February 8, 2024
Description
It is hard to find suitable dry boxes for large spools with diameters of up to 30 cm. This is why I built myself this dry box for 2.3 kg spools from 3djake and formfutura spefically but it should fit all spools not larger than 300 mm and not wider than 103 mm. This dry box also includes a central axis mount for the spool as these heavy spools can cause some visible artificats on the printed object when rolling on their outer spool rim, due to their considerable weight and injection molding seams of the spool rim.
There is also an alternative optional spool holder included, which is compatible with the same drybox, and fits spools with up to 118mm width (and also up to 300 mm outer diameter) as a drop in replacement.
The “Spool holder XL” (click on link) is intended to be used in this Drybox for mounting the spool. As its design is partially based on the Universal Auto-Rewind Spool Holder from VincentGroenhuis, I uploaded it as a separate remix file.
REQUIREMENTS
A print bed size of at least 350 mm x 350 mm is required for this model to be printed!
INSTRUCTIONS
The frame and the Lid are very large parts. Add 2 cm of brim to the frame part (at least on the inside, if outside is not possible). Choose low warping materials and an enclosure. I used TitanX (Formfutura) together with Dimafix adhesive spray for good results. For the entire model approximately 2 kg of filament are needed. The Lid parts need to be printed with supports, remove those supports afterwards with a sharp cutter.
Frame and lid parts use almost the entire size of a 350mm x 350mm bed. If you have a priming line on the edge you may need to relocate it towards the centre to prevent printing over it.
Heat inserts need to be inserted with a soldering iron (or another adequate tool) into the 8 holes on the inside of the frame. The PC4 M10 fitting is screwed into the one through hole of the frame. 2 guides are mounted with M3x6mm screws on one of the two sides. One can mount them in a way that the fitting is showing sidewards or upwards, whatever the preference.
If the alumina dessicant cans from Slice engineering are used, one can replace on of the two guides with the two optional parts that function as guide and mount for the two cans. The cans are mounted like this:
The custom cut panels are glued into the lid parts and the cut 5mm wide and high foam tape is installed into the side ridge of the lid parts.
Especially during the first time inserting the window panels will be a bit difficult. Insert it stepwise with equal force on all sides. This is easiest done by having the window panel flat on the table and putting the frame slowly straight onto the window panel. Make sure it fits well and closes all the way. After resting for a night the foam should protrude similarily on all sides when removing the window panel again.
The spool holder which is designed for this Drybox can be found here. Print spool holder part A, part B, part C and part D and continue with the instructions below.
Press fit the two bearings into Part A (both sides). Insert the 120mm long metal tube and fixate it with 2x part D by pressing those rings on the tube on both sides, leaving the same length of tube sticking out on both sides.
Before mounting the spool, take out the spool holder from the dry box, and apply the axle to the spool:
Make sure to mount the spool centred in the axle by screw part B onto Part A with the spool in between until it is fixed. Subsequently the spool with the mounted axle can be simply dropped into the spool holder outside of the box. Insert the dessicant if not already in the box and slide the spool holder with the inserted spool back into the box as well, as shown in the image below. Insert the filament into the PTFE tube to pull it through the exit of the dry box and subsequently close the window panels again. Make sure the panels sit flush with the box frame on all sides.
BOM
License:
GNU General Public License v3.0
7
Thejiral
