Successfully moving the gear boxes to eliminate back access?

[Haleyannesawho 0]

Obviously it sucks that Ultimakers require back access. I'm considering moving my gear boxes onto a different location of the printer (sides) so I can put them up against a wall. Has anyone else done this before? If so, were you successful? 

[CarloK 201]

Yes, multiple people have moved the feeders to different locations. I think I remember @Smithy mentioned he uses such a setup. Perhaps he can provide more details?

[Smithy 1,141]

I have nearly all my printers in a place where I can hardly access them from behind, but I haven't moved the feeder to a different location. It would be possible to do it, but you have to dismount the feeder stepper motor(s) and the feeder itself and move it to a different place outside. 

 

My solution is much easier, I just have the spool holders on the sides. Some stand alone spool holders and on some printers the spool holder is mounted on the case of the printer and hanging down from the top. In that case you don't have to drill holes or something else in the panels and you can within a minute revert to the original setup.  The feeder itself stays in its original position and it doesn't matter if the filament is now running over the corner. I did some tests with an additional Bowden to guide it over the corner, but that is not really needed.

 

 

 

 

[Smithy 1,141]

I made some pictures today, to get a better idea how it looks like:

 

Hanging on the side:

 

Standalone spool holder for the S5, because hanging is not possible due to the Air Manager:

 

Here my first version with a kind of filament guide over the corner, but that is not needed:

 

And you can place it also when there is only little space. I can still reach the feeder to put the filament in: