Frictionless Spool Holder

I've seen a number of spool holders, but none fully met my need so I designed my own. This is a "frictionless" spool holder that uses ball bearings and fits over a 1" wood dowel. I use this to hold my flexible filament to minimize the amount of friction feeding into my Raise3D N2 printer.

Made to fit the majority of spools. I've tested with MakerBot, NinjaFlex, Hatchbox, and Matterhackers.

The bearings are a little excessive and larger than what you'd need, but it works well. These parts could be modified to fit a smaller dowel size and bearing size to make it cheaper. Threads work right off the printer without any sanding needed.

I also used 3D printed hose clamps designed by jabixby that you can find here These work great to keep the spool from moving left and right on the dowel. I've included my STL files of these clips as I modified the diameter to better fit my dowel. There are two pipe clip files, you can print with either. One has a large gap to allow using support and a better finish, but both work.

• Pipe Clip v2 - print with support or,
• Pipe Clip v2b - print without support and use bridging

Print List:

• 1X threaded cap
• 1X threaded nut
• 2X Pipe clips

Purchase Materials:

• 2X McMaster ball bearings (part no longer available, but they have suitable alternatives)
• 1X 1" Hardwood dowel similar to this

Print Settings:

Printer: Raise3D N2

Rafts: Yes

Supports: Yes

Resolution: 0.15mm

Infill: 20

Filament: MakerBot ABS

Shells: 3

Post-Printing:

Remove support for where the bearings fit. I did not need any sanding of the threads and it worked right off the printer.

Designed using SolidWorks

Original Thingiverse link