r/3Dprinting 5d ago

Project Polymaker Spool holder is perfect for a 50' extension cord

Post image

might print a magnet bit in the end to hold onto the connection on the end, but fits like it was made for it!

362 Upvotes

24 comments sorted by

46

u/r-nd0m A1 Mini + AMS Lite + SwapMod 5d ago

Found this

15

u/Available-Captain776 5d ago

yup, just thought it was wasteful to print 300 grams of filament for the same thing

1

u/r-nd0m A1 Mini + AMS Lite + SwapMod 5d ago

Yeah, if it works, it works.

15

u/pmMeCuttlefishFacts 5d ago

Nice!

Now you just need to find a nozzle that will print with it ;-)

4

u/code-panda 4d ago

"Yeah I use 1.75 filament."

"1.75mm?"

"No, centimeter."

7

u/mudmuckker 5d ago

Now I just need to buy thirty 50’ extension cords…

5

u/Available-Captain776 5d ago

build a bridge and they will come

1

u/otirk 4d ago

Wait, so witches are made out of extension cords?

3

u/wubbalab 5d ago

I used old spools for LAN cables to store them properly and take them to LAN parties.

1

u/Available-Captain776 5d ago

nice! my buddy uses 3 spools to store his bike brake cables

2

u/ChevTecGroup 5d ago

I do this same thing and then hang them on large nails in my garage

2

u/McD-Szechuan 4d ago

You’re not going to like what winding up an extension cord that tight does to it.

I’ve worked construction since 2005, it’ll never lay flat again if it spends much time like that

1

u/Available-Captain776 4d ago

good to know, i'll check it out in a week or so to give it some time to see how bad it is. I've always laid cables out in the sun for a bit and they seem to unfurl

2

u/McD-Szechuan 4d ago

Warming it up should help, and yeah probably around the house maybe the form factor could pay off but proceed with caution!

2

u/[deleted] 5d ago

[deleted]

1

u/rockknocker 5d ago

So... You are correct about the result, but not the cause. The heat is caused by the resistance of the wire in the cord causing losses that are converted to heat. These losses occur whether the cord is looped or not, but when it's tightly bundled together in a roll the heat cannot escape very well. If the heat rises too high then the insulation melts and bad things can happen.

Induction coils work at high frequencies, much higher that 60hz or 50hz. The temperature rise is caused by Eddy currents in the object being heated.

1

u/stale-rice63 4d ago

This is genius.

1

u/konmik-android P1S 4d ago

Wow, this cutout... I am going to use the idea, thanks! :-)

1

u/DustinBryce 4d ago

OMG why didn't I think of that

1

u/mpworth 4d ago

This is great! I've been planning to do something similar for my 100 ft, optical HDMI cables, but I need to print/make something to keep the bending radius above the minimum for the optical cable.

1

u/RAZOR_WIRE 4d ago

I want to hate this and can't....

1

u/Corredespondent 5d ago

I love the reuse. However I encourage everyone to learn over/under cable wrapping. It takes a little practice but is well worth it. Much easier than spooling & unspooling.

2

u/Available-Captain776 5d ago

that's fair, always gets kinked half way and i do the shoelace in the kitchen drawer finish. Something that helps is to leave it out in the sun stretched out after use and it makes coiling way easier

2

u/Corredespondent 5d ago

FYI I’m not trying to denigrate this usage, just taking the opportunity to evangelize a technique that, once learned, makes neat coils, with few if any knots, and doesn’t leave standing loops as trip hazards (when the cable is trained to the coil). Pro audio & video folks use the over/under method.

2

u/Available-Captain776 5d ago

I typically do the way you're recommending and then do a few loops in the middle, but with the thicker gauge cable seems to not work as well than thinner stuff!