Abstract:
Disclosed herein is a sealing apparatus comprising a moisture barrier that engages with a filament spool to create a moisture-resistant enclosure for housing a filament on said spool, and a passageway in said sealing apparatus so that the remaining filament can exit sad sealing apparatus during use. Also disclosed is a method for preparing and packaging the filament and sealing apparatus.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    This disclosure relates generally to the degradation of filaments over time, and more particularly to the property of filaments to slowly absorb moisture from the air around them and become unusable due to the change in properties that occurs as a cause of this absorbed moisture. When a consumer purchases certain filaments for their specific properties, especially in the case of 3D printing, the consumer must either use the filament up incredibly quickly or constantly store and remove the filament from a moisture-resistant enclosure each and every time that the filament is used, which can become a time-consuming process. 
         [0002]    It would be useful to develop a technique for preventing moisture from absorbing into filaments over time and degrading the quality of the filaments. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0003]    One embodiment described herein is A sealing apparatus comprising a moisture barrier that engages with a filament spool to create a moisture-resistant enclosure for housing a filament on said spool, and a passageway in said sealing apparatus so that the remaining filament can exit said sealing apparatus during use. 
         [0004]    A method of manufacturing and selling is described herein where the filament spool, the filament, and the sealing apparatus are manufactured individually, fixed together, and then sold in a single filament unit. 
         [0005]    Another method of manufacturing and selling is described herein where the filament spool, the filament, and the sealing apparatus are manufactured individually, only the filament spool and the filament are fixed, and the two are sold as separate units to be later fixed by the customer. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0006]    This embodiment is an enclosure that attaches to 3D printing filament spools to create a moisture-resistant environment for the filament. This enclosure keeps the filament from absorbing moisture from the air and allows the spool to still be placed on printers and storage racks. 
           [0007]      FIG. 1  shows an isometric view of the sealing apparatus fixed to a standard 3D printing filament spool. The sealing apparatus creates a moisture-resistant seal around the stored filament and allows a single strand to leave the enclosure without compromising the moisture-resistant barrier. 
           [0008]      FIG. 2  is a section view of the bottom half of the sealing apparatus fixed to a 3D printing filament spool. 
           [0009]      FIG. 3  is an isometric view of the standalone sealing apparatus. 
           [0010]      FIG. 4  shows a front view of the standalone sealing apparatus. 
           [0011]      FIG. 5  is a section view of an embodiment of the sealing apparatus with a desiccant within the sealing apparatus. 
           [0012]      FIG. 6  depicts an embodiment of a method of manufacturing and selling the filament spool, the filament, and the sealing apparatus wherein the filament spool plus filament and the sealing apparatus are sold separately and fixed together by the customer after purchase. 
           [0013]      FIG. 7  depicts an embodiment of a method of manufacturing and selling the filament spool, the filament, and the sealing apparatus wherein they are all sold together as a filament unit. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0014]    One embodiment is a flexible, tube-shaped, sealing apparatus that fits over 3D printing filament spools in order to provide a moisture-resistant enclosure for filaments without having to remove them from the enclosure in order to use them. The sealing apparatus slides onto current filament rolls and snaps into place to create a moisture-resistant seal. 
         [0015]    As used herein, the term “frustocone” means a cone with the vertex cut off to make a new rounded face. The “remaining filament” refers to the filament still inside of the filament spool and sealing apparatus. 
         [0016]    Referring to the drawings,  FIG. 1  shows a sealing apparatus  10  that snap fits over a conventional 3D printing filament spool  26 . The sealing apparatus  10  has curves along its outer rim  18  and  20  that allow it to firmly fit over the standard filament spool, but also create a moisture-resistant seal. The sealing apparatus  10  has a passageway  40  on its surface that the feed portion  41  of the filament  42  can pass through, while still maintaining a moisture-resistant seal. 
         [0017]      FIG. 2  illustrates the sealing apparatus  10 , which has a set of curves  18  and  20  on its inner surface  16  that allow it to be pressed over the filament spool  26 , while still creating a moisture-resistant seal for the filament  42  after it has been fully fixed. The filament spool  26  can contain varying amounts of filament  42  as more and more is used. The amount of filament  42  in the spool changes the distance between the floor  44  of the filament spool  26  and the filament  42  as well as the distance between the filament  42  and the inner surface  16  of the sealing apparatus. Because of this changing dimension, the passageway  40  must be shaped frusto conically or the feed portion  41  of the filament  42  would not be able to leave the sealing apparatus  10 . 
         [0018]      FIG. 3  shows the sealing apparatus  10 , which, in embodiments, fits around a standard filament spool  26  with a diameter of approximately 8″, but can be varied in size to fit multiple sizes of filament spools  26 . In embodiments, the sealing apparatus  10  can be configured to fit around spools  26  having diameters in the range of 1 to 20 inches, or 4 to 10 inches. The width of the band varies less between different filament spool  26  sizes, and is about 1 to 2 inches wide, but in additional embodiments can be configured to fit around spools having diameters in the range of 0.5 to 4 inches, or 0.75 to 2.5 inches. The passageway  40  for the feed portion  41  of the filament  42  creates a cone-shaped cutaway in towards where the filament  42  is stored. This conical cutaway allows the feed portion  41  of the filament  42  to exit through the passageway at multiple angles, while still creating a moisture-resistant seal for the filament  42 . The conical shape of the passageway  40  is also designed to reduce friction between the sealing apparatus  10  and the feed portion  41  of the filament  42  as the feed portion  41  of the filament  42  exits the sealing apparatus  10  through the passageway  40 . 
