I was looking for some spools to print for the many small bits of filament I have (I print a lot of tiny jewelry, so I buy lots of sample filament). But many of the spools take too much filament, or mostly, too much time. I don't want to devote hours to printing one single spool!

Additionally, I have a lot of used cardboard around, including toilet paper and paper towel inner rolls. I feel bad that they don't get reused. So this is the result! You can use cardboard cores/rolls (or even cardstock or whatever!) to make a spool of any width you like!

Recycled cardboard version:

1. Print two of the mini-spool-top-wd. (See further below for printing instructions.)
2. Cut cardboard core to length you want. I find that toilet paper cores are usually slightly too wide for the spool top hole – this is OK! I don't want any gaps where the spool top attaches to the core, so I cut vertically down the core, and reglue it to fit perfectly within the hole. This makes the spool stronger. If this bugs you, you can print the piece a little larger, but I tried both ways and preferred the smaller hole for structural reasons.
3. Glue mini spool tops to the cardboard core. I used Aleene's Tacky Glue.
4. Let dry.
5. Use the spool!

Fully printed version:

1. Print one mini-spool-top-wd and one mini-spool-base-wd. (See further below for printing instructions.)
2. Glue together – super glue works super well for this :D
3. Let dry.
4. Use the spool!

Printing instructions:

The honeycomb pattern I used is actually infill. To get this effect, print with these Prusa Slicer settings:

• Large honeycomb (as seen in the base I printed)
  • Vertical Shells>Perimeters: 4
  • Horizontal Shells>Solid Layers:
    • Top: 0
    • Bottom: 0
  • Infill>Fill density: 15%
  • Infill>Fill pattern: Honeycomb
  • I printed with a layer height of 0.3mm, and a 0.6 nozzle, but I don't think this will make much difference
    

• Small honeycomb (as seen in the tops I printed)
  • The same, only set the infill to 25% or whatever density you prefer.

Enjoy! I hope you find this useful.

Filament I used:
Inland PLA, turquoise