I see a lot of people claim they tune/calibrate their printer any time they use a new spool of filament. But does anyone actually do this? It feels like a waste of time when filament is so consistent, even between brands. I can understand doing it for specialty rolls, but for basic pla? Seems unnecessary

  • Garzak@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Reading the answers make me feel bad about myself.

    I never really calibrated my printer. I have a BLTouch so I rarely have to level the bed, I correct the Z offset when my prints start failing, and that’s pretty much it.

    I should probably start taking printing more seriously.

    • Duallight@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      If you’re happy with your prints, then no need to calibrate IMO. I think calibration is only necessary when you see a problem or want the best possible prints you can get. But personally, I don’t care too much if a print isn’t perfect, as long as it works

    • suth@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Nah, there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m the same type as you and just print until something goes wrong. While I enjoy the journey of 3D printing, what I really love is the results. As long as you get the result there’s no need to tinker unless you just really love that aspect.

  • SlovenianSocket@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    I print a temp tower for every new brand I get and save that as a profile. Has worked fine for me for years

    • Duallight@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      New brand seems reasonable. I still don’t even do that, but I also don’t care too much if it’s not a perfect print haha

  • MrQuallzin@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I don’t do it for every spool, but I’ll generally tune for each brand I have. Elegoo’s PLA prints different than IIID Max PLA+, so I have profiles for both. I’ll only tune a new spool if it’s not printing well with the brand’s profile

  • Jurbl@lemmy.ca
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    1 year ago

    Could be semantics but I configure (tune?) my profile to brand and color and leave it unless a roll is printing oddly. Basically, I’m looking for adjustments to flow, retraction speed and distance. Overture black and white are the same but recently used a hot pink and bright green from two different manufacturers where my Cura Overture Black/white profile sucked.

  • JLN@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I rarely ever do, honestly I use the “Prusament” defaults in prusaslicer for all of my rolls of various types, and never really have any issues. Unless it’s something like a silk or specialty type of filament.

  • -spam-@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Heck no. I’ve got a baseline profile that’s good enough and tweak if something is obviously wrong.

    These days I just want to print with as little fuss as possible. Think a BambuLab printer is in my future.

  • nyan@lemmy.cafe
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    1 year ago

    Being a lazy type, I only do it per-material, and then only crudely. Which is part of the reason my PETG prints tend to be a bit on the stringy side, I’m sure—I’ve just never bothered to tune the retraction properly.

  • CobraA1@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Not really, I usually run a test print. But I have noticed that sometimes a different color will need different settings, even if it’s the same material and brand.

    One thing that I do for every roll is to put an ID number on it and weigh it, and put that into a database. That way I have a good estimate of whether or not I have enough filament for a project.

  • bustrpoindextr@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I tune whenever I start getting failures, or if I completely switch materials. For example, with petg, it works better to have a thicker initial layer so I’ll raise the z offset a bit going from pla to petg, and the opposite going back.

    But I’ve gone through multiple rolls without needing to tune.

  • ScottE@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I didn’t on my FlashForge CreatorPro unless I had an issue, but I do on my BambuLab X1C - but that’s because it’s a fully automated process using the built in lidar.

    • DrNeurohax@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      Automatic flow calibration is so nice. I don’t use any of the other “smart” features, but it’s worth the extra cost just for that.

  • Nanomerce @lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I just do it for new brands or colors. Though if a roll is giving me a hard time I’ll do some checks.

  • aard@kyu.de
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    1 year ago

    I just start printing with a profile that looks close enough - I’ll see soon enough if I need to change something, and more often than not it comes out good enough. (Not just for PLA - I pretty much don’t print that anymore - but any material)