I can visually see distortion in my prints when using a spool holder mounted horizontal (top of the bot). The spool holder works fine, and the stepper can spin it, but I see degradation of print quality (filament starvation) when this is happening…. if I pre-unspool a little (so the stepper isnt having to tug it off the spool) the print quality improves. Has anybody been playing with alternatives to just the standard horizontal and vertical spool designs? Do any of the bearing based ones (for those of you who've tried those) seem to change this any? Just curious what I should try next. The t-slot based mounts look kind of intriguing.
I tried the spool holder on the top, side, front and back of my machine. I, too, have observed various distortions when the machine has to tug on the filament. The best performing holder is shown here: http://www.thingiverse.com/derivative:14976
The bright orange frame was purchased from Home Depot and modified. It isn't the best "looker" but it has performed perfectly with very little tension.
hey man here is a similar holder with the same concept which you can print, www.thingiverse.com/thing:12974
I haven't tried it yet but it's good looking and seems functional. Def, on my todo list.
I vote for the Home Depot cord reel too. I've been using it since day 1 and it's awesome. I didn't even print the riser parts, just mounted mine right on top of the makerbot with velcro ties. Then instead of printing a center spool holder, I got a 6 inch piece of round tubing and am using the 3rd hole from the top and I've never had a single issue. I painted the whole thing black, looks sweet too.
The fix is easy, just use the same tube design as the original filament boxes from MakerBot.
By using a tube and fixing the end at the spool, there is zero tension in any direction as the filament pulls into the filament drive of the extruder. Get some 1/4 in water line like for a refigerator icemaker. It's like a bowden filament drive but on the inlet side. Just like a bike cable the outer can be flexed while the inner pulls through effortlessly. The compression tension is felt at both ends but has no effect on the "pulling" of the extruder and Z stage.
See here http://www.thingiverse.com/derivative:2895
The idea is that any spool can be adapted. You just need a long enough piece of the tubing and a way to fix it at the spool end. A printed part with a hole or anything with a hole drilled in it large enought for filament to slide freely but no so big the tube can pull through. The fix that at the spool holder.
There is a wonderful idea for a spool holder in thingiverse. thing:13339. Sorry cant post the link but you can also search thingiverse with Eat or search thing 13339