In this post and video I will show you how to verify that your spool of PLA has enough PLA for your 3D printing project. It’s actually very simple, quick and easy. Just review the Cura analysis of the amount of PLA, weigh an empty spool, weigh the spool you want to use. Take the weight of spool with the PLA and subtract the weight of the empty spool and that will give the weight of the PLA on the spool. If the weight is more than the Cura analysis than your project is good to go. If your project needs more PLA you with either have to get a new spool with more PLA or do a spool change towards the end of your print. In this video I am using food scale that allows me to zero out the weight of the empty spool so that IO don’t have to do the calculation. My daughter has Type 1 diabetes so we use this type of scale pretty regularly. In this video I am using Hatchbox PLA. One of my favorites. Below are the steps:
1- Review Cura weight analysis. My example was 316 grams
2- Weigh an empty spool. The weight of an empty Hatchbox PLA spool is about 248 grams
3- Weigh the spool with PLA that you want to use. Mine was 306 grams
4- Subtract the empty spool weight from the spool with PLA. 306 grams – 248 grams = 58 grams of PLA on my spool
5- Compare the weight of the PLA that you have with the weight the Cura slicer estimated. Slicer said I would need 316 grams so this spool did not have enough PLA to finish the project.
I hope this helps. Happy Printing!
