This project came from a want to maximize the vertical space I had next to my printer by using it for filament storage. The original thought for this storage was to design it for wood but I had older PLA filament that I wanted to use up before it was unusable. The light blue was brittle and snapped while printing close to the end of the roll. Thankfully the print was almost finished and it was a good way for this to not go to waste.
When I design I try to maintain as much symmetry as possible. Sometime I miss the mark though. The main shelves can be flipped so to maintain the correct orientation in the front but here is where I introduced a mistake. I had printed test parts to validate fit and function and the fit worked. The function was going to have a slight issue in that the gap left in every other stack would allow the filament to slide back too far. I updated the design with some cosmetic changes as well as changed the back supports to be staggered. I thought I flipped the wholes correctly to leave the bolts recessed but the symmetry is broken every other level. The good news is that this does not impact the structure of the design and will rarely be seen on the back of the shelf.
The issue is that I only caught this error after I had printed a few of the plates. This could have been avoided by creating the entire assembly in CAD to test that the design logic held up.
The stack I put together is 7 sections tall. The parts took about 56 hours of total print time with each set of supports taking 4 hours and the main shelf plates taking 3 hours. It has some wobble when adding or removing filament so I will not stack it much higher. I am not too worried about the structural integrity but will not be moving it around with filament in it.
I will probably revisit how I store filament in the future but this solution will work to free up some space for the time being. Next up will be getting the printer tools organized.
