Rod Mounted Spool Roller System - Compact Setup for DIY Dry Box

I had printed these neat rollers I found on printables to use in my DIY dry box, but I could only fit 4 spools in a large Home Depot waterproof bin. In addition, they required quite a bit of printing time / material per spool roller, which I didn't love.

My new setup allows me to fit 6, and each spool can be removed individually.

Updates:

9/2024 - Added Drybox Barholder (see last pic)

Materials:

• 1/8" (3.15 mm) diameter metal rod
  • Got mine from Home Depot… about 4 bucks for 5 feet or so
• M3 screws (4 per spool)
• 608 Bearings (4 per spool)

Assembly:

Note: I designed for my 0.6 nozzle / PLA since that was loaded up at the time, so tolerances might vary.

1. Print 2 of each part and 4 washers for each spool
2. Put bearing on the posts and add a washer on top of each
3. Slide on female side and screw some M3 screws into the holes, but not all the way
4. Slide pairs of these onto the rods and space them as needed
5. tighten screws

Depending on your dry box and the positioning of it, you might run into a problem that I did: at the end of a spool when it gets light, it can pull off of the rollers, jam somewhere weird, and cause a print to fail. I added a bar in front of the spools to stop that (same size as main bar). I just superglued simple holders (see Drybox Barholder file).

Printing

I used PETG and a 0.4 nozzle, but I suspect about anything will work.

Design Notes

Version 1 worked but had a few issues - the rollers were too close, and the lack of a spacing washer introduced too much friction. Combined, this led to spools jumping off the rollers sometimes, and I just didn't trust it.

These are spaced further apart, and the addition of the plastic washer means the bearings spin much more freely. Also the male piece is taller to help make sure the spool can't jump out sideways.