Spool holder and a fan for 3D printer

In the previous post, I promised to tell you about the holders that I made for the spool of plastic for my 3D printer.

In the original kit, there is no holder or support for the plastic, and it just sits there next to the printer. The spool, positioned thus, often tangles and requires constant attention. This is why the holder became one of my first projects with the 3D printer. This is a compilation of various solutions to this problem from thingiverse.com.

The holder is projected in such a way to accommodate for spools with different sizes and diameters of the holes. For smooth turning, I used ball bearings. An M8 threaded metal rod acts as the axis.

The bearings are quite expensive and even on eBay their price is over $8 each. Instead, I bought the cheapest skateboard for $10 in BigW. Taking it apart revealed eight ball bearings and a whole heap of good nuts and bolts. Taking a couple of these bearings, I pressed them into the cone-shaped holders. It turned out to be useful and reliable. The supports are fixed firmly onto the top of the printer. The spool can now spin freely without creating problems for the extruder.

Then, I found that in the hot summer weather, the printer controller overheats during long printing sessions from the SD card and the printer stops. To solve this problem, I acquired a cheap computer fan for $6. This fan has an ATX port, so I hooked it up to one of the free ports of the printer’s power supply that I use for the printer. This way, it turns on with the printer. To improve the air exchange I printed out a funnel for this fan.

Here is the link to this project on this website: thingiverse.com: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:428066/

These two small projects helped me get the hang of the printer, as well as to improve it. This is all for today. Until next time!