Sumpod 3D Printer With Reel Roller Rack

The more improvements and new features added to the Sumpod 3d printer the more I want to use the 3d printer, and adding better filament handling has gone a long way to improve the 3d printer’s ease of use.

The Sumpod’s sturdy construction has allowed me to set up a filament spool rack on the top of the printer, and adding filament feed brackets to guide the filament round to the extruder keeps friction to a minimum during the printer’s operation. This set-up will go a long way to reduce the printer’s set-up and shutdown time because the filament spool can now be left at the printer.

I’ve made the design files available for download from thingiverse should anybody want to use them. The design files might not suit all Sumpod 3d printer configurations, but the designs should provide inspirations to those looking to improve their own filament material handling.

Sumpod 3D Printer outside – are you mad!

Well, to get the best clear pictures, I make the effort to get the Sumpod outside. I have to make sure it’s a dry day though because getting the MDF case damp might upset the printer’s build platform levelling :). I’ve got more features and improvements lined up for this printer so it looks like I’ll be taking it outside a few more times yet.

And the Problems Before - Basically, I had to put the filament spool where I could get it, and that was mostly on the floor in front of the printer. The spool got kicked over a few times due to lack of space and people walking past, and when done printing, I had to remove the filament from the printer and put away the spool until needed next time. I also had to turn the printer side ways facing so that the extruder was a bit more in line with the filament spool. Which made it difficult to check the LCD screen on the front of the printer.

The solution to these problems will allow me to keep the filament set-up on the printer and have a permanent place for the Airtripper’s pocket reel rollers. Having a spool rack on the Sumpod will allow the printer to stay loaded with filament reducing set up and shutdown times.

Sumpod 3D Printer Spool Rack & Guides

Reel roller Rack and support close up

Reel roller Rack anchor screw to keep the Rack from tipping and moving.

Spool Rack - The spool rack legs stand on the ridge just inside the top edge of the Sumpod’s outer casing, and anchored down with small screws. There is an option to have four screws to anchor but I’ve just used one in each leg here. Once the anchor screws are in place there is no need to remove them to take down the spool rack, just slacken off the screws a bit and move each leg inward to remove or to place.

The spool rack shelf is just a scrap piece of 8.6mm ply measuring around 255mm by 100mm, basically the size to fit snugly inside the recess in the top of the Sumpod (after the legs are fitted), and the size to fit the Airtripper’s Pocket Reel Rollers. Having the spool rack stand inside the recess prevent sideways swagger, improving stability. M4 Wing nuts are used to attach the 100mm tall legs to the ply shelf which allows for easy and quick packing for transportation. Due to vibrations from the Sumpod during operation, it was necessary to fix the reel rollers to the shelf to avoid spools or reels toppling over the edge.

3D Printer Extruder Filament Guide

Filament Guide - Now that the 3d printer has a spool rack, I needed to set up a filament guide for the extruder driver on the back of the printer. The plan was to use existing fixtures to avoid drilling new holes or making new screw holes in back of the case, spoiling the paintwork.

I suppose any tube that has very low friction properties will do for the filament guide, I used PTFE tube since I have plenty to spare. Tube brackets are in place to hold the PTFE tube in position to guide the filament round to the extruder from the spool. Without a guide, the filament is at risk of folding or breaking when pulled round sharp bends.

I designed two tube brackets, one to fit on to the Airtripper’s Bowden Extruder and one to fit a case fixing bolt on the top corner of the Sumpod 3d printer. The 4mm o.d. tube is in two pieces where one piece fits between the brackets while the other is used to guide the filament in to the first bracket I call the in-feed. The out-feed bracket is the one attached to the extruder driver.

Conclusion

The spool rack is working very well and it is wide enough to hold more than one filament spool. However, narrow spools are at risk of toppling if the printer is used in an area where it could get disturbed, like people bumping in to the table that the printer is on. For a more secure set up, a spool rack could be made using screw rods that attach to the spool’s hub, similar to whats already out there but made to sit on top of the Sumpod 3d printer.

I can’t guarantee that the spool rack is fit for purpose and regular checks may be necessary. If I had to print these again I would make the rack legs a bit thicker and more robust, and I would also add another 20mm to the height to give the Hot End bowden cable more headroom.

