One spool to rule them all...

[conz 0]

Hi,

there is a nice project by "RichRap" (Richard H) to find a standard for filament spools. "One spool to rule them all..."

I think it's worth to support his initiative.

His Blog-post:

http://richrap.blogspot.de/2014/03/universal-3d-printing-filament-spool.html

You can find him on twitter: @RichRap3D

I saw, that Ultimaker is following him already. I hope they stay in contact and Ultimaker will join his vision.

Some makers here have printed own spools.

Could you add your experiences and ideas about a standard for spools in his thread in the RepRap forum?

http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?262,324209

I'll send him a link to this thread here, for the case, that you don't want to join some other forum.

What do you think about his initiative?

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

I think it's a good idea. As long as the one spool size is reasonable (looks as if bending issues were taken into account)...

However there will hardly be just one spool size as e.g. 100m and 2.2kg is quite a different amount of filament and thus requires different spools. But at least one should get rid of these silly small spools where you can throw away the last third...

The proprietary spool systems of other 3D printer manufacturers will of course stay the same. But hey, everybody has to find his own way to make himself unhappy... :wink:

 

[conz 0]

The bending issue is one point he is targeting.

IMHO If the only result would be a standard connector size, than the initiative was worth it.

Nice article about the project by Gigaom: http://gigaom.com/2014/03/17/is-it-time-for-a-standard-3d-printer-spool-size/

 

Is it time for a standard 3D printer spool size?

The short answer is yes; yes it is. But not everyone, including some of the leading companies in the market, agrees.

 

 

[takei-naodar 0]

The proprietary spool systems of other 3D printer manufacturers will of course stay the same. But hey, everybody has to find his own way to make himself unhappy... :wink:

 

Cubify?

 

[yellowshark 153]

Good article and worthy campaign, perhaps he could tackle 12v adaptors too - how many have you got!

Personally it is not a big issue for me as I use mostly Faberdashery loose coils (in preference to spools). He talks about fighting with 300m of loose coil - which is a bit stupid. Faberdashery let you buy as much as you want. I have settled for max of 50m. I find this manageable. On first use I lay it on the floor and recoil it to ensure there are no tangles, sometimes there are. After use I fit two cable ties and put the coil into the supplied polythene bag and it is 100% ready for the next use.