Summary

Name: Ender 3 Stock Spool Holder With Bearings
Brand: Mymadmanlab
Price: 7.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Ender 3 Stock Spool Holder with Bearings by Zakazy Remix

A remix of the Ender 3 Stock Spool Holder with Bearings by Zakazy.

Inspiration / Design Choices

I originally liked his design the most, but after printing found the tolerances were a little too tight, and printing the parts was slightly difficult. I started from scratch using his design as a general reference.

Shaft
- Added notches to bearing housing to improve the tolerance issues
- Added cones to the interior bearing area to improve printability and ability to easily remove bearings
- Decreased overall length (Will probably increase this but did so to decrease print time)
Rod
- Decreased the diameter to improve tolerance issues
- Added bulges to bearing mount points to keep the fit snug.
- Switched from a threaded screw design to the stock fastener style
- Opted for a coned approach on the fastener section to again improve printability without the need for supports.

Print Suggestions

I had no issues printing the final design. For the Rod I ended up printing that with 8 wall line count and a 40% infill only because I had concerns that the rod being so small in diameter may cause issues with heavier spools, but in all my original testing i was at a standard 2 wall line count and 20% infill and had no issues.

For all my printing i stuck with the .2mm layer height which was the goal of my remix.

How I Designed This

First Timer Alert

            So I'm completely new to 3D printing and 3D design. I used the 3D Builder app on the Microsoft store. I was originally upset when I realized there's no easy way to do threading but when I looked at trying to use something like Fusion 360 it seemed a bit intimidating for a beginner. I just borrowed my father in law's calipers got some measurements and did a lot of tiny test prints analyzing single aspects of the print design part by part. I was originally going to have some sort of clamping system for the end of the rod to allow for the shaft to be placed and then locked somewhat, but after running into issues with the design and realizing the bulge added actually kept the bearings pretty secure I decided to scrap that entirely. For most of the print I just made the sections as cutouts and then from a larger cylinder subtracted the custom cutout from the barrel to get my part.
            
            Bearing Housing Design Iterations
                
            Bearing Rod Design Iterations
                
            Shaft Pushrod Clearance Example
                
            Bearing Fit Example