What a simple and elegant solution, and so much better to do than swatches.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

thanks!

This is a great solution. I’ve never attempted swatches for similar reasons. Being able to at least know I have green in a couple locations narrows down the search.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, that's all I want. I really have very few colors. "oh, those are over here". That's all I need.

heres a suggestion, inset a couple neodymium magnets into the face of the drawer and also the back of the filament display so you can easily pop it off when you want to change out your samples

@ScytheNoire

2 ай бұрын

Magnets are always the answer. :)

@shivaargula4735

2 ай бұрын

Is there any reason to remove the display from the drawer when changing the swatches? Seems like it can be done in place.

@tamiamibusch

2 ай бұрын

Magnets are an added BOM item and cost. Also the rare earth kind often come from mines of dubious human rights and safety records. Often referred to as conflict minerals. It's best to avoid their use when possible. Also keeping the BOM down saves money.

@jajordan2515251

2 ай бұрын

Magnets are a great idea. I like some elements of these color plates, but I intend to build these drawers on the very bottom of my racks. At my age it's not as easy to get down that far and try to wiggle a 1.75mm strain of filament into that screwed in sample card 5 inches from the ground. it's gotta come off so I can change it easy somehow. Magnets sound perfect.

@ScytheNoire

2 ай бұрын

@@shivaargula4735 They are low to the ground. Not everyone wants to bend down, and as we age, our eyesight gets worse. I like the idea of magnetic just so it can be removed to look at closer, as from that distance, I would have a hard time differentiating two similar colours.

I started out with one of these drawers and now I am up to three (and counting lol). I did not realize I had that much filament until I put it into one spot. The filament sample card is a nice touch. I have my drawers (with no front) installed inside a standard lower cabinet. Fits perfectly.

I would maybe round the edges of the swatch panel to match the curvature of the drawer face. So it matched the overall look.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, I did think of that, but it makes it a LOT bigger since the drawers have a 20mm radius, which is really big for such a small part.

What a great easy way to quickly see what material you have. GJ!

What an elegant design, for a really nice solution. Over time I could see myself getting lazy on keeping up on maintaining printed out color swatches - this is so simple that even my level procrastination could keep it maintained.

Great idea. You could also double or triple stack the filament side by side if you want a wider color swatch.

@jajordan2515251

2 ай бұрын

I was thinking this EXACT same thing. As I was watching I felt it was a brilliant idea (cus I'm lazy too and would never keep up with actual printed swatches) but felt the single strand of filament would be too hard to see at a distance and lower on my shelves. I thought "I will just remix that with 2 or 3 strands each right next to each other."

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, I did consider that, just didn't design it that way. But it should work!

I really didn’t think any improvement was needed but that’s a great addition. Simple and looks good.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

thanks!

Well Done Robert !

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Thanks!

This is a great a simple idea

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

thanks!

Yes, a resized system that would fit on a Bambu Lab PS system would be fantastic! I said this a couple of weeks ago, but man, it's brilliant engineering! Well done!

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

thanks!

Boom! Perfect.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Thanks!

So simple but effective love it

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

thanks!

Great idea!!!

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

It's all my wife.

As I started watching this video, I was thinking why not just cut an inch or so of the filament and scotch tape it to the front of the door. Ok maybe your covers look a little better than tape. 😄

Your wife is quite the catch! 😊

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

she sure is!

That's a bloody good idea! 👍👍

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Thanks!

Your wife is a freaking genius

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

she sure is!

That's pretty slick.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

yeah, it turned out pretty good I think!

I would love to make a stand for a bunch of these that would rotate on a bearing. I don't use the drawers (though if I get a new printing space, I'm probably going to build these. I'm using Repkord's Reprack but it's a pain for me to use because I'm short and the only mounting space I have for it is hard for me to reach), but my filament is not in the same room as my design area, but if I had a little spinner like this sitting next to my computer, it would really help the creativity...

I really love the design, it does exactly what it should do! I would never use it tough, or at least I would not open rolls to display the colors. If you only have the open rolls in the drawers it would work fine, but I wouldn't break the seal just to add the swatch.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, same. I may or may not actually do this, but I wanted to give people an option.

Great idea. I never understood printing out the full swatches. By the time I get around to printing one I would run out of that color. Plus I just look at the roll. For me the more important label is what the material is. I've had a few instances of thinking I had white PLA but really it was white ASA and had to change things files and settings.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Yep, that's exactly how I am.

Simple, yet brilliant. That's why we use our wifes insights :D

Clearly your wife is the brains of the operation, just like at my house. :) One suggestions: how about putting multiple slots perhaps even 2 or 3, adjoining each other, so that the samples are, in effect, a little bigger?

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

that COULD work, but filament wants to curl. But with the faceplate, it could hold them flat.

In order to make the swatches a little larger and readable, maybe make it so the groove is wide enough to hold 2 filament strands right against each other, it will be twice as thick as well as sort of show a sort of 'macroscopic' view of what the layer lines will kind of look like.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

others have mentioned this and it's certainly possible.

That's a pretty good solution! Best thing about it is it wastes minimal filament and takes minimal effort to add something to the system. I thought it would be hard to tell from a distance what colors would be in which drawer but the black or white backgrounds really help with contrast. Especially with the camera slightly out of focus at 6:26 the filament is still easily visible.

@jajordan2515251

2 ай бұрын

I agree. I also think, because some colors show up better on black contrast and others white contrast, that making the sample block (the inside not the cover plate) half white and half black would function better. Not sure if it would LOOK better though.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, when you're close enough to the drawer to use it, you can easily see what's inside.

