Calculator

Flow calculator

Three calculations that come up again and again when calibrating. Which calibration makes sense in which order is explained in Calibrating 3D printers.

1. Flow after OrcaSlicer test ("YOLO")

You print the test plate and look for the block with the smoothest top surface without gaps. Its value is added to the current flow.

Current flow Value of the best block (e.g. 0.01 or -0.02)

2. Flow after wall measurement

Print a cube with one wall and no lid, measure the wall at several points with calipers and enter the average. Less accurate than the test above.

Current flow Target wall thickness (line width) mmMeasured wall thickness mm

3. E-steps of the extruder (Marlin)

Only for printers where you set the E-steps yourself. Mark the filament 120 mm above the extruder, extrude 100 mm, then measure the distance to the mark. With Klipper the value is called rotation_distance and is corrected the other way round (see the note below).

Current E-steps Steps/mmRequested mmMark above the extruder mmRemainder up to the mark after extruding mm

Formulas: Test method: new flow = old flow + value of the best block (OrcaSlicer calibration). Wall method: new flow = old flow × target ÷ actual. E-steps: new E-steps = old E-steps × requested ÷ actually extruded. With Klipper, the following applies to rotation_distance: new value = old value × actually extruded ÷ requested. Many current printers calibrate flow automatically, so you only need this for third-party filaments or when there are problems.

Continue with: Under-extrusion and Over-extrusion.