Dual Filament Roll Stand

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zemlin
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Dual Filament Roll Stand

Post by zemlin » Mon Sep 05, 2016 2:04 am

Putting the cart a little before the horse here ... been trying to come up with an idea for a stand for two rolls of filament. Something fairly simple and compact. This came to mind today after I designed the little ball bearing roller for a kayak part I built this morning.
The rollers are designed with races for 3mm balls - and the ball bearing rollers include retainers to control the bearing balls - 7 balls per roller. Dimensional accuracy of the build is critical for the bearing races - but I've been working on getting accurate parts and have that down pretty good these days.

The arms to the outriggers will be 3/16" steel rods. I'll press or glue them in the holes in the outriggers. The build (ABS) is running now and should be done by morning. I'll have to run out and pick up some steel rod so I can assemble it.
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ednisley
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Re: Dual Filament Roll Stand

Post by ednisley » Mon Sep 05, 2016 1:39 pm

zemlin wrote: Dimensional accuracy of the build is critical for the bearing races
Even 3 mm balls will come out chunky and jam in the races. Perhaps roller bearings would work better?

I'd be sorely tempted to buy a pack of real bearings:
https://www.amazon.com/Bearing-Shielded ... 002BBIC6K/

Those run just over a buck a pop from VXB, a reliable supplier, but it's hard to go wrong with even the worst precision bearing; ABEC-1 / Class 6X would be overqualified. Skateboard bearings are cheap, readily available, and come in convenient eight-packs:
https://www.amazon.com/Sector-PDP-Abec- ... B001LNZRTY

Metal dust shields work just fine, although the additional drag from snug plastic seals might be a Good Thing in a filament feeder:
http://www.gobearings.com/shields.htm

Print a fancy belly band for each bearing to keep the spool from wandering away.

You could go nuts with aluminum:
https://softsolder.com/2010/09/01/impro ... tensioner/

Image

I ran those on my bike for nigh onto five years and they're still in great shape...

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zemlin
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Re: Dual Filament Roll Stand

Post by zemlin » Mon Sep 05, 2016 1:55 pm

ednisley wrote:
zemlin wrote: Even 3 mm balls will come out chunky and jam in the races. Perhaps roller bearings would work better?
I'm not printing the balls - I'm using stainless 3mm ball bearings. Works great so far. I hear ya' on buying real bearings if this doesn't work out - but there's some satisfaction in the challenge.

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ednisley
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Re: Dual Filament Roll Stand

Post by ednisley » Mon Sep 05, 2016 5:55 pm

zemlin wrote:but there's some satisfaction in the challenge
We're in the same corner of that! [grin]

A pair of these would look spectacular on a shaft through the middle of a spool, particularly with the OD scaled to fit the spool ID:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:53451

Image

They pop off the platform ready to use, roll smoothly, and make a great fondletoy...

Roll on!

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zemlin
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Re: Dual Filament Roll Stand

Post by zemlin » Mon Sep 05, 2016 9:54 pm

Here's the complete assembly. Confession - even though the rollers spin quite freely, the friction between the spool and the rollers is so low they are more likely to slide on the spool than roll.
Don't know what's going on with my phone pics that the thumbnail comes in upside down.
IMG_2410.JPG
Last edited by zemlin on Mon Sep 05, 2016 10:02 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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zemlin
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Re: Dual Filament Roll Stand

Post by zemlin » Mon Sep 05, 2016 9:55 pm

ednisley wrote:A pair of these would look spectacular on a shaft through the middle of a spool ...
That's a pretty cool gizmo.

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Jules
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Re: Dual Filament Roll Stand

Post by Jules » Mon Sep 05, 2016 9:56 pm

That's very nice! Great job on it! :D

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ednisley
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Re: Dual Filament Roll Stand

Post by ednisley » Tue Sep 06, 2016 12:03 am

zemlin wrote:friction between the spool and the rollers is so low
One wrap of silicone tape or snap an O-ring (or two or three) into the groove so the spool rides on the ring(s).

But, hey, sliding supports could get you all the way to the goal...

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zemlin
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Re: Dual Filament Roll Stand

Post by zemlin » Tue Sep 06, 2016 12:36 am

ednisley wrote:But, hey, sliding supports could get you all the way to the goal...
That's kinda' where I'm at ... yeah, I could make the rollers roll, but it won't make it work any better.
If it ain't broke ... ...

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