3D Printer Minimalist Filament Spool Holder

In my spare time i organize 3D Printer Assembling Workshops and in order to do so, i use the Buildersbot milling capabilities to mill Acrylic for the Prusa i3 Frame. I noticed that i am accumulating very fast a lot of acrylic left overs from this process.

So the idea for making the spool holder from acrylic came from the necessity for re-utilizing the leftover bits. The spool holder design is the result of trying to minimize the amount of acrylic used for each spool holder, so i immediately knew i was only going to use one side spool holder support.

The final minimalist design is the result of inspiration in the Prusa i3 unsupported frame, the M10 threaded rods and the 608ZZ Bearings, all components from the Prusa i3 and the spool holder.

For these reasons this spool holder should be called Prusa i3 Filament Spool Holder ;)

List of Materials:

- 10mm Acrylic sheet (20x20x1cm)

- 2 608ZZ Bearings

- 10mm threaded rod (24cm) (

- 8mm threaded rod (12cm)

- 12 units M10 nuts

- 8 units M10 washers

- 4 units M8 nuts

- 4 units M8 washers

The total costs are around 7€ for this awesome spool holder

The necessary tools:

- Hand saw (to cut the threaded rods)

- A nice file kit (to file the acrylic and the threaded rods)

The necessary Machines:

- A laser cutter for cutting the acrylic ( or below)

- A CNC router for cutting the acrylic

I am a fan of minimalist design. This design allows for different spools to be attached to the spool holder, it utilizes minimum materials and leftovers for a Prusa i3 Build. And as you will find out it allows for double spool holding without hardware modifications, for this reason it is also versatile piece of equipment.

The 3D printer Minimalistic Filament holder is composed by 3 Acrylic parts:

- 1 Acrylic Unsupported Frame

- 2 Acrylic Bearing Housings / Spool Spacers (that we shall call donuts from here on)

The filament holder has a 8mm hole on top and two 10mm tears on the bottom. The 2 Acrylic donuts have 22mm holes in the center to serve as housing for the ZZ608 Bearings.

You can either cut the acrylic using a laser cutter or a CNC or any other manner that suits you best.

The Acrylic donuts, have been milled to fit the ZZ608 bearings inside, it is a tight fit, use force to lodge them in place. The exterior diameter of the donuts should fit the interior diameter of your 3D printing filament spool.

Next you will need to fit the donuts inside the spool, one on each side. If the donuts are not tight enough, use some tape around the donuts to give it some volume in order to achieve a tight fit.

The next step is to insert the nuts and washers inside the M10 rod, as shown in the photo. After inserting the nuts and washers attache the Acrylic frame and tighten the nuts to achieve a nice stiff structure.

Now that we have a standing structure you need to insert a 8mm threaded rod inside the 8mm hole in the Acrylic frame. Next, insert the nuts and washers as shown in the photos. Now insert the bearings from the spool through the 8mm rod, insert a washer and nut to secure the spool in place.

The work is done here, enjoy your minimalistic 3D Printer Filament Spool holder.

Oh wait, i forgot to to mention that you can use the same stand to support 2 spools :)

As it turns out this design is very versatile, it allows you to attach 2 spools at the same time without much effort, you jest need to re-balance the 10mm and 8mm threaded rods and attach a spool to each side.