Summary

A Spool cradle for Mendel style printers, and Ultimachine filament spools.

A companion piece for Akimbo - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:28431

After having my spool roller bind up one too many times, I decided it was time to make a spool cradle that didn't bear against the outer edge of the spool.

This spool cradle is designed for use with Ultimachine spools - some adjustment will be needed for spools with different widths, or with a different size of center hole.

Instructions

Vitamins - spool hub:

Â Â Â Â Â Â 1x M8 threaded rod - 150mm
Â Â Â Â Â Â 2x M8 nut.

Directions - spool hub:
Â Â Â Â Print 2 spool hub halves (spool_hub.stl)
Â Â Â Â Push M8 nuts into the nut traps, assemble onto the spool.

Vitamins - cradle:

Â Â Â Â Â Â 6x M8 threaded rod - 150mm.
Â Â Â Â Â Â 2x M8 threaded rod - 200mm.
Â Â Â Â 32x M8 nut.
Â Â Â Â 32x M8 washer.
Â Â Â Â Â Â 4x 624zz roller bearing.
Â Â Â Â Â Â 4x M4 x 25 bolt.
Â Â Â Â Â Â 4x M4 nylock nut.

Directions - cradle:
Â Â Â Â Print two sets of cradle parts (spool_cradle.stl)
Â Â Â Â Push the 4 M4 nylock nuts into their nut traps.
Â Â Â Â Attach the 4 624zz roller bearings with M4 x 25 bolts.
Â Â Â Â The rest of the frame assembly is much the same as a Mendel printer.
Â Â Â Â The distance between the inner faces of the vertices should be 90mm.
Â Â Â Â The distance between the frame triangles should be adjusted for your particular spools.

Akimbo Spool cradle