Great idea for keeping track of actual filament used (filament counter)

General
1

I saw this this morning on 3ders.org and it would be an excellent idea for our 3D printers

http://www.3ders.org/articles/20150125-keep-track-of-your-printing-madness-by-adding-a-filament-counter-to-your-3d-printer.html

This could easily get rid of the hassle of weighing, and could even be electronically implemented for connectivity in hivemind or our laser minutes site.

-Jim Shealy

2

I love the idea, it’s more accurate and hopefully we don’t have to hassle with the paper anymore. I like the analog design, but maybe we should make it more digital?

3

I definitely agree, digital would probably be very easy with an arduino and a rotary encoder. Add a potentiometer and you might be able to auto sense 1.75mm or 3mm filament.

4

This won’t drag enough to cause problems feeding into the machine, will it? Right now the rolls are just on bars- no bearings or anything … I haven’t heard of it being a problem so far (more like tangled filament not feeding) but how much resistance will this add?

5

My guess is almost none… It should be pretty free spinning