MakerFarm 8" Prusa i3v Enclosure

[dacb]

That's a great idea.

[printbus]

I checked out the MakerBot feed at MicroCenter one day, and I'm sure that if you do something similar you can put the spool where ever you want and in what ever orientation you want. MakerBot isn't a full Bowden setup - they're just using a tube as a filament guide. Not a bad idea. Of course, they've probably patented it.

I think the earlier opinion that a side mounted approach wouldn't work was confusion. My guess is the thought was you were going to maybe lay the spool flat on the table and pull the filament up around the sides. Yeah, that wouldn't work for long. As long as the filament is unrolling from the spool, I bet you'll work out fine.

[gmay3]

I checked out the MakerBot feed at MicroCenter one day, and I'm sure that if you do something similar you can put the spool where ever you want and in what ever orientation you want. MakerBot isn't a full Bowden setup - they're just using a tube as a filament guide. Not a bad idea. Of course, they've probably patented it.

Yes exactly, my thought is try that out and see if it will work. Where to end the partial bowden tube is my next decision. I'm not sure if it should end near the top of the printer or go all the way down to the extruder, maybe just a few inches above so changing filament is easier.

I think the earlier opinion that a side mounted approach wouldn't work was confusion. My guess is the thought was you were going to maybe lay the spool flat on the table and pull the filament up around the sides. Yeah, that wouldn't work for long. As long as the filament is unrolling from the spool, I bet you'll work out fine.

Yes I think you're right. I don't think I described it very well because I didn't even have my printer yet at the time haha. I did mean the second thing you described having the filament unrolling from the spool while the spool rotates on bearings.

[RobH2]

Filament consumes the same footprint no matter where you put it. The one thing that I'd recommend against is mounting it to the top of your printer. A lot of momentum is transferred from its motion as the X-Carriage changes direction. The more stable the frame is around the print, the better the print. Having 2 lbs. shimmying around above the printer will just increase inaccuracies in prints. You may not notice is on large prints or at really slow print speeds, but once you get the print speeds up, you'll start to see shake.

[gmay3]

Filament consumes the same footprint no matter where you put it. The one thing that I'd recommend against is mounting it to the top of your printer. A lot of momentum is transferred from its motion as the X-Carriage changes direction. The more stable the frame is around the print, the better the print. Having 2 lbs. shimmying around above the printer will just increase inaccuracies in prints. You may not notice is on large prints or at really slow print speeds, but once you get the print speeds up, you'll start to see shake.

Good point RobH2! I didn't think of that. This gives even more motivation for me to get this spool off the top of my frame!

I did a little research this weekend and in addition to putting the spool under the printer, I think another good location would be directly behind the printer, centered and level with the bottom of the LCD mount.

If you look at the back of your printer, there is an angle cut from about halfway up on the frame structure in the back which tapers to the top of the frame where the LCD mounts. My thought is to make the flat side of the spool parallel to this angle, offset about 2-3 inches. This offset gets the spool out of the way of the Y bed for any taller prints.

If this can work out then I'd probably rather do this type of mount for the spool instead of the drawer under the printer. The drawer would add a lot of weight and complexity. Plus I'd have to relocate the sorbothane vibration dampening feet clough42 designed!

Sketches to come!

[jtice]

I happen to have a shelf above my printer which is going to help alot for mounting a spool.
I printed these bearing spool holders so far, then I plan to use these brackets to mount the 8mm rod to the shelf.
This will position the spool directly above the printer. my main reason for doing this was the fact that I have spools that are too wide to fit on the stop spool holder.
Plus I am sure this will be alot smoother, and it gets the spool up high and out of the way.

[gmay3]

Here's what I was thinking.

unnamed.jpg

Lol just realized I wrote bowen tube instead of bowden in the picture

[RobH2]

I like that idea. There is much less inertia than having the roll on top transferring all of that sideways motion down and amplifying it. Having it on the back keeps a much lower center of gravity and therefore much less chance it will induce unnecessary movement in the whole machine. Send photos once you get it working.

[gmay3]

I like that idea. There is much less inertia than having the roll on top transferring all of that sideways motion down and amplifying it. Having it on the back keeps a much lower center of gravity and therefore much less chance it will induce unnecessary movement in the whole machine. Send photos once you get it working.

Good stuff! I'm looking forward to seeing if it helps out on the quality of my prints, but it's also reassuring to know that my machine won't be subject to all that extra sideways motion for no reason! Will do on the pictures.


I've seen other mounts that are somewhat similar to this except the spool is rotated 90 degrees. I'm planning on trying to make a mount that can be fully 3d printed for simplicity. I'm going to try to utilize existing frame screw shafts that the spool holder could be snapped on to for installation, just like my LED mounting tray.

The filament should feed off the spool by being pulled off the spool up towards the LCD. This will lift the spool while turning it which should reduce the amount of force and friction on the spool holder. I don't think any bearings should be needed because of this.

I'm thinking that only a short piece of bowden tube will be needed to reduce the friction on the top of the frame.

[printbus]

You might also just be able to use a fixed filament guide and not any of the tube.

How well would this work on the 10-inch printers where the Y-bed moves 2-inches farther to the rear? Seems like that would be more limiting than on the 8-inch printer.

Just to offer a differing opinion, I've observed no negative aspects of having the spool mounted on top. Maybe I've just been lucky with the prints I've done with it, but there's been no sideways motion or anything else bad that I've noticed. Of course, the table I'm using is solid. The wood printer frame is solid. I've kept weight of the x-carriage under control (no heavy connectors, no bed leveling hardware, no extruder motor fan, no large print cooling shroud). I haven't been overzealous with acceleration settings. Spools rotate on the mount smoothly - they don't jerk like with the stock mount.

Even if the spool is laying flat on top, it seems like a proper spool mount could keep any jerkiness caused by filament feed to a minimum.