Ikea Omar Wire Rack Articulated Filament Guide

Ok… this one is a bit specific; stay with me.

I have my Prusa Mini+ sitting on an Ikea Omar metal wire shelf unit. (But… this will work on anything with 1" diameter round legs/supports.)

I keep my filament in a Sunlu filament dry box next to the shelf unit, and route the filament to the printer via a PTFE tube. I wanted something that could route and manage the tubing while accommodating any z-height, so I whipped up this articulated filament guide.

A collar clamps to a leg of the shelf unit. A print-in-place articulated rotating guide sits on a mast that can be moved up and down in the collar and secured via a knurled knob.

The articulated head rotates with the rising and falling of z-height. The head's sweep should accommodate most z-heights.

The assembly is split into three files to customize print settings to each set of parts: mast, collar(s), screws (aka bolts). The collar file includes four designs. Print them all to decide which one works for you, or only print the one you like best.

The threads will feel slightly tight on first threading, but will smooth out by doing some tighten/loosen cycles.

You may want to experiment with the print orientation of the bolts. Printing them vertically results in the nicest-looking print, but probably isn't the best for strength. And while you don't need these to carry any real load, I have broken one of the collar bolts by over-tightening with just my fingers (using PLA). 

Revision History:

v1 2023-08-04: Initial version

v2 2023-08-06: Updated “short” collar file to v3 which includes an offset face on all threads, making it much easier to hand-tighten. (It was hit-or-miss previously). Removed “tall” version of the collar; it was overkill.

v3 2023-08-07: Updated to a single collar file with four designs. Standardized face offsets across all collars.