One Piece Customizable Spool - http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:116104

Spool weight
86 grams

approximate time needed to print
4 hours

spool dimensions
Outer diameter: 12.9 cm, Hub Outer diameter: 6.3 cm, Hub hole: 5.8 cm, width: 8.0 cm

approximate carrying capacity
600 to 900 grams?

printer settings
0.55 mm layers (0.7mm nozzle), 20% infill, 1.1 mm skin, ABS, 100c heated bed

review / opinion
First example on Thingiverse of a single piece printable spool outside my research in the other thread.   The ABS didn't warp which is probably due to the holes.  Removable support material was not required.  This spool is highly customizable on Thingiverse.  It has holes for starting/ending the filament strand.  The weight seems to increase a bit with single piece spools, probably around 50% for this one.  There's room for more weight reduction by putting more holes into the spool hub and other solid spots.  Very good work.

Here is a down and dirty calculator for this spool if you want to echo back how much filament your spool will hold. This should be accurate enough for government work. :-)

volumeall = width- cone_height ;
volumeCylinder = ((pow(outside_diameter/2,2)*pi*volumeall))/1000 - (pow (spindle_diameter/2,2) *pi *volumeall) /1000;

echo("<b>Max</b> Filament Volume is ", round(volumeCylinder)," CM³");
echo("Estimated Filament Weight is ",round(volumeCylinder*1.04)/1000, " Kg");

Spool weight
86 grams

approximate time needed to print
4 hours

spool dimensions
Outer diameter: 12.9 cm, Hub Outer diameter: 6.3 cm, Hub hole: 5.8 cm, width: 8.0 cm

approximate carrying capacity
600 to 900 grams?

printer settings
0.55 mm layers (0.7mm nozzle), 20% infill, 1.1 mm skin, ABS, 100c heated bed

review / opinion
First example on Thingiverse of a single piece printable spool outside my research in the other thread.   The ABS didn't warp which is probably due to the holes.  Removable support material was not required.  This spool is highly customizable on Thingiverse.  It has holes for starting/ending the filament strand.  The weight seems to increase a bit with single piece spools, probably around 50% for this one.  There's room for more weight reduction by putting more holes into the spool hub and other solid spots.  Very good work.

The hub could probably be made using less material using thin pillars.

Very nice.  How did create the makerbot customizer form?

Here is their documention on how to do it. I don't know why they don't put it on the thingiverse website.

http://customizer.makerbot.com/docs

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:116104

Spool weight
32 grams

approximate time needed to print
1 to 2 hours

spool dimensions
Outer diameter: 11.3 cm, Hub Outer diameter: 4.2 cm, Hub hole: 3.56 cm, width: 10.4 cm

approximate carrying capacity
250 grams?

printer settings
0.5mm layers (0.7mm nozzle), 10% infill, 1mm skin

review / opinion
Small, has narrow hub that could make filament bend too much.  Sides are short.  Cardboard toilet paper tubes are not exactly the same size, so the object would need to be customized to fit the cardboard tube you have.  Matching plastic tube available, http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:112916

It's a good start, but I think more could be done.  I would like to be able to set the outer diameter of the hub, and define a separate inner diameter to suit PVC, bearings with threaded rod, etc.

@Jesse

I am going to borrow your spool reviews to make my next version of customizable spools... Hopefully I will find something that you like.

Cool, some ideas are:

• printable in one piece without support (very rounded edges)

• light

• strong

• fast to print

• capable of holding at least 500 grams

• doesn't bend filament too much

I am going to borrow your spool reviews to make my next version of customizable spools... Hopefully I will find something that you like.

(I also have a couple of spools of ABS that Solidoodle sold me that are useless, so unless someone figures out a way to save them, I could just pull it off and use those spindles, but that's all that work doubled!)

Useless why?