Filament Calibration Gauge by ElmoC

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

After fighting with tape measure, rulers, and curling filament trying to get the steps/mm correct for the extruder, I came up with this device. It is designed for the E3D V6, but I have included the OpenSCAD file to allow modifications for other hotend types.
To use this gauge, you need to remove your hotend and insert the gauge in its place. Feed a length of filament (can be a loose piece about 100mm in length) and align the leading edge with the very top at the zero mark. Enable cold extrusion and extrude a set amount. I used 50mm in the sample photos. The first picture shows that I actually got 53mm. Using the formula: Expected/Actual * current steps/mm = new steps/mm, I changed the configuration and reset the filament and extruded 50mm. This time I got exactly what I wanted (I had a feeling this printer was over extruding a bit).
The ruler I used is from Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DB1C3QS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and I attached it to the gauge with some left over 3M 468MP adhesive sheets I had used to mount my print surface with (https://www.amazon.com/Gizmo-Dorks-Adhesive-Transfer-Sheets/dp/B01HP2CEG8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1489796419&sr=8-1&keywords=3m+high+temperature+adhesive+sheet).
There is a slot on one side of the tube where you can see the filament next to the ruler. You can use whatever type of ruler you want. If the metric side is on the opposite side of the ruler, you can use OpenSCAD to rotate the opening.
I printed this with eSun Natural PLA+ filament.