When I first started 3D printing, probably as many beginners, I was succumbed by the colors and different types of filaments and wanted to try all. As it is hard to find filaments here, if I wanted a certain color, I had bought whatever brand had stock for it. It was a a big mistake as I ended up with dozens of Filament with unmatching properties. Whenever I opened a new spool I had to spend so much time and good amount of filament to calibrate that filament.
Nowadays, when I find a filament from brand that I was satisfied in the past, I try to buy as much spools as I can “in same color”. Spend time and filament with the first spool and record it into the inventory list I made in excel. This list contains all the specs and recommendations of the manufacturers, my calibration results, freshness etc. I usually print large single color functional model. This inventory reminds me to use the long standing spools for prototyping.
Being a hobbyist with a very tight time and budget, I have little tolerance for wasted time and filament. Whenever I will change nozzle, brand or filament type I need to recalibrate. As a new BL user I want to ask you how much of the followings I can get away with only one set of calibration? I am aware that if the print will not come out as expected I need to recalibrate.
Same brand, same filament subtype (ie; pro, hyper) but different color.
Can one tolerance test per nozzle and filament type sufficient for all brands and subtypes.
Is it really necessary to make calibration for every build plate as well unless the plate alters the bed temp settings like cool tack?
When printing a prototype or fit testing i try to slice a small portion of the model instead of printing whole to decrease time and filament waste. Will it be reliable with BL when ie a section supposed to be on the upper part of the model printed on the bed surface? I never had any issues with my Ender S1 pro but Speed of BL worries me. I saw some layer line discrepancies with BL but I did not checked if there are any adaptive speed settings in the main profile.
For filaments, i generally calibrate “per brand” only, If it’s not a “critical job” (i.e. not for my wife), i often use the slicer “basic” profile as close enough. I read a post that basically said: don’t waste time with over-calibrating filament… I took that to heart. Per brand, I do flow rate & pressure advance… that’s it. I only resort to temp-tower if I have adhesion issues (inter-layer). I never do string-tests anymore, instead, if I have stringing, I know I need to dry the filament more.
Tolerance testing is really more for design-side, not print side… if you calibrate each filament to the same degree, then - in theory - a tolerance test would pass regardless of the material. However… this is not the case with some stuff (again… silks) because they 'poof up" when extruding, so I rarely use them for anything that requires tight fitment. I use 0.07mm for “tight fit”, and 0.15 for “loose fit”.
Will it be reliable with BL when ie a section supposed to be on the upper part of the model printed on the bed surface?
Should be, yes! I often chop up my proto-types into chunks for fit-testing. As long as the belts and physical printer geometry is “sound” (meaning if you print a 20mm cube, it comes out pretty darn close to 20mm on all axis’s), it should be accurate regardless of build-plate orientation.
I agree with your idea of spreadsheeting filaments, one suggestion I will add, weigh each spool as you take it off and store it. Over time, you’ll build up an inventory of ‘empty’ spool weights, and that way you’ll know precisely how much filament you have left… great for knowing if ‘That Model’ will work, or if you’ll run out part-way through!
Lastly, you may want to print out a small ‘swatch slide’ of every color… that way, when your friends (or family)asks you to print something, you have a way to show them what colors you have available.
Thanks for the reply.
I am not sure if i can keep up with weighting. Our scale is in the kitchen downstairs and I usually swap spools in a hurry. Currently, I mark the highest point on the spool as reference point similar to scales on BL Filament labels. Then enter the remaining filament value I estimated by eye balling it.
As i am a hobbyist and printing usually large functional parts I can get away with some error margins. If the remaining filament is around 100g, it will not be enough to print a large part. If i do not have any extra spools of that then i use the remaining filament for prototyping and printing bunch of small utility items like cable clips etc which I use a lot around the house. Or lots of single layer colorful thin sheets for my wife to use as bookmarks. If I have extra then autofill.
