Upgraded frictionless filament spooler for Ultimachine/Makergear style spools

thingiverse

I loved the original design, but friction remained a problem for me and my spool wouldn't rotate freely. Turned out the spool's lips weren't quite straight. As a result, the width varied from 103 to 107 mm, and half of the time it would scrape against the sides. This modified version widens the spooler by a few millimeters while holding the bearings such that they can accomodate a spool of between 103 and 107 mm in width without the spool falling off. Also, I didn't see much need for the A-frame parts in the middle which just added some extra friction, so I removed them. Instructions Print. You will need a machine with a build platform of at least 170mm along one of the horizontal axes, so Makerbots are out. I've also found that lightly sanding the lips of Ultimachine spools helps keep them centered, since some of them have a sharp edge where the two halves of the mold met that can catch on the gap between the bearings and their walls.