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Parametric Filament Spool cable organiser

A quick print that allows old filament spools to be reused as cable organisers
In the contest Cable Organizers
437
738
3
7899
updated January 30, 2022

Description

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To many spools and to many cables, two annoying problems any 3D printing enthusiast can probably relate to. Here's a solution that solves one and a half of these problems, using up a few empty spools and keeping a variety of cables neatly organized. 

This is my entry to the cable organisers contest. It is a series of plates and cards that can be added to a disused filament spool to turn it into a cable organiser. 

UPDATE 1: included a new FBX file since I was having issues with some card parameters due to the bevels. If you get any errors, use the “card No Bevels” body instead.

Here is a video explaining it all, or keep reading (this video was added after the close of the contest): 

There are only really two parts, the circular plates and the cards that slot into them. Assembly is simple, clip two of the plates together and put them around the center of the spool. Then clip the other half on in two pieces. Repeat for the other side of the spool. Use a few cards to align the plates, then add glue to keep the plates in place (not the cards!)

The plates include a spot for labels that double as handles. The plates can be customised for different cables as ill go over in the next section.

Obviously there are many types of spools so the design had to be parametric, and you can customise every element of it to your liking. 

 


 

Outer and inner diameter refer the size of the spool you are using. Pretty self explanatory. Inner diameter should be accurate, but outer diameter can be smaller or bigger if you prefer, I went with 5mm smaller than the actual diameter because I like how it looks with the border. 

Card thickness is also pretty self explanatory, it controls the thickness of the grooves for the cards. Cards can only be so thick before they wont work, watch the back!

Finally we have puzzle tolerance. The size of the puzzle pieces scales with the size outerdiameter, but you can adjust the tolerance with this variable. 


 

To make the cards themselves there are a few more variables, those being lablewidth, lableheight, cardfeetwidth, cardspinewidth, cablewidth, cableheight, height and heighttolerence.

 

Label width and label height modify the size of the lable/ handle. Pretty simple.

Cardfeetwidth determines the width of the sides of the card. 

Cardspinewidth determines the size of the spine of the card. If you are using a small cable making this larger can make for a neater cable wrap.

Cablewidth and cableheight are for the notches to put cables into. I usually have width a little longer than height. If your cables are larger in size you might need to adjust cardfeetwidth as well.

Height is equal to the height of the inside of your spool -2mm, but this calculation is done in the sketch. You can use heighttolerence if you want but this can just be added to height as well.


Total print time is around 20hrs, 1.5hrs per groove plate and 30 minutes per card. 

The files included are for a 190mm outer, 61mm inner spool. Its cheap generic ebay PLA that I mostly print with. If you have spool requests send me the measurements and ill upload the files or download the .fbx if you have fusion and make your own :)

 

 

 

 

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