I was wondering the same thing with so many drawers, and so many spools of filament. How would you know what colors and what area. I would think if you could integrate into the handles, your filament samples, it would be an angle and easier to see as you’re standing up.still a great video. Look forward to your next.

You could add more lines of filament, like 4 to make it more visible. Also I would probably router recess the swatch plate, to make it more coherent with the design.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

yeah, that's certainly possible!

for larger swatches of filament without needing to print, you could lay several strands next to each other. you'd get a corduroy texture of course, but that might be worth it for the added visibility. i believe the easiest way to accommodate this would be to replace the single-stand slots with some sort of rack-tooth pattern so the stands would sit next to each other, and add a matching feature in the faceplate to lock each stand in position

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, that could certainly work!

Another great addition. You could integrate them into the handle? That way they are at an upward angle to see better when standing above?

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

For sure. I'm sure someone will remix them like that. I'm more of a minimalist so that's how how I'll use it.

I got a 45 sample pack of PLA from Paramount 3D and spent a WEEK making filament samples for all of them

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

OOF! yeah, that's not how I like to spend my time.

you could use the faceplates for organizing on a greater scale. Red: PLA, Green: ABS, Blue: Nylon etc.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

For sure. I assumed people would do that. For me, it's all black all the time!

👍👍

awsome! can you combine the two pieces and it would be even cleaner! thanks for the content!

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

for sure.

Maybe you already mentioned it in one of the other videos (if so I missed it), how do you deal with moisture uptake in this “open” storage solution?

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Check out part 1 of the video.

As someone who is maintaining a swatch library, one way to save some time going through a backlog of filament, if you have a Bambu printer with an AMS, is doing per object multi-filament printing to print multiple swatches in a single print (from 4 at a time up to 16 at a time if you have 4xAMS and your swatch design is small enough). That said, I really like these plates you came up with. I may adopt them too.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

I guess I just don't want to spend ANY time on that. I have other things to maintain.

@josephspiros

2 ай бұрын

@@RobertCowanDIY Oh, definitely, that's what I got from your video: it wasn't just the time to print the initial run but also the attention and time needed to keep it up to date too. Takes less than a minute with your system to keep the plate updated with the latest strands, printing a new swatch becomes a whole thing of its own and takes a lot longer. I just figured I'd share this "trick" for anyone crazy enough to still want swatches after seeing your solution (which I think is better for most people in practice).

Another idea would be to create a spreadsheet of all your drawers and filament in them. I got the idea from a recent video from Adam Savage

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

oof, that just sounds like work. I'm not updating a spreadsheet.

I mean you don't have to print out all the swatches right away, you could have your display for immediate results and then a larger display that you fill as you use the filaments. When you use a filament for the first time for an actual print, just include the little coin on the bed

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Yeah, sure.

Bambu lab AMS could make that job a lot easier :P Just print by object.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Well yeah, but you still have to load up the filaments and the AMS only works for maybe 2/3 of my filament.

What do you do with so many colours, im curios :)

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

those are my least-used filaments ;-)

I really want that top left corner to have a radius. Effective solution though.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

they DO have a radius! the problem is the drawer has a 20mm radius which is just way too big for the small panel. it's only maybe a 5mm radius right now. I tried 20mm and the whole thing would need to be quite a bit bigger.

@c0mputer

2 ай бұрын

@@RobertCowanDIY Not sure we're visualizing the same thing. I'm thinking a radius that visually matches the distance from the large radius. So if the large radius is 20mm and the sample card is, say, 8mm away from the top and left edge, the radius of the sample card's top left corner would be 12mm. And in my mind the sample card will only have a radius on that top left corner. large radius - distance from edge = small radius. Also the same way you would have a shell of a box with the inside and outside corner both having radii but the wall thickness would stay the same as it swoops around the corner, regardless of how thick the wall is. I'm 100% over explaining it, sorry!

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

@@c0mputer Gotcha!

could take picture of the drawer contents but that wouldn't be a meta-print.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

ha. do a lithopane print of the contents?

I have boxes instead of drawers (though I wish I had drawers), also 8 spools each. I have a completely digital inventory system with pictures and everything. So, instead of standing in front of my boxes looking at swatches, I just scroll through my inventory and then grab it from the box where the spool is in. I think with a system like your drawers, where you probably have over 100 spools, a digital inventory is much more efficient. And you can easily track which filaments you use the most, how much you have left, and other data.

Not sure if im stupid or your wife is just a genius, who would have tought to simply use the filament itself as a sample :D

@ScytheNoire

2 ай бұрын

Often an outside viewpoint can be very helpful, but I agree, his wife had a great idea.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

We both discuss our respective projects every morning. I give her ideas, she gives me ideas ;-) It's how a marriage should be!

Did anybody else see Mosaic Palette 3 pros on the front of every drawer in the thumbnail? I swear there was a Palette 3 pro in your hands in the thumbnail.. Maybe it's just what I wanted to see.. lol

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

oh, ha!

Feadback: on the audio it's some sort of 60hz noise.

1:09 I'm just as lazy as you are. There's no way I'm updating swatches every time I change a roll in the drawer.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

Yep, I probably won't even update the cards...

Bambu + 2x AMS means you could print the card in one go so your 28 hours would be down to maybe 10. If you turn off most of the pre print stuff you could get it down to about 5 hours and most of that time would just be the time to load and unload all the filament.

@RobertCowanDIY

2 ай бұрын

you still have to load everything up, but I get your point.