Filament Meter messurment?

Chriss

Hi *,

I'm not sure if that is a feature request already. So I give it a try.

I think about a sort of a runout sensor based on the amount of consumed filament.

Let me describe what I mean:
Duet board with the DC42 filament sensor. I have the understand that we can measure the amount of consumed so far. So my theory is that I can pause a print when a spool is fully (close to fully) consumed. What I miss now is a variable which is saved over printer resets where I can read the consumed filament so far. That would give me the possibility to warn me or others via reading the variable that the filament is below "whatever percentage". I think that the meters on a spool is not do hard to predict with a scale.

Does that makes sense or is there any other way to get to there?

Cheers, Chriss

cosmowave

@chriss I'm not sure if i understand you correctly.
But with a Filament Sensor, you don't need to know how much Filament is left on the spool.
When the spool is consumed, the printer pauses. You can change the spool.

T3P3Tony

@chriss as pointed out, with a filament sensor (even a simple switch type) you can pause when the spool runs out. That said monitoring filament used could be possible, mainly using conditional gcode. The missing part is a variable that is saved and restored across reboots. That is something that is on the firmware wishlist.

Chriss

@t3p3tony @cosmowave

Yes, you known WHEN you run out of filament. But you can not predict the remaining filament on the spool. You know it better when you know how many meters you have already consumed, that can help you to predict when an "run out" event will occur. Some people put the spool on a scale but I not like that solution.

Cheers Chriss

cosmowave

@chriss And you know exactly how many meters filament are on the spools?
I think, the solution with a scale will be more accurate...

Chriss

@cosmowave Yes, I will know it right after I consumed the first spool of a filament. The assumption is that a spool with the same filament type should always have the same meters on it. It is clear that that feature can not replace a actual runout sensor.
But what is the problem to record the consumption so far and keeping that information?

Cherrs Chriss

cosmowave

@chriss said in Filament Meter messurment?:

But what is the problem to record the consumption so far and keeping that information?

There is no big problem... you can write your own "measurement system" with conditional code. That should be possible.

achrn

@cosmowave said in Filament Meter messurment?:

I think, the solution with a scale will be more accurate...

I'm not sure a weighing approach is fundamentally more accurate, but I think it's easier - I tend to have about eight spools 'on the go' at a time (currently PETG in black, clear, orange, white and PLA in black, grey, orange) and I'd need to make sure to keep track of which spool is loaded so the counters are decrementing the correct register. I'm sure other people have more part-spools.

The advantage of weighing is that you don't need to know everything that has happened previously, you just need to have the spool in current state and know the tare weight. I'm not sure if all manufacturers declare a spool weight - I buy without spools (from Das Filament) and know the weight of my spools (70g).

I keep intending to build a strain gauge element into the filament holder on my printer, to directly read teh filament available, but haven't got round to it yet...