RepRap: Builders

Three millimeter filament generally comes packed in two formats, first as ...



coils as seen with the four 5 lb lots of PLA at the seen on top of a standard shipping spool of ABS seen carrying 20 lbs and capable of carrying 40 lbs which is the second format.

While several solutions have been confected to deal with coiled filament, I wanted to use ABS directly off the spool. Having lived and worked in Guangdong in China for several years I became happily acquainted with the lazy susan tables which enabled hungry Cantonese dinner parties to load their rice bowls at dim sum restaurants with a minimum of fuss.

The ball bearing race mechanisms for such tables are readily available in larger US hardware stores for about $10.



I also bought a pair of precut plywood rounds at the same store. Once I locked the race down, I lubricated with a light oil spray.

What you wind up with is a mounting table for quite a heavy spool of ABS which uncoils with about an ounce of force.



I suspect that one could knock together a much smaller spool for coiled filament and use the lazy susan arrangement for those as well. Given that most extruders exert kilograms of force to push filament into the extruder barrel this arrangement shouldn't cause feed problems. I'll keep you posted on how it works out.