Filament Spool SyStem

THERE IS NOW A VERSION 4 - SEE THING 6711754

Filament Spool SyStem V2 has been published.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2858676

This project was inspired by Henry Arnolds great thing #1332650 "airtight filament canister."
I made serveral modifcations mainly because the orginal Prusha M2 likes to be feed from the top.

I have inverted the Rubbermaid container and added a holder for bagged dessicant. The dead air space is small very small threfore only a small amount of dessicant is needed.

The opening for the filament is small and can be sealed when not in use. The object of the project is to creat a container that is loaded once and kept airtight until the spool is finished. You need one container for each filament spool.

You need to drill 3, 0.5 inch holes, which is best done with a special stepper drill (see attached picture). These bits are cheep at Harbor Freight.

It is best to load the dessicant bags into the holder before attaching it to the container. Also, be careful to place the spool cradle in the exact center of the 'lid.' What is the 'lid' and 'bottom' is reversed in this project since I am using the container upside down!

I have used these for 3 months and have made a few modifications along the way. The only problem I have had, is when doing a Z calibration and the extruder moves to the top of the frame, the filament will push up into the container and can slip over the edge of a full filament spool. This can be prevented by holding the filament outside the container.

The project can be printed in PETG or PLA with equal results. PLA tends to made slightly better screw threads.

I also made my own 608 bearings using Thingiverse #2598427 by SiberK. For the
price of a jar of copper plated BB's from Walmart (about $7.00) you and your neighbors can have a life time supply of 608 bearings. Print the bearing with PLA and use the version with 5 balls.

The Rubbermaid clear container is a 21 cup size and can be bought at Amazon.com. The cloudy plastic version is cheaper and is sold at discount stores like Walmart. The cloudy plastic version is slightly smaller and you will need to use my version 2 parts for it to work.

https://www.amazon.com/Rubbermaid-Modular-Storage-Canister-1840750/dp/B00BEUDWIC/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2598427
608 bearing (4.5mm steel BB's) by SiberK is licensed under the Creative Commons - Attribution license.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1332650
Airtight Filament Canister by henryarnold is licensed under the Creative Commons