Refill Spool with Filament Clip

Refill Spool with Filament Clip

If you’ve ever bought filament from a certain well-known manufacturer, you’ve probably noticed that the most beautiful and rare colors aren’t sold on spools, but rather as loose coils — what we typically call “refill coils.” To use them, you also have to purchase an empty branded spool separately. The issue is that one of these spools costs around €14, which is almost half the price of a full spool with filament (usually between €18 and €25).

The branded spool itself is excellent — it’s sturdy, visually appealing, and well-designed. But continuously paying for empty spools just didn’t feel very rational to me.

After all, I have a 3D printer — just like many of you — so I decided to design my own reusable spool that can hold a refill coil.

At first, I thought printing a spool would be time-consuming and complicated. I reviewed many existing models but eventually chose to design my own — one that would actually be convenient to use. The main idea was to make it lightweight and open-structured, so you can always see how much filament is left. This is especially handy if you’re using AMS (Automatic Material System). When you run out of a specific color and aren’t sure how much is left, you just glance through the frame — and it’s immediately obvious.

Another key improvement is the set of filament clip locks. With regular spools, you often have to wedge the filament into a side hole, bending it awkwardly and later trimming it off. In my version, there are three small clips located on one side of the spool. They barely stick out (about 1.5 mm) and hold the filament securely without kinks. That saves time and makes storage much easier.

I also added a slot underneath the transparent label, which includes a rough weight scale in grams. This allows you to estimate how much filament remains by simply looking at the spool.

I printed this spool using light gray PLA — it just looks clean, doesn’t cause visual clutter, and matches well with any type of filament you might be using. I used a 0.6 mm nozzle. For small features like the locks and clips, I used variable layer height to ensure sharp, clean details. No supports are needed. Just keep in mind: my slicer settings are fine-tuned to my specific printer — yours may behave differently.

Print time is moderate — not too long for something this size. For smoother surface quality, I enabled ironing mode. Naturally, that adds a good 30 to 40 minutes to the total print time. So if you’re in a hurry and don’t mind a slightly rougher finish, feel free to disable that setting in your slicer. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Compatibility

These spools are fully compatible with both the original refill coils and the manufacturer’s spools, including the locking mechanism.

You can see the spool in action on the video — how it looks and performs in real use.

See the video for details:

If you liked this thing - let me know by putting like!
 

Parts links below:

• Vacuum Sealing Bags
• Reusable Silica Gel
• Reusable Silica Gel 1

Links to used tools:

• NOGA deburring tool and Blades

My new machine:

My favorites:

Thank you for every tip or donation,
it means great recognition for me and helps a lot to keep going!

https://ko-fi.com/perinski

BTC: bc1qplpzq36ghw84hty4nn2zzu4ps4sdh4th0v93j8

ETH: 0xc766ebbeAa76aaf629788c8F99C33A8d80d48977

My some other things: