First Dry Box Completed... Or Is It...

Continued from a previous thread...
https://www.printerknowledge.com/threads/changing-the-dry-box-to-free-wheel.13078/

The steel bearings I was waiting on to complete my first Dry box arrived yesterday and I immediately installed them and completed the last few runners, and then prepared to seat and fit my new Filament reels, that I had held over since before Christmas.

That’s when I got one hell of a shock, the Filament comes in sealed boxes and you can’t tell what the contents looks like till there open, this is a Pic of the old and new boxes..
click to enlarge..

The Previous reels were made of plastic and I specifically converted this box for their use only, but someone in their wisdom in the REAL Factory had made other plans that I was not privy too. (Cardboard reel cores)
View attachment 8611


I reckon there must be something wrong with me because I can’t see how changing from Plastic reels to a Cardboard format can contribute towards cleaning the plastic mess on our planet.

The Company is selling Plastic Filament material to the public and now wants to be seeing as “Eco Friendly” by switching to cardboard cores, it’s like changings to paper drinking straws but still selling their drinks in plastic cups.

Back to reality, I have tested how much more tension it takes to pull filament from one of these cardboard reels and compared that to the old-style plastic ones, (A lot) and now I may have to convert this Dry Box back to using individual shafts like this..
this was made for my 2nd 3 reeled (Cardboard) Dry Box

It’s great when your plans go out the Window, and your back at square 1 again, I reckon its time to admit defeat and start the reconstruction of new pieces once more to enable the use of these new reels, these are the 4th different type of reel sizes I use.

No worries, I will post Pics of my new adventure when I construct the new bits and pieces needed to make this a proper reliable working Dry Box once more...

That sure is a purty box you got there.

The Hat said:

it’s like changings to paper drinking straws but still selling their drinks in plastic cups.

Click to expand...

Feck paper straws. We grew up on them and realized how much better plastic was, especially for spitballs. Thank you McDonalds.

My newer updated Dry Box and final Modification !

I didn’t want to waste time trying to print with the current setup in this Dry box, because I reckoned the extruder motor would be to strained to first pull the filament off the reel out of the box and then feed the filament down into the hot nozzle.

So once again I started a fresh, but this time only using 3 reels in this Dry Box instead of 4, there is plenty of room for 4 but if I’m going to make things easier, and it’s going to be less cluttered and easier to handle.

I started by making the existing wall brackets a bit wider for the bigger shafts I intended to use, and the same with the central support brackets, I made them wider taller and thicker.
click Pic to enlarge.
Because these new reels had a different core size I made new shafts and wide slide on insets to hold the reel firmly in place and when I had all the pieces printed it was time to put everything together.

Once I slid the cardboard reel onto the shaft with the insert holding it firmly on the other side, the reel sat snugly in place with very little side movement but were able to roll easy, I reckoned the job was done.

I placed the Silica pellet boxes with a Humidity monitor in the bottom and sealed the lid, placed the box into position near the printers ready for use tomorrow and by that time the humidity will have dropped considerable.


Another labour of love was complete, but I reckon this time it would handle the different filament reel sizes without having to alter anything again..