I keep a roll of paper towels and a bottle of alcohol beside my MK3S+ to clean the build plate between printings. When I saw another entry into this competition that added the paper towel holder directly to the frame of the printer, I thought that was a great idea, but I didn't want it right above my print bed.

Design Overview

This design clips onto either end of the upper part of the frame using a similar clip mechanism to the spool holder that came with the machine. I feed my printer from a filament heater beside it, so I have a filament guide that clips onto the upper middle portion of the frame. So my paper towel holder has enough extra height to hold the roll above that filament guide.

The inside of the frame is slightly shorter than the rolls I had on hand, so I extended the mounting frame a little bit to give it plenty of clearance. I added cutouts for the frame edge and for the z-axis guides. There's also a cantilevered spring to hold pressure against the bottom of the roll to keep it from unrolling on its own.

Variations

The photos in the picture are of my original design that uses a simple rounded-end beam on one end to retain the roll. It works fine, but the roll ends up at a little angle because one end is being forced upward by the retention device and the other isn't.

I also added a second variation where both the left and right pieces use the half-ball end retention piece. I haven't printed it as part of this towel holder, but I did print it on another one I made and it works well. If I were to print again, I would use this design because I think it's better looking.

Print Instructions

The pieces need to be oriented on the print bed so the holder rod is up. There are two small parts where support is required on the clip - I used the support painter in the Prusa slicer to add the supports. It was very easy to remove. There's some risk of the retention pieces wobbling while printing, so if you have trouble with getting a clean print here, you might need to add more supports to that beam.

I printed in black PETG with 0.2mm layer thickness. I suggest PETG for the strength and flexibility.

Reloading