Why don't more filament manufacturers put informative labels like this on their spools?  I

Why don’t more filament manufacturers put informative labels like this on their spools? I might have to make some up myself!

Right??? Love microcenter spools for that. No more guessing

Most of my spools don’t even say what the plastic is. I have to either scrape it, or heat it and sniff, to tell.

I completely agree with you @Mark_Rehorst ​. I am spoiled and just get my filament at the local microcenter so it has most of that done already. But the weight of spools is something that bothers me as well. I weigh mine after I’m finished with them.

While we’re on the subject of spools, does anyone recycle their spools when they are done? As in throw them in the recycle, not reuse and put more filament on them.

@Mark_Rehorst ​ I’m terribly sorry but I accidentally reported your post on my extremely slow phone when I went to give you a +1

@Adam_Steinmark I’ve done the same thing before. No worries.

We started a project for this… But I have had to step away for the last year (job changed, requiring lots of nda stuff regarding open-source projects, purchased a house, moved, and got married). I am going to start up again once I get unpacked.

Here is a link to the community.

https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/107859862288161234107

Most of the manufacturers I’ve dealt with either have a data sheet included in with the spool, or they have a data sheet online, then I write the name of the filament on the spool if its not already on it. These are guidelines. But the various tests I do on the various printers I use often result in different print temps some printers I have to increase it while others I lower it beyond specs… I have my own “sample chips” which I typically write the name of the filament, type of plastic, manufacturer, price i got the spool for, and the specs that I need to print at which include speed, bed temp, filament temp, etc. The downside is that the chip i print is small and all this info is micro text. so I think I’m still going to print sample chips for each printer and the filament that the printer can use, but will put the other info into a “work log” book, like a mole skin or makerbook. :smiley: http://www.dbclunie.com

Word.

@Nathan_Walkner In many makerspace environments they charge for the material used in the printers. That’s one reason for wanting to know the weight though you can weigh it when it gets signed out and weigh it when it comes back but that doesn’t let the next person know if they have enough left on the spool. Many if not most using makerspace machines aren’t able to guesstimate how much is left compared to someone using the machine everyday.

@Nathan_Walkner ​ that’s true only if you want to know exactly how much filament you have left. It’s good enough to know the weight of the spool and then if you’re unsure you’ll have enough filament for a print you can weigh the spool, subtract the spool weight, and compare it to Cura. Just to be safe add ~%10 to Cura’s estimate.

@Mark_Rehorst With a print that long with an 88% requirement of a full spool I wouldn’t start that print with anything other than a full spool. What he was talking about was being penny wise and pound foolish by jeopardizing a 15 hour print over saving 120 grams of material.

I don’t see how cura could be off in theory. It knows exactly how much volume the part takes up as well as all of the parameters like hotend width and such to be able to accurately calculate it. Yes there is variation in filament width and people’s errors on extrusion % but unless those values are dramatically off cura should be good to me.

Anyone agree?

@Griffin_Paquette ​ filament can have different densities depending on the quality of the filament. Usually its not bad but it can vary enough to matter slightly which is why you should just give a little leeway for the estimate.

@Mark_Rehorst ​ exactly. If you are super skeptical then you should just cut your losses and use a new spool. Use what’s left of the old spool for little stuff

Hope I’m not steering this topic too off course (let me know and I’ll post a new topic) but this post got me looking into scales to measure spool weight and I was wondering if anyone could suggest one they use. Thanks.