V2.0 Prusa MMU2 Filament Storage close to wall

-edit- you can combine this design with flexible pivoting through-puts of https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4902775

-EDIT- 31-10-2021 I designed support brackets for the 4mm PTFE tubes to support the filament exiting the dox. Choose variant "b" for parts 30, 31 and 32. It uses less filament, is easier to assemble and is stronger. Use two threaded rods M4 60mm and one one with length 95mm. See picture and CAD image how to assemble.

- edit - 30 jul 2023

• Made the holders for the threads a bit stronger: parts 10 and 12.
• Removed variant 11-b, 11-a is strongly recommended.
• Removed Variant 30,31,32-a: 30,31,32-b strongly recommended

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Apparently many people "liked" the version 1 box I uploaded.

This version is a slight improvement:

• It uses a minimal amount of plastic.
• Easier to mount spools.
• Spools are better "fixed" in place, in fact you can now turn the box upside bown to get something out.
• No pvc needed, instead it uses M8 threaded rods
• runs on standard bearings, the ones Prusa delivers with their MMU2 upgrade: much less friction compared to V1, that used PVC tubing.

And....Your Samla boxes are reused, just EXTRA holes in the sides, drilled with a jig / 3mm drill followed by a step drill bit.

The numbers of the parts denote where the part belongs to 00.... 10.. 20... 30... etc.

For each number you can use one of the variants denoted by "a, "b", "c" etc. The nX shows the amount of parts for one box.

See for the clever filament clips / caps: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3403370

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

Prusa

Printer:

i3 MK3 MMU 2

Supports:

No

Resolution:

0.20

Infill:

15%

Filament: Herz, 123D PLA & PETG

Notes:

I had bad experience with some filament thickness. For some 0.20 was difficult for the threads, sometimes 0.15 gave trouble. At least set the elephant food compensation to 0.15mm (or grind / polish / make the threads work otherwise.

How I Designed This

Fusion 360

Everything was designed in fusion 360

Drilling holes

For easy drilling I made a jig that fits in the carrying grips of a Sammla 22L box, see pic. Drill with a 3mm drill and choose 3 holes above each other (so do NOT drill all of them).

I also used the lig to mark positions for the filament throughputs as to have them at equal distance from the top. Make sure you do not drill to close to edges, you want part "21" to fit!

After drilling the 3,, pilot holes, use a step drill bit to get the final size, 15mm for the middle hole at the side and 18mm for the throughput holes at the front.

Jig in position, only choose 3 holes vertically aligned next to each other.

mark at same distance from the top. You can also use the jig for that.

Can you spot the 5 holes?

The hole at the front for the throughputs is also visible,

Also there is hole at the bottom (32mm) which holds a cheap temperature / hygrometer, which is also available from china, e.g. here: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32966936898.html

Prepare the roller

The sides of the Sammla box is at a 6 degree angle.

The "shined" rings, compensate for this angle and result in a perfectly horizontal mount for the M8 threaded rod.

Cut 33.3 cm from a M8 threaded rod. You can cut 3 from 1m length, to build 3 boxes.

Prepare the shined rings. Option "11-a" requires gluing in a piece of filament, option "11-b" has them printed, put the filament pin of "11-b" easily breaks off, I do not recommend variant b and have removed it.

mounting a holder on each side.

Use part "10" and one ring "11" and mount from the outside. The thick part "down" so that the ring is perfectly vertical. The pin/filament part snaps in the 3mm drilled hole.

Now fit another ring "11" on the inside,thick part "up" and fix with nut "12".

The result is a perfectly aligned holder for your M8 rod. These holder stay in place, also when you load/unload the M8 rod with the spools on it. No need to dismount them from the box!

inside

outside, M8 rod inserted

Prepare the M8 rod

Now set bearing positions on the M8 rod.

For each spool you need to prepare a section with two nuts, 2 bearings and two nuts with a ring that hold the spool into its location. See the photo. So start with the (leftmost) outer ring, then a bearing, next a nut to keep that bearing in place. Then mirror it for the righthand spool suppor: nit, bearing roller nut.

You can easily and quicly adjust positions if you attach a battery powered drill and to the rod and rotate it in the direction you want, while holding the nuts you want to move.

closeup of parts 14 and 15, holding the spool in its place.

Repeat this for all 3 or 4 spools.

It is imporant that your spools are nicely held in position by two parts "15".

rod ready for mounting, endcaps ready to be used.

Mounting the spools

Put the for spools on the rod, while holding the spools, insert them in the Sammla box, at an 30 degree angle first the left one, then push it though, bend the sammla box slightly outwards and insert the left rod. It will stay in position, resting on the fix mounts you scrwed in.

Ensure left and right end of the rod have the same amount of remaining thread.

Rod in position, ready for end caps

Screw in the endcaps

The M8 rod end caps "13" take the M8 rod and perfectly fit in the holes. Ensure you see the same amount of thread left and right.They can easily be wound by hand.

Throughputs in the box

The throughputs are the same as for version 1, see my thing 3172330 here.

There is one improvement: it now uses 10mm Pneumatic couplers (part "20a" that can feed the 4mm PTFE tube through. It means you can have the tube all the way to the center of your spool. If your spools run too "smoothly" you can have the PTFE tube touch the filament.

If you have ordered the 10mm pneumatic couplers, but do not want to wait, use the "20" optional festo replacers. They fit in part "20" instead of the Festo, but use friction and do not need a real pneumatic coupler. Use a 10mm wrench or pliers to assemble it. Only the "hex" nut part sticks out.

Remaining parts

For assembling the angle holders (30, 31 and 32) see my other description for thing 3172330

I do recommend variant 30, 31, 32-b and remove variant 30,31,32-a. Variant B requires pieces of M5 threaded rod, but requires lots less PLA and the studs of variant b broke off quite easily. 

 here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3172330. The same applies to the PTFE guidance for the LACK table (part "40").

For the filament caps, I redesigned them. Now they also work as a spool clip AND hold an NFC chip to identify the filament. They are published separately, here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3403370

Category: 3D Printing