likely find something to hang on!