Filament counter

[lucidpsykosis]

I googled anything on a DIY or already made filament counter, but could only find info on the DaVinci. Has anyone seen a counter of some sorts that tells you how much filament you've used? I think this would be a good Arduino project if not. I'm asking because I'm sure we've all been there, getting ready to print something and wonder if you have enough on the spool...unless I've missed something. Thanks for any comments.

[richardphat]

The firmware from Rostock Max Delta V2, counts the filaments, but it's no way precise. 6 months ago, it told me I printed 900m of filaments on a spool of 1kg.... Which is way off, because one spool was about 300m only.

[Marm]

I actually like the filament counter on the davinci, as it can give me a baseline for cost estimation.

I would think printing out 2 wheels, with tight and wide rubber bands on them, that squeeze the filament as it passes through. One wheel would have a trigger on it that would send a pulse to the arduino, which counts the pulses. Known distance between pulses = filament used. Might have to count the number of non-pulses in case the wheel pauses or stops on the ON position for the circuit.

[Mjolinor]

You could get the same information from your extruder motor in the electronics just counting the pulses sent to the stepper motor.

I think the Mightyboard does it as it is printing.

[Geoff]

Makerware has a preview function that shows you the time and estimated weight of the build, it's pretty accurate. Even if you don't use makerware to print you can slice the file and check the print preview.

[lucidpsykosis]

Makerware has a preview function that shows you the time and estimated weight of the build, it's pretty accurate. Even if you don't use makerware to print you can slice the file and check the print preview.

I've noticed that when printing with FlashPrint. I guess I'll have to start keeping track of the amounts in a log or something. I wasn't sure how accurate it was...thanks Geoff.