If anyone is interested I’ve created a mini master spool based on @Richard_Horne awsome master spool here ya go. can be printed on a 120 x 120 bed.
Will this hold a full coil though?
Ahhhh standards, there’s so many to choose from!
We would need a standard for different size spools. 850g max, 500g max, and 250g max?
@Lukas_Mathis yes but the design cannot be used by machines with less than 200 mm travel in X or Y which is a large portion of the market. So if users of these smaller printers want to use the Masterspool system they need to be able to print smaller spools, which would hold less filament. 500g is a pretty common spool size and 250g would work for the especially small printers. But yeah if you have a larger printer then by all means just use the full size 850g spool; that’s why I said the weight of filament the spools could hold is a maximum weight.
Thinking more about it we could probably just get by with a 850 g spool and a 500 g spool.
@Lukas_Mathis I kinda see what you’re getting at but I disagree for the following reasons.
-
The printed spools will cost more time, money, and facilities for manufacturers. This will increase the price of spooled filament and make it less likely for manufacturers to adopt the program if they have to provide printed spools.
-
Printing a full spool in parts and using glue to assemble it is not a reasonable thing to expect users to do on a regular basis, it’s just too time consuming to post-process something like that. Additionally with poorly calibrated printers you could get parts that don’t fit well leading to the spool to not spin smoothly or fall apart.
-
Many manufacturers already sell multiple spool sizes so they should already have the facilities to accomodate different Masterspool sizes. Ridid.Ink sells 3 sizes of spools not including samples. Also, many manufacturers only sell spools of filament with 500g of material.
A smaller size Masterspool just makes sense. It meets the size needs of the consumers with smaller printers and manufacturers who want to sell 500g or less spools.
@Lukas_Mathis Current spools aren’t compatible with Masterspool filament coils so if they want to use injection molding they’ll need to design a new spool and pay for a new mold.
I still don’t think glueing spools is a reasonable expectation for users, regardless of how many they need.
My point is that the fragmentation already exists, and a full conversion to Masterspools will either keep fragmentation constant or decrease it. Consumers already have to worry about filament diameter, if a manufacturer doesn’t suppport Masterspools then it it shouldn’t affect anyone, and smaller and full size Masterspools would work for all printers. The full size spools are just too large for smaller printers. Shipping 500g or less coils on full size Masterspools is going to cost more than using the current injection molded ones.
The little spool you linked to is a great version with lower material waste but even if you rotate the little spool it still requires a bed larger than 175 x 175 mm. There needs to be a spool that can be printed on 100 mm square beds. Consumers with printers this small will just be limited to purchasing filament in smaller quantities, something many manfucaturers already provide.
I don’t have anything this small but by ignoring these consumers is ignoring a large portion of the market.