Collapsible spool holder with bearings (Anycubic i3 Mega)

There are no more things than spool holders. And yet here's another one for the Anycubic I3 Mega. It might be a little bit over-engineered. Basically if one remixes the plate part this can be used on other machines, too.

I wanted the spool to be as much free running as possible. As I have another machine, which has pretty good designed holders, I choose to adapt that design. Additionally I tried to make the holder collapsible. In collaped state the holder will not make the printer wider.

You will need one of each part: plate, mount_round, mount_angular and mount_dome. The dome will fit into mount_angular. The round and angular mount will fit together. For actually holding a spool two LARGE_SPOOL_MOUNT.stl are needed.

There are additional parts required:

• 2x M8 x 70mm screw
• 4x 8mm (unsealed) bearing (type 608)
• 6x M8locking nut
• 2x 8mm steel ball
• 2x 25mm x 6mm spring
• 2x M3 x 10mm bolt
• 8x M3 x 25 bolt
• 8x M3 nut

Print Settings

Rafts:

No

Supports:

Yes

Resolution:

0.15-0.2

Infill:

20%-25%

Notes:

Mount parts should be rotated by 90° before slicing. Use touch bed supports for them. This reduces support material.

I suggest to leave the spool mount parts as is and use supports everywhere. Then some of the support material at the inside of the mounts even can stay there.

Plate and dome can be printed as they are in the file. Use touch bed support for plate too.

Post-Printing

Plate

• put one M8 bolt into the plate part from the back
• put one bearing onto the bolt
• screw one of the locking nuts onto the bolt until it fixes the bearing
• screw a second nut onto the bolt
• leaveexactly a gap of 14.25mm between the nuts (use calipers)
• place a second bearing on the bolt
• screw a third nut onto the bolt and fix the second bearing
• check: there should be a gap of 30mm between the bearings

Mount

The mount consists of th parts mount_round, mount_angular and mount_dome.

for each mount half:

• place a 8mm steel ball in the tube
• slide in a spring
• tension the spring using a fine screw driver, allen key or equal
• screw in a M3 x 10mm bolt to keep the spring in place
• (I know this is tricky)

The ball should be visible at the opening and there should be a pretty good tension when pushing the ball in.

• place the second M8 bolt into the angular half
• place the mount_dome onto the bolt
• proceed like you did with the plate part
• (bearings, nuts, measurement)
• place the two halfes on the bolt of the plate part. They should match the bearings. Try to rest the steel balls in the sinks.
• screw them together using M3 x 25mm bolts and M3 nuts. (You might prepare the nuts before if they fit tightly.)

The mount should rest in one of the two positions and be movable to the other position with some force.

Spool holder

As you might guess now, place two halfes of LARGE_SPOOL_MOUNT on the previously finished mount and screw them together with M3 x 25mm bolts and M3 nuts. The spool holder should turn quite easily.

At last you need to put that whole thing onto the printer. The mounting holes should match the screws an the front right gantry near the SD card. You might change the screws to M3x8mm.

Usage

As you build it, the usage might be obvious now. Turn the holding arm by 90° to allow a spool to be placed onto the holder. The filament should start at the bottom. When the machine prints, the spool gets turned counter-clockwise.

How I Designed This

I created this based on the spool holder of my other machine. I therefore remixed some of the parts as they are distributed freely.

I remixed the parts

• LARGE_SPOOL_MOUNT.stl
• SPOOL_MOUNT_BASE.stl

from thing https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1450175/

Additional information

You might be interested in the pictures at https://manuals.velleman.eu/article.php?id=7