totally new to 3d printing, apologies in advance for what im sure will be a thorough butchering of terminology…
purchased a 3d printer over the holiday (STEM for kids, hobby for self), looking to set it up on my shop desk. the problem is (see image below), its just too tall with the filament spool on top. sooner or later there will be an accident with wall cabinet doors…
considering building something to hold the spool independently, sitting on desk next to the mini, then build a guide which will feed up and over the top. my question before i head down this road is: is this even a viable plan? should i be concerned with the tension on the filament, or will the mini have the strength to pull the filament “up and over” the cage? the spool arm now is flat, so assuming there is some play to work with here, especially if I build a spool holder which spins freely.
any thoughts would be appreciated before I waste a whole lot of time and possibly break something… thanks in advance…
Have you checked out thingiverse?
Just search “spool stand” in the top right corner, there is a wide range of easy to build, 3D printed options on there. One handy piece you wont be able to 3D print is a section of clear plastic (PTFE) tubing to go from your spool/holder to the extruder. On the TAZ 6 we use a 33.5"(850mm) section of this: https://www.mcmaster.com/#5239k12/=15x9bbt
Similar products likely available at your local hardware store, but McMaster usually ships pretty quick.
Alternatively, one could design a spool holder that mounts to the side of the Mini as long as consideration is given to not interfere with Z-Axis travel. Could probably be done rather easily.
Thanks for the reply. I’ve seen a few of the spool stands on thingiverse, but with all the different printers in play, I was really just concerned on whether there was anything specific with the mini that would prevent an external spool stands use - sounds like not, other than just being careful to place things in a manner which will not interfere with the movement of the printer heads/bed/etc.
One question on the PTFE tubing and what it is for. Mentally I was picturing an external spool stand, then a few mounted eyelets at strategic places to route the filament. Is the tubing just an alternate for that - just run the filament thru the tubing, and make some kind of mount on the top of the mini which can hold the end of the tube (so it still feeds in from the top, just without the spool up there)?
Yep, essentially a guide for the filament. No need to make a mount for the tube on the Mini itself if you make it part of your 3D printed stand. Here’s a fine example of a spool stand that could work for you: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:508896
I prefer vertical stands because they tend to get less messy as the spool unwinds, less coils falling off the reel.