The Files

Get the files from here: thingiverse

Out-Feed Bracket attached to extruder	In-Feed Bracket with Tube Guide for Filament Spool
Filament Reel Rollers on Rack with Spool	Filament reel rollers attached to Rack with one screw in each
Side View of Filament Reel Roller Rack	Sumpod 3D Printer with Filament Spool

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In this edition I am going to share the details of the new Z axis handle I’ve fitted on to the SUMPOD 3D Printer. I’m also going to demonstrate how easy it is to print your own Z axis handle. Although this edition is more catered for the SUMPOD owners, there are useful tips about printing tall items that any 3D Printer owner would appreciate.

I must admit, A Z axis handle was not a feature I planned to install, mainly because I did not fancy taking a hacksaw to my nicely painted printer, even if I was sticking my hand in the printer to manually turn the leadscrew. With many thanks to Mike at 3d-printer-kit.com, I now have a nice, shiny new hand made Z axis handle. Mike appreciated the work I’ve put in to Skeinforge to help him and other SUMPOD owners get their first 3D prints off the platform, and very kindly offered to make me a z axis handle.

The Z axis handle is certainly a nice feature to have, and it does help to get that last adjustment in, to get that nozzle just right above the platform during the skirt printing phase.
I would recommend any SUMPOD owner to fit a Z axis handle on their machine, and in order to support that recommendation further, I decided to see how easy it was to design and print one.

Designing the Z axis handle was done with OpenScad, which is a popular open source application used by many 3D Printer owners. This was my second attempt on the design because the first attempt failed during printing because of excessive warping, causing the print to topple over. Despite having a heated platform, the warping was not avoided. I think the warping was caused by a combination of slow printing speed and small footprint on a tall model.

I set about increasing the size of the footprint, a process quite easy in OpenScad, just by altering a few numbers in the code. In fact, a larger knob worked best for improved grip for operating the handle, and it looked better than the original design. Just to be on the safe side, I decided to add a plain around the handle to ensure stability during printing. If there is going to be any warping on the handle, the plain will keep the Z handle anchored down. Now I’m happy with the model, to increase printing speed, I decided to give the Marlin firmware a go. It took a couple of hours to set up, and made a successful test print at a much quicker pace than I could get with the Sprinter firmware, I was ready to go. Made a couple of changes in Skeinforge, because I’m using Marlin, I reduced layer time to 30 seconds under Cool and removed Z axis move from end.gcode file to avoid crushing the handle at the end of the print. I thought it was best to limit the print speed on the thin part so each layer has a chance to solidify before taking on more plastic.

The 3D print took a little under 4 hours and was a success, no warping in the handle, and the handle and plain was stuck down real good on the glass. As the heated glass platform cooled, you can hear the base of the plastic starting to dislodge itself. Soon, I was able to remove the handle from the glass bed. The plain snapped off the handle easily, leaving small notches behind. These were easily remove with a file. Putting a bit of electrician’s tape around the top of the Z leadscrew was enough to secure the handle in to position. As you can see in the picture above, the printed plastic Z axis handle and bezel look awesome!

Hope you enjoyed reading the first edition of 3D Printer Surgery. You will find more pictures and a video clip after the jump, the OpenScad and STL files for the Z Axis Handle and Bezel are available to download below.
The next edition of 3D Printer Surgery will be about lighting up the build area with dimmable L.E.D. lights.

Download OpenScad Z Handle and Bezel files

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

Cheap to buy did not mean cheap in construction. This 3D printer was expertly designed, with a case that is strong and rigid, providing a good solid foundation to produce fine quality 3D prints. The SUMPOD’s strong rigid construction also allows it to be re-purposed, changing it from a 3D printer to a router or mill. It’s milling capability is demonstrated in the youtube clip at the end of the post at 3D-printer-kt.com. I’m tempted to do some milling myself but I think the noise will be too much for the other household members.

I’ve tested it’s 3D printing capability and have been very pleased with the results. The Sprinter firmware was easy to configure and install and for the host software, I used ReplcatorG. RepSnapper was used to calibrate the filament extrusion while Skeinforge was used to generate the G-code. Skeinforge was the most difficult application to master, mainly because the amount of options available to configure. All the printing tests I’ve done have been based on models downloaded from the Internet which was a good way to test and configure the printer, and you have someone else’s print to compare to. I have since designed a model of my own for printing using a 3D application called OpenScad. Since I have some programming experience I thought I’d give it a go.

The SUMPOD 3D printer works great out of the box, capable of printing high resolution models as good as any other 3D printer out there in my opinion. Having said that, I will be looking to make improvements to some parts of the printer, I’ve already added a heated build platform and a Z axis handle. I’ll be posting the details of those improvements very soon.

To complete the introduction to the SUMPOD, there are more images after the jump.