Can I wind PLA filament onto a different spool to fit my Flashforge?
August 17, 2017 9:05 AM Subscribe
I recently purchased PLA filament for a Flashforge Finder printer. After extensive research I ordered some spools, but didn't think about the width of the spools and how that would relate to the internal width that my small printer can hold.
Once I'm finished with one color of PLA on my Flashforge printer can I wrap the spool with another color of filament since it doesn't seem to fit in my printer?
For complicated reasons this will be a difficult purchase to return, so wrapping a spool actually seems easier in this case.
Any other solutions? I've thought about finding something at home that I could set the other spool on that would let it 'spin' or unwind as it fills into the printer.
If I just need to return this and get something else feel free to let me know.
Once I'm finished with one color of PLA on my Flashforge printer can I wrap the spool with another color of filament since it doesn't seem to fit in my printer?
For complicated reasons this will be a difficult purchase to return, so wrapping a spool actually seems easier in this case.
Any other solutions? I've thought about finding something at home that I could set the other spool on that would let it 'spin' or unwind as it fills into the printer.
If I just need to return this and get something else feel free to let me know.
Response by poster: I love how there is a solution that involves printing something with the printer. Thanks, I'll love into it.
posted by aetg at 11:20 AM on August 17, 2017
posted by aetg at 11:20 AM on August 17, 2017
My father has a Prusa, and he printed out some better spool holders that attach to to the top of printer.
In fact, after a few seconds of searching, I found the same kind of thing for your printer.
Edit: Ah, looks like Stacy has the same idea. But yeah, I'm sure Thingiverse has a whole bunch of different solutions to your issue.
posted by sideshow at 7:36 PM on August 17, 2017
In fact, after a few seconds of searching, I found the same kind of thing for your printer.
Edit: Ah, looks like Stacy has the same idea. But yeah, I'm sure Thingiverse has a whole bunch of different solutions to your issue.
posted by sideshow at 7:36 PM on August 17, 2017
This thread is closed to new comments.
"My Dremel Idea Builder is in the same boat--spools inside the unit are bounded on both radius and depth and it really limited the selection of spools I could buy.
I decided to go outside the box so to speak and hang the spools above from the underside of a shelf. This lets me use whatever size of spool I want and for my printer this makes it way easier to change them out.
The rod is an aluminum rod I got from Home Depot and cut down to size. The blue bracket pieces I downloaded from Thingiverse and printed out. I'm having trouble locating the link for that thing right now, but if you go there and search for "spool holder" you'll find all sorts of different approaches--wall mount, printer mount, desktop."
(He sent along a picture of his setup too but I'm on dodgy wifi and having trouble uploading it to somewhere easily-linkable right now. I'll get it online later if you want to see it.)
posted by Stacey at 10:09 AM on August 17, 2017