Making the quenching bath be the takeup reel...

I think Svend and Vik have basically got the inspiration between them for quite an elegant solution to putting the filament on a takeup reel. Here's how it works.

You make your quenching bath out of circular pan, put it on a Lazy Susan and rotate it. Keep the water temperature in it at 58-60 degrees Celsius. Locate the extruder tip near the wall of the rotating bath.

The filament will be forced out towards the edge of the bath and eventually touch it. That will straighten it out and keep it pressed close to the rotating wall of the bath. As the filament lengthens, being slightly heavier than water, it will fall to the bottom of the bath right by the wall.

Viola! After a few hours you turn off the filament extruder and you have a coil of filament lying in the bottom of the bath.

I'll bet you that that works just fine. Orchard supply has just the right sized Lazy Susan that turns on a raceway of ball bearings for about US$8 for the diameter that will be needed.

I just LOVE the bazaar model of technological problem solving! :-D