Years ago I designed a spool holder for the side of an old printer I had. Since then I printed a few more. While it worked fine, I realized that it was just too bulky and used a lot of filament to print. I was going to print it again for a small 180x180 printer I was getting and decided to completely redesign it.

After getting my first Bambu Lab X1 Carbon, I realized that the spool holder on the back of the printer was going to quickly become annoying. So I printed another one so I can have the spool to the left side of the printer. It has worked out well and thought that others may find it useful.

It has worked with every spool I use that is 1kg or less without any issues. This prints in one part, so no assembly is required.

Is there a need for another spool holder? Who knows. Many spool holders are designed to be attached to the printer. While this is fine in some cases, there are printers where this is not advised, or even possible. That is why I use this spool holder on some of my printers. I designed this for myself, but like most of my prints, I felt that others may find it useful.

I designed this to be strong. The hole down the middle of the part that holds the spool gives more strength than if I left it solid. Additionally, chamfers and fillets are used on all the edges to provide even more strength.

The first image is a render done in Cinema 4D using the Arnold renderer. The next picture is of an actual print.

Printing Directions

The print is oriented properly for printing. No supports are needed. If you choose to slice this yourself, increase the parameters to at least four and use an infill of at least 20%. I printed my last one in ABS but PETG has also worked well for me in the past. This is designed to be printed in PLA which is what I have used the most.

Final Thoughts

I have used the original design for many years without any issues, but I now just use this latest version. Please let me know if there is anything that I could do to improve this.