Filament feed thru for LACK table top mounted dry box

Description

*** Spotted An Issue With Two Parts That Will Prevent Proper Printing. If You Have Downloaded This Before Feb. 1 2018, Delete That And Download Again. I Noticed Lots Of Folks Using The Ikea Samla Plastic Totes As Dry Box Setups For Filament Storage And Such. I Saw Lots Of Creations That Had Filament Rolls Hung Inside The Box, And Filament Fed Out The Side/S Of The Box Through Various Ports Or Openings To Get To The Printer.Some Are Quite Creative And At One Point I Was Going To Combine Elements From 2 Different Things For My Own Printer Station. Then, I Bought The Lack Tables, Printed The Parts To Stack Those, Then Noted That I Was Having A Lifting/Curling Issue Again And Needed To Partially Or Completely Enclose The Printer To Prevent That (I Noted It Prints Much Better If The Room It'S In Is A Bit Warmer Than Normal, So An Enclosure Seemed A Good Idea). I Decided I Was Going To Put The Dry Box On Top Of Those Tables (After Securing Them To The Wall In An Unused Walk-In Closet In Our House), And Then I Noted I Would Have To Make Additional Cuts In The Plexiglass Sides To Allow The Filament To Get In, And That Most Likely I'D Not Be Able To Put The Tables And Printer In The Corner Where I Wanted To Because Of That, And My Wife Would Complain If I Had It In The Middle Of The Wall Instead Of The Corner Where I Said I Was Going To Put It, Etc. Etc. Then It Occurred To Me That I Could Feed The Filament Down And Out The Bottom Center Of The Dry Box. I Started Looking For Things To Do That, And Didn'T Really See Any. I Found Filament Guides Made To Go In The Top Of And Thru The Lack Table, But Nothing For A Dry Box. So Some Hours Of Design (And A Few Hours Of Test Prints) Later, I Give You This Thing! I Have A Flanged Tube To Go Through The Table Top (Use Screws Or Bolts, Or Not, Your Choice). It Is Indented To Receive Another Rounded Flange Mounted On The Outside Bottom Of The Dry Box, That Rounded Bit Sits Inside (Should Be Close To Snug I Think) That Table Flange. This Does Two Things: Helps You To Easily Line Up The Box Again Should You Move It For Some Reason, And Due To Weight (Obey Gravity, It'S The Law!) That Same Piece Helps To Hold It In Place Should You Get Excessive Vibrations Or Something Or Other (Or Toddlers That Like To Poke At Things). Then There Is An Inside Flange For The Inside Of The Dry Box, Wider Than The Others At The Base For Some Support, With A Tube And Rounded Funnel Setup To Take The Filament. That Funnel And The Table Top Tube Both Have A Decent Sized Cavity In Them Able To Hold A Chunk Of Synthetic Sponge Or Something To Both Dust/Clean The Filament As It Goes Through, And Act As A Vapor/Moisture Barrier For The Dry Box. It Is A Large Opening In Both Cases, So A Large Piece Of Sponge Could Be Used. I'D Thought That With Folks Doing Abs Filament And The Like, Some Kind Of A Barrier Against Fumes (Or Sucking In Too Much Cold Air For The Ventilated Enclosures) Would Be A Good Idea. Using This Thing To Hold My Spools: Https://Www.Thingiverse.Com/Thing:1511834. My Plastic Totes Are Wide Enough That I Can Get 8 Mounted Rolls Of Filament On Two Rods (4 On The Left, 4 On The Right) And Two More Rolls Laying On The Bottom Of The Box (Storage). It'S Designed To Print As Is With Minimal Infill And No Supports As I Dislike Using Them If I Don'T Really Have To. Again, I Did Not Design This With The Ikea Plastic Tote In Mind As I Don'T Own One. Similar Totes Were Available At My Local Hardware Store For A Slightly Better Price So I Bought Those Instead. From What I Can See, They Are Very Similar In The Bottom Box Dimensions To The Ikea One So This Should Work For Those Too (Ikea Box Appears To Have A Millimeter Or Two More Bottom Clearance Than Mine Does). I Would Suggest That If You Are Going To Setup As I Did, You Add A Couple Strips Of Wood Or Tubing Or Something On To The Table Top To Help Keep The Dry Box In Place (Keeps It From Sliding Around, Just In Case, Safety First And All That). Also Keep In Mind That My Plastic Tote Box Is A Bit Wider And Longer Than The Ikea Version. If I Run A Spool Rod Down The Middle, I Can Get 6 Spools On It With Some Clearance Between Each One. If I Put In Two Rods Running Front To Back (Width) Instead Of One Rod Side To Side (Length), I Can Get 8 Rolls Like I Said With Space Beneath Those For Two More Spools. The Funnel On The Inside Box Flange On This