Question regarding the filament holder

When attaching the filament holder I found that the filament holder tube rotated freely until I tightened the screw. As I am printing my first model I am finding that the filament reel does not rotate easily as it is heavy and there is quite a lot of friction between the reel and the tube it rests on. Is the feeding mechanism strong enough to pull the reel until it rotates or was I supposed to leave the screw a little loose in order to create a roller for the filament? I assume it is to be kept tight as I would expect the screw to loosen over time. I just have a hard time imagining the weight of the reel not causing feed problems.

The feed mechanism is strong enough to pull the spool over and around in my experience, but if it bothers you, you can print a spool holder or just slip in a couple of 608 bearings (typically used for skateboards), which have an interior diameter that juuuust fits over the built-in filament holder.

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Thanks, you both made me less nervous about my current print AND gave a cool idea for a mod. I was aware of the many options for spool holders but the skateboard bearings are an awesome idea. It would definitely make me feel more at ease if the spool could rotate freely. Thanks for your help.

Iā€™m with you on this one - I didnā€™t like the friction. My older machine was the more traditional style (the print heat moved in both X and Y, and the bed lowered for Z) and too much filament tug would not only result in the filament slipping, Iā€™d even lose Y axis steps and my prints would ā€˜leanā€™.

With the enclosure (you didnā€™t mention if you have one) itā€™s even more friction since the filament also routes thru the enclosure side hole / grommet.

As someone else mentioned, bearings (I used ones for rollerblades at first) barely fit over the shaft. Another option is a printed roller support kind of like this one (print 4 of the spheres and the one umā€¦ā€˜supportā€™ :wink: - from there it should be obvious - the holes for the spheres might be a bit oversized but I got a 1/8th stainless rod thru there and then used a gel superglue to affix it at the ā€˜openā€™ end only, be careful not to glue the balls to the rod as you want them free-rollingā€¦)

spoolmount_rollerball_ball.stl (357.3 KB) spoolmount_rollerball_ballsack.stl (96.5 KB)

Iā€™d also STRONGLY recommend a filament guide of some kind. When the machine goes ā€˜homeā€™ sometimes the filament pops over to the wrong size of one of the Z rails. Hereā€™s an image of mine, itā€™s too big to upload here as a file for some reason (probably all the blends). If you want Iā€™ll upload to Thingiverse or thereā€™s others available. You might remix the one part to extend the ā€˜loopā€™ a little longer, itā€™s worked for several prints for me so far but I keep thinking I might reprint it, eventually.

OH I should add, if you do go some sort of bearing or better roller route, watch at first with ā€˜fullā€™ reels for it ā€œfreewheelingā€ too much and popping loops over one side of the spool to get trapped between the spool and the support arm. Definitely a problem with too little friction, but in my book a far easier problem to deal with. I am still paranoid and just donā€™t let my printer print unattended 90% of the time.

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Hello,
I also think that the filament support is a bit small and uncomfortable, taking advantage of the first test impressions of my Snapmaker 2.0 350, I have designed a support that I have printed in PETG, it is fixed to the Z axis on both sides, distributing the filament roll weight, I have added a 25mm tube. made of aluminum, so I have a larger and more comfortable base where the filament roll slides freely, I hope my idea will help you.


This reducer can also be used to further adjust the friction of the filament roll

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Nice design, esp if users donā€™t have the enclosure. This is very similar to my chosen roller position and orientation on my old machine, spool axis parallel to Y, above and slightly behind. You can even put multiple spools on left to right and swap out easily (although with the SM2.0 Iā€™m not sure how much weight you want hung off the top of the 2 Z rails).

Very nice. I was thinking about doing something similar. would you be willing to share your files?

Thanks for the details and pictures!

Hello, thanks for your comment, yes of course I attach stl files.

I hope you like them.

SOPORTE_FILAMENTO_D.stl (360.0 KB) SOPORTE_FILAMENTO_I.stl (360.0 KB)