3D Printer Tool/Spool Holder

After I got my first 3D printer, I became obsessed with it. My favorite thing to print is little statues. What could be more fun than printing my own collectables?

Printing these figurines often involves using supports to ensure a quality print. Removing those supports and the material left behind was an immediate problem for me. I purchased a tool set to help with those issues, and was met with a new problem: Where do I keep the tools?

This was my solution. Also, because I like to keep things together I decided to include a spool holder. I also like to have the ability to customize. I considered some different options but I thought an easy solution for the tool holder pieces would be easily customizable 3D printed pieces. I'll include the stl files from my pieces, but you always have the option to create your own.

1 in. x 4in. x 4ft. Pine boards (2 should be plenty)

3/4in. Poplar Dowel Rod

Drill and Drill bits

1-1/4 in. Flat Head Screws Wood screws

3D Printer

Access to fusion360(Optional)

Preferred Saw(Handsaw, circular, etc.)

One of the most important parts of this project for me was to have a tool holder that I could easily change. For some reason my mind went back in time to when I used to work in a department store, and I would routinely reconfigure different displays. I thought if I could easily slide some tool holding part around on some base that would be ideal. So I decided to design such a thing on fusion360. You could also do this in solid works I believe, but I'm not familiar with that software.

• Open a new project in fusion 360
• Select "Create Sketch"
• Select the bottom plane at the origin
• Select the 2 point rectangle tool
• Draw a square with the dimensions 30mm x 30mm
• Press the 'e' button on your keyboard, and click on the sqaure sketch
• Type in a a value of 30 mm
• You should now have a 30mm x 30mm x 30mm cube. Congratulations!
• Once again click on "Create Sketch", and choose the top face of the cube for your plane
• You can do any shape you need for your tools, I'm doing a circle
• Once you have your sketch, press the 'e' key again. Type in a value of -30 mm, and you now have a hole in your cube. You fit as many as 12 of these this holder design.

I'm including the stl files you need in case you don't want to do this step.

For this project you'll need the following pieces:

1in. x 4in. Pieces

• 3--2in. cuts
• 4--7 in. cuts
• 2--8 in. cuts

1in. x 1in. Pieces

• 2---5 in. cuts
• 1---7 in. cut

Mark where you'll be cutting and cut with your preferred saw. Just make sure your cuts are square.

Once you do that, I suggest you organize the pieces as shown in the images provided. When we assemble we'll do it in 3 parts.

Before you move on to assembly I suggest you print your cubes.

Before you attach things together make sure your cubes will sit well in this configuration. Once you confirm that they will fit, you can start attaching things.

• Line up your 2 inch pieces, and clamp them to the base.
• Drill pilot holes through the bottom, and into the 2 inch pieces
• Screw the 2 inch pieces to the base
• Use a clamp to keep the back piece flush with the base/2 inch pieces
• Drill pilot holes through the back into the 2 inch pieces
• Use screws to attach the back piece to the base

The cutting mat holder sits in the back behind the base. For this you'll use one of those 7 inch pieces and the 7 inch cut of 1in. x1in. wood. Then we'll attach it to the base using the last piece of 7 inch wood.

• Clamp the your mat holder pieces together as shown in the image
• Drill pilot holes and use screws to attach the pieces

Once we have those two pieces attached, line up your back mat pieces and the last 7 inch piece to ensure that everything lines up. Just like previously, you can clamp these pieces together and use screws to attach everything.

Up until this point your precision could be somewhat lax. However, this is where things get kind of serious. The only reason I say this is that we want the rod we're using for the spool holder to sit straight. In order to guarantee this, we need to line up the spool holder parts pretty closely.

• First take your 8 inch pieces and make a line down the center on each one
• Line up the screw holes in your spool holder pieces with that center line.
• Mark where the height of your spool holder. Mine sits pretty high up, but you can make yours lower.
• Triple check that your spool holder pieces are going to line up!
• Attach your spool holder parts to the 8 inch pieces
• Drill pilot holes and use screws to attach one side of the spool holder to the base
  (Make sure the spool holder is pointing away from the base)
• Lay your 4 inch piece flat between the the two 8 inch pieces and line them up

Once you have everything lined up you can use your remaining two pieces to attach finish the spool holder part. Simply line up the 1in. x 1in. pieces, and using screws attach them to the 8 inch pieces and the 4 inch piece laying flat. This should ensure everything stays together.

Included is the stl file for the spool holder part

At this point your spool holder pieces should be lined up. If not you can take the spool holder apart and adjust their positions.

Now we need to cut the rod to size. This can be a little tricky honestly. Here's how I made sure I had the correct size

• Take a pair of calipers(or a ruler) and check the distance between spool holder surfaces
• mark that length on the dowel rod
• Cut to length

Remember when cutting the rod that it's better to have too much material than not enough. You can always cut off more if needed. After I cut my rod I found that I had to sand off the ends a little bit for a smooth fit.

Everything should be assembled now. You can have up to 12 cubes in the the holder at a time. It's important that you have always have an even number of cubes in the holder. If you have an odd number it's possible your cubes might shift around, or the tool could tip over.

If you have some calipers you want to include, I made these pieces that simply snap onto the back part of the base. You can rest the calipers on these if you want to, but it's not necessary.