Is Setup To That Height (Give Or Take) For *My* Box. I Added The Rounded Edges And Stuff On The Funnel Just In Case It Ended Up Tall For Some Other Box Setup (Filament Likes Running Over And Around Rounded Edges). That'S The Kind Of Setup I Made This Thing For. Of Course, You Could Forgo The Funnel Part Entirely And Just Print Two Copies Of The Box Bottom Flange (One On The Inside, The Other On The Outside) And Feed It That Way If You Like, But I Was In A Design Mood And Wanted To Do Something Weird And Different And Definitely Unique. And It Just Now Occurs To Me That If I Found And Modified Or Created My Own Spool Holder Designed To Hold A Spool On It'S Side Instead Of Standing Up, I Could Have 10 Available Spools Of Filament In My Dry Box, I Just Have To Open It And Feed Through Whichever Color Or Type Of Filament I Want To Use. Yeah I Know, I Shouldn'T Open It Unless I Have To. So Far Today I'Ve Had It Open A Dozen Times And The Humidity Level Went From 26% To 28%, And Is Already Back To 27% 30 Minutes Since I Last Opened It, So I'M Not Too Worried About Opening The Dry Box. Anyway For Those That Don'T Know, The Whole Point Of Using A Dry Box Is To Keep Your Filament Dry A.K.A. Not Full Of Moisture From Humid Air. You Keep The Spools In There Until You Need Them, Then Take Out The One Your Going To Use, Use It For However Long The Print Takes, Then Put It Back In The Box (People Forget To Do That). Buy Either A Renewable/Reusable Air Dryer Or Dehydrator (Eva Dry Comes To Mind), Or Get A Bunch Of The Little Desiccant Packs That Your Filament Is Packed With And Toss Them All In An Airtight (Or As Air Tight As You Can Get It) Container. The Ikea Samla Plastic Totes Seem To Work Well, But I Found Similar Containers At The Local Hardware Store For Less (And No Waiting For Delivery) So I Used Those Instead. I Have A Cheap Little Digital Thermostat That Also Reads Humidity So I Threw That In The Box As Well Just To Monitor Things. My Box Is Regularly At 26% Humidity, Which Is Actually Quite Dry Really (Most Homes Are Between 35% And 45% Humidity). Seems To Work Well, And The Eva Dry Are Reusable By Plugging Them Into An Electrical Outlet For Half A Day So They Can Heat Up And Dry Out Again, Then Reuse Them A Couple Hundred Times I Think. Pla, Petg, Nylon, Abs... Doesn'T Matter What Filament You Use, It Should Be In A Dry Box. If The Humidity Doesn'T Bother The Filament, The Box Will Help Keep Dust And Other Debris Out Of Your Filament Along With Bugs, Pets, Perhaps Small Children And Such. I'Ve Got Some Pictures Up. That Last Image, I Have The Inside And Bottom Flanges Mounted On The Base Of The Box, Drilled My Holes And Used M3 Screws, Washers And Nuts Since That Is What I Had On-Hand. I Have The Box Propped Up On A Couple Empty Filament Spools And I Set The Table Top Flange Underneath So You Can See How Its Supposed To Work. Update 2/3/18: Added Two Different Feed Adapters, Both Setup To Take The Same Kind Of Tube Fittings You'D Use In A Bowden Extrusion Setup. I Know Lots Of Folks Like To Use These Tubes On Their Dry Box, So I Thought I Should Add Something To Account For Those. Both Single And Double Filament Adapters Are Included. Simply Glue This To The Table Top Flange In Whatever Orientation You Need (Doesn'T Matter For The Single), Or Drill And Screw If You Like. This Is For People That Already Have A Dry Box They Like, And Just Need Something To Get The Filament Fed In To A Lack Enclosure. I Also Added Some Filament Guides To Inside The Dry Box With The Intent Of Guiding The Filament From The The Two End Spools (Referring To My Dry Box Setup) Towards The Funnel. I Tried Feeding From One Without These, And Inadvertently Got Filament Wound Around (And Kind Of In) The Spool Next To That One. The Guides Allow The Filament To Feed Straight Off The Spool, Then Make A 90 Degree Turn Towards The Funnel. I'Ve Got Two Versions Of Each, Some Are Straight/Level, The Others Have A Slight Tilt In Them To Help Direct The Filament (Should Someone Ever Need Something Like That). Update 2/21/2018: Added A Shorter Version Of The Inside Box Flange With Better Supports. Not That It Really Needs Better Supports, But I Broke One On Mine When I Bumped A Full Filament Spool Into It, So.... Update 3/10/2018: Added An Updated Version Of The Table Top Flange Due To Issues Some People Were Seeing Using Different Slicers On The Object.

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