Simple and sweet rubber feet

I picked up so rubber anti vibration feet from Amazon and they work surprisingly well.  I am quite surprised a how much of the noise was coming from the feet and how much these feet reduced it.

The feet of the Makerbot do have some rubber on them but its obviously not enough.  These one don’t quite fit exactly on the right angle feet of the Makerbot but they do end up settling in relatively well.

Filament spool holder

I have been using a spool holder for quite a while and it definitely worth the make SpoolHolder 3DP it uses 4 x bearing 608 which I happen to have on hand and are quite inexpensive.  The stock holder that hangs on the back of the machine does work OK but this one has several advantages.  First, for whatever reason some spools of filament are wound in the opposite direction and that requires the spool holder to be move from the left to the right on the back of the machine which is a bit annoying.  Second, this holder moves the spool from behind the Makerbot to makes it visible and easier to monitor the amount of remaining filament available.  Lastly, and maybe the most important, This holder seems to do a better job at reducing an binds on the roll that could cause failed prints.  Since the angle at which the filament is pulled can be modified by the placement of the spool relative to the printer it can be adjusted to prevent the inevitable binds that happen when he filament is unwound.

There are a boatload of spool holders out on the Thingiverse which is evidence that the stock spool holder configuration needs improvement.  If you haven’t already I highly suggest making one.  There are many choices so I suggest picking on that fits your needs.  I like this particular one due to its simplicity, the fact that I had the 608 bearings on hand and that it is adjustable for different spool sizes.

One thing I would add is one of these sticky anti slip pads to keep the holder from sliding on the table.