Filament running out
Sorry if this is a begin er question (which it is as it is my first post) but I am two days into a huge print and it still have 10 hours to run. I am worried that I will run out of filament but equally not that keen to sit up into the night to see if I do need to change it. I have a fresh spool, but I would rather not change mid-print if I don't have to (I have never changed a spool during a print, but I have paused and restarted when I had to remove a blob and the printer re-started a cm to the right of where it had stopped, so I had to abort - so I am really concerned that doing a filament reload might produce the same outcome). Any advice on how reliable is the 'tune > change filament' function is? Alternatively, does anyone have a ready way to estimate volume of remaining filament on a spool. In this case it is one of those huge 1kg Makerbot spools, with the windows in the side that let you see how much depth you have left? This is a Mk2 with the 3.1 firmware (so I take it that means no auto-detect filament?)
Thanks if anyone can advise
Cheers
Rob
Re: Filament running out
This is the MK3 forum, you would be better posting it in the MK2.
The MK3 has some technology that would make this a none issue, but thats not going to help you..
Re: Filament running out
load the gcode into pronterface, this will estimate the length of filament required,
a 1kg roll of standard 1.75 mm filament has about 300 metres on it.
if it was full to start this print and the print needs say 250Metres,you should be ok,
if the estimate is significantly over 300 metres, then you might be wise to change it now,because if it fails, you have saved hours of time and loads of potential extra waste filament. if it succeeds you can go to bed in peace...
when i have a new roll of filament, I weigh the roll without the protective bag, and note the gross weight on the side of the spool.
if it's say 1.25kg, then the spool is approx 250gramms
when the spool is part full, you can weigh it again, and estimate the remaining filament
e.g.if the part full the spool weighs 750 gramms, it's roughly half full, so you have about 150 metres left
I have used the colour change (M600) method many times with success, and the filament change option on the LCD menu, is a manual version of this process, so it should work...
assuming it does work, the printer will spill a little filament out, and ask if the colour is clear, this means is the new roll feeding properly...
before you press the button to continue, grasp the waste filament gently and hold on... press the button, and the printer will extrude a little more filament before moving back to the print, since you are still holding the cooled tail of the filament,as the extruder moves off to continue the print, you will pull all of the waste off the extruder, and save having a zit to clean off the model...
hope this helps, regards Joan.
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
Re: Filament running out
Thank you for the tip - and sorry for posting to the wrong forum!
Cheers
Rob
Re: Filament running out
Cheers Rob,
if the wrong forum, is a problem, one of the moderators will move the post.
did you estimate whether you need to change the roll?
regards Joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
Re: Filament running out
Has your model finished printing yet?
regards Joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK