Design of the Week: Filament Clip

By on November 2nd, 2014 in Design

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This week’s selection is the very simple Filament Clip by Bertjan Walker. 

This item could be the simplest design ever selected as our Design of the Week. While it is a very straightforward design, it’s simplicity and utility attracted us. 

The filament clip is used to secure the end of a filament and is applied in the manner shown above. 

Certainly there are other ways to do this. In particular many filament spools have semi-convenient holes through which a length of filament can be pulled and twisted to prevent undesirable unwinding. But they often stick out of the spool’s sidewall and make stacking a bit less neat. Walker’s Filament Clip holds the filament in place along the normal curve of the spool. 

Why do this at all? It’s to avoid tangles. Tangling can be a very frustrating experience. It happens when the loose end of the filament slips under another round of filament, creating a simple knot. These are almost impossible to visually detect and only manifest themselves half-way through an important 3D print when the filament spool finally tightens the knot sufficiently to seize up print operations. 

Keeping your filament ends secured avoids the problem, and the Filament Clip does so in a simple and functional manner. 

Via YouMagine

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!