         [0019]      FIG. 4  shows the front view of the sealing apparatus  10 . The hole seen here is the outer view of the passageway  40  for the feed portion  41  of the filament  42  to exit the sealing apparatus  10 . The circular shape of the exterior view of the passageway  40  creates a full moisture-resistant seal for the remaining filament  42  inside of the sealing apparatus  10 , while still allowing the feed portion  41  of the filament  42  to leave through the passageway  40 . 
         [0020]      FIG. 5  illustrates a front section view of an embodiment of the sealing apparatus  10  which contains a desiccant  53  within the filament gap  50 , which is the space between the outermost wrapped layer  48  of remaining filament  42  and the inner surface  16  of the sealing apparatus  10 . The desiccant  53  in this embodiment removes any small amounts of existing moisture within the sealing apparatus  10 . 
         [0021]      FIG. 6  shows a method of preparing and packaging an embodiment of the sealing apparatus  10 . A filament spool and a filament are manufactured and assembled together  112 . A sealing apparatus is manufactured  114 . The filament and the sealing apparatus are packaged separately  116 . The separate filament spool and sealing apparatus are fixed in preparation for use  118 . 
         [0022]      FIG. 7  shows a method of preparing and packaging an embodiment of the sealing apparatus  10 . A filament spool and filament are manufactured and assembled together  122 . The sealing apparatus is manufactured and fixed to the filament spool before packaging  124 . The filament spool, the filament, and the sealing apparatus are packaged together  126 . The filament spool and sealing apparatus do not need to be re-fixed in preparation for use  128 . 
         [0023]    Referring to  FIGS. 1 through 7 , a first embodiment of a sealing apparatus is shown and is designated as  10 . The sealing apparatus  10  includes a moisture resistant tube  12 , which has an outer surface  14  and an inner surface  16 . The sealing apparatus  10  includes ring-shaped seals  18  and  20  designed for a tight moisture-resistant fit over the outer rims  22  and  24  of the 3D printing filament spool  26 . 
         [0024]    The sealing apparatus  10  includes a passageway  40  which has suitable size and shape to permit a feed portion  41  of the filament  42  to extend therethrough while maintaining a moisture-resistant barrier inside the filament spool between the filament spool floor  44  and the inner surface of the sealing apparatus  16 . The space between the inner surface  16  of the sealing apparatus  10  and the top wrapped layer  48  of filament  42  is the filament gap  50  and the space between the filament spool floor  44  and the top wrapped layer of filament  48  is the remaining filament  52 , ie the filament that is still inside the sealing apparatus  10 . A desiccant  53  is added to certain embodiments of the sealing apparatus  10  to further reduce the amount of moisture that comes in contact with the filament  42 . The desiccant  53  sits in the filament gap  50 . 
         [0025]    In embodiments, the passageway  40  is frustoconical in shape with the frustocone&#39;s truncated circular end  54  on the outer surface  14  of the sealing apparatus  10  so that the feed portion  41  of the filament  42  can exit the sealing apparatus  10  independent of the size of the filament gap  50  and the amount of remaining filament  52 , while still keeping a moisture-resistant seal around the remaining filament  52 . The current sealing apparatus  10  has a passageway  40  with approximately a 2 mm diameter, but can be configured to have a passageway  40  that has diameters in the range of 0.5 mm to 4 mm, or 1.25 mm to 3.5 mm. An embodiment of the sealing apparatus  10  has a passageway  40  that is 20 mm in length, but can be configured to have a passageway  40  with a length in the range of 5 mm to 100 mm, or 10 mm to 50 mm. 
         [0026]    One version of the sealing apparatus  10  fits the most common filament spool, which is approximately 8 inches in diameter and 2 inches wide, but in embodiments, the sealing apparatus can be configured to fit around spools having diameters in the range of 2 to 20 inches, or 4 to 10 inches and have widths hi the range of 0.5 to 8 inches, or 1 to 4 inches. 
         [0027]    In one embodiment, the sealing apparatus  10  is mounted on the spool  26  at the time of the spoors  26  manufacturing. The manufacturer for this embodiment makes the filament spool  26 , makes the filament  42 , wraps the filament  42  around the spool  26 , makes the sealing apparatus  10 , and then fixes the sealing apparatus  10  to the filament spool  26  before any part is sold to a consumer. In another embodiment the sealing apparatus  10  is mounted after the manufacturing of the filament spool  26 . Here, the filament spool  26  and filament  42  are made and packaged and the sealing apparatus  10  is made and packaged separately from the spool  26  and filament  42 . The filament spool  26  and the sealing apparatus  10  would then be fixed before use by the end user. In one embodiment a user buys a 3D printing filament spool  26  from one source, buys the sealing apparatus  10  from another source, and fixes the two together directly before use. After long periods of not using the filament  42 , the feed portion  41  of the filament  42  absorbs moisture from the air and its properties degrade over time. The feed portion  41  can be trimmed in order to avoid using this deteriorated filament. 
         [0028]    In embodiments, the filament is formed from a thermoplastic, thermoset, or other material that tends to absorb moisture. Non-limited examples of filaments include polylactic acid, acryionitrile butadiene styrene, and nylon. In embodiments, the filament is biodegradable. 
         [0029]    In embodiments, the sealing apparatus is made from a rigid and transparent plastic that is able to hold its shape around a filament spool. Non-limited examples of sealing apparatuses are formed from an acrylic material or a polycarbonate material. 
         [0030]    A number of alternatives, modifications, variations, or improvements therein may be subsequently made by those skilled in the art, which are also intended to be encompassed by the following claims.