Universal horizontal unwinder on balls

Thanks to this unwinder, you can print with reels with holes ranging from 33mm to 52mm in diameter. The 52mm diameter corresponds to Chromatik, PolyFlex, PolyPlus coils and all filaments sold by Dagoma. The balls allow to have the behavior of a ball bearing with axial contact thus to facilitate greatly the rotation of the unwinder.

For my part, I used 5 balls of diameter 16mm between which I inserted balls of 14mm, allowing to maintain the space between those of 16mm to ensure a good guidance in rotation. You can use balls up to 20mm in diameter, and 14mm minimum.

The hole in the rotary table is wider to provide safety in case the ball guide is not sufficient, but the absence of contact during normal operation guarantees a hard point free guide.

I used the beads I had being small, I think the unwinder will work better with them rather than with the beads themselves printed in 3D.

Thanks to the balls, the coil mass is not limited. To reduce the impact of bead lamination on the PLA, you can print it with a higher fill rate than mine if you think it necessary.

To reduce the risk of the bottom plate rotating during use, you can insert an adhesive material into the 5 holes located below. In my case, I chose Patafix.

Designed and modelled on SolidWorks.

Printer :

DAGOMA DiscoEasy200

Parameters for both rooms :

Material: PLA Chromatik orange (250g coil)

Layer thickness: 0.2mm

Nozzle temperature: 220°C

Filling : 17%.

Supports: None

Post-production surface treatment: Not necessary

Printing time :

Base : 2h10

Rotary table: 1h30

Dimensions when assembled, without coil :

Diameter: 80mm

Height (depends slightly on the size of your balls): 45mm