What’s the problem that spool tags solve?
I’m not knocking against this initiative by prusa, but the idea of spool tags in general.
As a novice with a bambu lab printer, the rfid has saved me and my wife a couple of times from messing up with the wrong settings. Most of what we have is pla but the occasional petg and abs cause a surprise.
I would think that comes with experience. Each to their own I suppose. If it makes the technology more accessible, I’m all for it, but not at the cost of increased prices.
If the tag is read-only, it can allow:
- marginally better loading, as the printer can heat the nozzle correctly for that filament without input from the user.
- Comparing a G-code file to the loaded filament, either to throw a filament mismatch error, or to adjust temperature settings on the fly.
- Allow slicer software with a network or serial attachment to the printer sense what filament is loaded
If the tag is writable, it can allow for keeping track of how much filament remains on the spool, by writing how much was consumed during each print. This means, when you get to the end of the spool, the printer can warn you if there isn’t enough filament remaining without having to manually track the mass of the spool.
Why does the holder not just weigh the spool? Should be a better estimate of remaining filament as it does not rely on perfect bookkeeping.
If you mean, why not install a load cell in the spool holder instead of an RFID reader, well…
I just happen to have four empty 1kg spools lying around, because I’m a total packrat. Let’s weigh them:
- 343g
- 319g
- 300g
- 254g
So that’s a range of 89 grams, out of just four spools. And these are all visually similar 1kg black plastic spools. I’ve seen skeletonized spools that tried to reduce plastic, I’ve seen cardboard spools, and I’ve seen spools of different sizes. How is a printer supposed to tell a mostly empty 2.5kg spool from a full 1kg one?
Then…What happens if you load one new spool, use some of it, unload it, use a different spool for awhile, then switch back to the first? Will you have to manually key in a tare weight for that first spool?
If you install a load cell in addition to an RFID reader, well then the spool’s RFID chip could store the weight of the spool, the initial weight of the filament loaded, and the weight of the remaining filament, and the printer could weigh the spool to verify that, which could catch and correct errors caused by oozing, miscalculation, using the spool on another printer, having to cancel a job mid-run because of a problem, etc. I’d kind of like this for reloadable spools. Somebody is coming up with split spools that you can buy just the filament for, and then you could reload the spool with another load of the same filament, and a printer with a load cell could automatically weigh and recalibrate a reloaded spool including an updated tare weight.
All told though, given how much it matters, I’d be fine with the dead reckoning approach done by the slicer. I mean, my personal 3D printer just turned 11, it has no auto bed leveling system, no filament runout sensor, no auto loading system, hell I haven’t updated the firmware since Barack was president, and I’m in the habit of running one spool all the way empty, and just shoving in the start of the next spool as the printer runs. I’ve done that for two-color signage and such, something with colored raised lettering on a white background or something. You can get away with shit on a primitive old clanker like mine that the newfangled units won’t put up with.
Sounds like an application for print farms.
I see it as useful for some rando with a printer as well. If you’ve got a printer to make little dinosaurs for your kid or the occasional curtain rod bracket, that little warning “this gcode file was sliced for ABS, but you’ve got PETG loaded. You sure?” or “There’s only 177 grams left on this spool, this print will take 190.” can be helpful.
I already get a warning for the first part - printer already known what I’ve loaded because I’ve told it. It knows what is currently loaded and can compare against gcode. Of course I could’ve made the mistake of telling it the wrong material when I loaded it, and that’s on me.
By itself, it’s does not solve anything.
However it gives some extra data that can be used by the printer firmware.
The NFC tag contains data about the right printing temperatures, the color, the amount of filament left in there spool …
So a lot of QOL features can be developed with that. For example
- having a message of the amount of filament left in not enough to finish the print I’m about to start,
- auto adjust temperatures depending on the loaded filament,
- importing a library of available filament in the slicer just by taping the spool on the NFC reader.
- using this library of filament for multicolor/multi material printing. So instead of printing selecting each head individually in the slicer and then having to remember to load the right filament, right color in each head you can just select the filament you actually want and the printer will manage.
Alot of poka-yoke stuff then?
And that is the reason why buying Prusa is so much better than buying Bambu Labs. They care about open standards and the community.
I’m still sore after Bambu’s whole slicer locking down bullshit, but you can’t deny that Bambu also got the entire 3D printing industry to pull their collective fingers out and start actually making great printers that “just work” - including prusa, who were very clearly caught off guard as well. Before Bambu came along people were still recommending Ender’s as a good “first printer”, which is all you need to know. Now there’s a ton of good options (including prusa).
I do you one better, I admit that I was a few times on the fence on buying a Bambu Printer exactly because of this. But the Apple approach they are pursuing was always off putting. Nonetheless they pushed the whole industry to new goals, which is very nice.
I have to admit I gave in and bought one, despite my misgivings about their approach and at this stage I have no regrets. It really does “just work” in a wonderful way.
At first I was annoyed they used non standard nozzles, but AliExpress sorted that out in no time. The nozzles they use on newer machines are pretty great too, no more burning myself trying to unscrew a nozzle to swap it.
There’s no doubt that some of their decisions have been questionable, but some I really do agree with.
I had a Prusa Mk3 for many years. Extremely reliable and open printer if you don’t use the MMU. I might go back to Prusa someday but I’ve got a Bambu X1C which my router is blocking from connecting to the outside world and I’m pretty happy with it.
LAN only A1 mini with AMS for me. I will switch to Prusa eventually. But I never put in the effort to use my Ender 3 much, so the bambu ease of use pitch was what I was looking for.
Prusa printers are MUCH better than Ender 3s just FYI. Not even in the same class. If you end up getting a modern prusa you’ll get something like the Bamboo but more community driven and with real technical support.
My first printer was Prusa MINI and it sucked so much. Something constantly stuck or broken.
And when they went closed source, they lost all my support.
I don’t know what was wrong with your printer but the support should have figured it out and given you spare parts to fix it.
They didn’t, apart from when the motor got broken which they send me a replacement for.
Odd, I had the exact opposite experience. That thing is still going strong with next to no maintenance.
Lucky you, I even got a faulty motor in there. Getting a good print was constant tinkering. That’s fine for Ender 3 price point, not Prusa prices.
Maybe I was just unlucky, but unlike many people on the internet I simply don’t like Prusa printers.
Hmm, seems like a decent idea. Definitely better than closed tag systems.
Definitely! Mostly looking forward to see how/if other printers (especially Klipper) will support it
Support in Klipper sounds amazing. There could be open repositories of printing parameters. Not 100% sure how Klipper would pass the info to the slicer but that seems solvable.
For an open source system I think it’s mainly just a matter of when. Granted there are currently complaints with the licensing for the system, so that might hurt/kill traction.
I mean it’s fairly new and the maintainer seems to be open for a license change.
That’s sick, I would love to see this become commonplace
I wonder if an external DIY sensor could be attached to unsupported printers so the signal/standard could be utilized. Maybe for something like the Creality line it would be as simple as a small display indicating detected filament parameters (for the user to input in the config).
I’m sure the likes of Bambu will never support this, but lots of other makes likely will. Some will jump all in right away (it is cheap and a useful feature for their customers), others will jump in when forced. Some of the cheap ones will never jump in because that is $.50 they don’t want to spend.
There are USB NFC readers. Someone could add support for that to Klipper.
Nice! I’m excited!
Its a trap. How about just a setting that you type in?
“a” setting?
Do you have any idea how many settings there actually are for a proper print profile? Never mind usage amounts which are tedious to track.
You can also just not use it.
