sounds like a simple and perhaps silly question, right ?
on my latest 2 printers, both new releases running klipper, i bypass the runout sensors; and on the one before those 2, then a latest-at-that-time -printer, i bypassed the runout process there also;
the initial reason i did so was there commonly existed a snag point with that extra filament routing right at the sensor ( it seems that all that nice engineering that goes into the overall printer doesnt translate well in the filament feed system…); the snag point is obviously at the change-to-new spool step;
with the second of those 3 printers i noticed some blobbing in the print right when it resumed printing after filament change; what was happening was the print head would return directly to the point in the print where it paused and NOT go though the routine that often starts a new print where it travels down the side of the bed and oozes out any ‘extra’ filament that might have collected in the whole change filament/re-heat process;
so these days i plant a small section of filament in the runout sensor so it believes there to be no runout ; if desired i could then just pull that filament out and pause the process , waiting ro re-start at the point;
the way i address the run-out might seem a bit simplistic but here goes:
we can estimate the amount of filament projected to be used , seems all the best slicers do that; we can also estimte how much filament we have left;
how do i do that ? well, i have the filament feed from a drybox directly into the top of the print head;
i know that drybox weighs 649 grams empty; so at any time i can simply weigh the (drybox + filament spool inside it + weight of the spool itself) and subtract the (649 + spool-weight) to estimate filament left;
added to that process, i tend to estimate ahead what my projected jobs will take and get just under 1000, sometimes i even re-scale a model to get just under 1000 ( this all assumes that you get 1000 when you order 1 kg; which i have found to usually be the case);
as a paranthetic, i have fouund there sometimes to be slight but noticeable color differences when changing spools even from the same manufacturer , so for example, the spool running out might have a very shiny silk gold whereas the successor might be a little more matte; infuriating;
yes doing this ‘my way’ does result in a slight bit of wastage…
thoughts ?
note, what is required in this process is knowing the weight of the empty spool, absent that you could simply weigh the spool + filament right when you unpackage it;
to augment that process i weigh the spools once they are empty , noting the style and keep those labeled empties around just to use for the next spool encountered of that style, it has ranged from 182-196 grams, with one outlier at 211;