With the continued growth of large format printers and also the increasing usage of 3D printing as a serial production tool, big filament spools are becoming more and more popular.
Filamentive offers XL filament spools in 2.3 kg, 4.5 and even 8.5 kg. These big filament spools are perfectly suited to large volume 3D prints, especially one-off items. They also enable more efficient 3D printing because it reduces the number of spool changes (if any) to complete a part. Because winding larger filament spools is cost-optimal, this manufacturing efficiency can be passed on in the form of lower cost per kilogram versus smaller, 1 kg spools.
As you can imagine, many will struggle fitting a giant 8.5 kg filament spool onto their existing spool holder! Because of this, it is necessary to create a modified spool adapter and often a standalone mount / holder.
Wales 3D printing service, Lunia 3D, solved their own problem and kindly shared their large spool holder fix online for other users to benefit from.
You will need :
- 3x 608zz bearings – One goes in between the two printed parts for extra balance.
- A 8mm rod – threaded should work fine
In their own words, “This spins perfectly smooth with zero drag!”
Cardiff 3D printing service, Lunia 3D, also created a wooden spool holder mount, which can be seen in the images – a simple design that can be easily replicated.
In addition to this, many Filamentive users using big filament spools have shared their own ingenious solutions online over the years – this Twitter search thread shows a few of them.
We also detail the specification of all filament spools in this Spec Sheet if you wish to design your own solution.