Filament Clip

I’m a beginner in 3D printing so bear with me.

At my work we have an Ultimaker 2 printer, which I used to print the Filament Clip I designed. We have all different kinds of coloured filament lying around, and all the different filaments are lose on their spools…

I really like a cleaned up desk, so I went to Thingiverse to search for a filament clip to tidy up the place. On Thingiverse I found all different kinds of clips that would work, but I had something different in my mind. That's the reason why I designed this clip. You can just simply click de Filament Clip on and off your filament.

I designed and modeled the clip in Illustrator and Cinema 4D.

You can download the finished model as an .stl file on Thingiverse. Or you can model it yourself. You can download a .svg and .ai file on the bottom of this step.

If you import one of these files in the 3D software of your choosing, and extrude it 8mm, you should have the finished model.

Now export the model to an .stl file to prepare it for 3D printing.

Link to download the model: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1630405

If you want to print the model, first you’ll have to slice your model in a slicing program. The slicing software calculates how many layers are required and the coordinates to where it needs to print on the platform of your 3D printer.

The slicing software I use is Cura. Cura is developed by Ultimaker, but it can also be used by other 3D printers. I don’t know a lot about the advanced printer settings, so I just stay at the basics.

Import the model into Cura.

Be sure the model is laying on it’s flat side just like the picture above. Also check if the size of the model is the same size as the picture above. You can use the High or Ulti Quality because there’s gonna be some force on the model, but you don’t want it to break so easily.

If you’re all done with the settings you can save your project as a .gcode file.

Now you have a .gcode file. This is the file your 3D printer needs to print the model. Once your print is done you can use the Filament Clip to tidy up your filament spools.

If you have any tips to improve the model or printing process, or have any questions, please let me know in a comment bellow.

Enjoy your Filament Clip and vote for me if you like this instructable!

Link to download the model: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1630405