As I have delved deeper into the benefits of the Marswork Filament Management system, some glaring oversights in our past workflow priorities have become undeniably clear. One major oversight was in not paying closer attention to the exact colors of the filaments we used in the past.
That's understandable, in that for the bulk of the time we have been using 3D printing, the primary available options were monochrome printers. So, putting a lot of effort into the minute details of the color of filament we were using didn't make much sense. Even in those cases where I had two color printers, the color needs were so basic that simply choosing red over green for a project was good enough.
But, when Bambu Labs and other manufacturers opened the door to multi-head (4+) printing and slicers improved the prospects of full-spectrum printing, things got a lot more critical when it came to paying attention to color. More importantly, the bulk of my printing is now producing objects for others. And they are a lot more particular about the color combinations used in their projects.
The Marwork ID Tag system opened my eyes to the need for knowing and documenting every color used in every project for future reference. The fact that both Bambu Labs and Marswork publish the HEX values for all of their filaments gave me to right place to start building this documentation.
In the process, however, I found that past lapses created some important gaps in my being able to locate the filaments used in projects prior to our full reliance on Bambu Labs and Marswork. In trying to fill these gaps, I began to create a spreadsheet of all of the HEX values, and their converted RGB values, for our filaments. For those filaments made by manufacturers that published their HEX values it appeared to be an easy task. And, fortunately, low cost colorimeters were available on Amazon to use for those few filaments we owned with unknown HEX values.
COLORIMETER #1 - DataColor ColorReader EZ
I can't afford a $2,200 Pantone Spectocolorimeter, so I opted to go with a distinctly less costly option. My first choice was the ColorData ColorRead EZ.
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| DataColor ColorReader EZ and IPhone App |
The ColorReader EZ is a bluetooth device that captures color information and reports it via a smartphone App. The device and app are extremely easy to use. The app reports both LAB and RGB color values.
Scanning each 3D printed ID tag brought me to some interesting conclusions. Not a single scan matched that of the published HEX color value for any tested filament. I wish I could say the comparative values were close; but, they were not. This was a bit of a puzzle; but, it wasn't even the beginning of my learning curve when it comes to this topic.
I wasn't entirely surprised because I assumed that the manufacturers COULD afford that $2,200 option. And, it's generally true that you get what you pay for. I simply added 3 more columns to my spreadsheet, to include my tested RGB values. But, just to satisfy my curiosity I decided to try a different low-cost colorimeter.
COLORIMETER #2 - Linshang LS170
The Linshang LS170 colorimeter is available on Amazon from a variety of vendors. It was a little less expensive than the ColorReader EZ.
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| Linshang LS170 device and Smartphone App |
Just like the ColorReadEZ, the Linshang LS170 is a bluetooth device that connects to a smartphone for capturing and reporting. Again, both device and app are easy to use.
Once again, the results of my scans did not exactly match the manufacturer's published RGB values. But, the first thing I noticed was that repeatability of results among multiple readings were considerably more consistent. And, I felt the LS170 was easier to place over the ID tag targets precisely where i wanted to check.
RESULTS WILL VARY
The website Filamentcolors.xyz is an extremely valuable resource. The test unit they use to document the color of filament is more expensive than the ones I have used so far, Interestingly enough, but not too surprising,it is rare for their tested value to exactly equal the manufacturer's published Hex value. That is not a significant issue if we only rely on one or the other source when comparing color values and looking for matches. So, I am building a dual database of Bambu Labs filaments we use that lists both the manufacture's published value and that from FilamentColors.xyz. More on that in a later post.
IT IS MOSTLY "TEAL"....
Back to my current Linshang LS170... Like my first colorimeter, it reports both LAB and RGB values. And, it was while using the LS170 that I began to feel that, perhaps, while convenient, HEX and RGB values might not be the most valuable way to document colors for my purposes. This realization became crystalized as I was trying to find a match for a filament we had previously extensively used but no longer had in our inventory.
One of my favorite movie lines is from "The Princess Bride"... "He's not dead, he is only MOSTLY dead."
We have to view color names in that same vein. Any given filament described as "TEAL" is only MOSTLY Teal. It's somewhere in the neighborhood. That's true even among different product lines from the same company.
The color I was hoping to match was either a Cyan or Teal and I suspected that it was a Polymaker filament. Polymaker manufactures many different lines of excellent quality fillament. Searching my my Amazon purchase history I found I had purchased Teal in both Polymax and Polysonic versions. But, both of the lines come on cardboard spools and I'm trying to move entirely to refills to be used with the Marswork Quick-Swap spools.
Fortunately, Polymaker does release one line of filament in refill format. Polychroma. And, it was available in Polymaker Teal, the same description of the Teal in both Polysonic and Polymax lines. I purchased the Polychroma.
I was astonished that the Polychroma Polymax Teal was NOT a match!
So I dug a little further and came up with the information in this chart. (Click to see at 100%)
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| "Teal" Hex Color Values for Various Polymaker PLA Lines |
This was immediately helpful in explaining why the newly purchased Teal from Polymker did not match what I had previously used. As you can see, there is considerable color variations in the "TEAL" family from this one manufacturer. In an effort to see close matches, I then ordered this list in HEX value order. (Click to see at 100%)
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Polymaker "Teal" list Sorted by HEX value |
But, HEX sort left me unsatisfied that this would be the most helpful in comparing filament colors. So, I then decided to sort on the Lab "Lightness" value. This was the result. (Click to see at 100%)
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| Polymaker "Teal" list sorted by LAB Lightness Value |
With this one sort, it dawned on me that I definitely needed to include the LAB value of all of our filaments (or prospective filaments). To make this capture process quicker and easier, I have ordered a Digcreat LS173 Colorimeter (manufactured by Linshang) that will connect directly to a computer via USB as well as smartphone.
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| Digcreat LS173 USB & Bluetooth Colorimeter |
The LS173 should help speed up the progress because it has the capability to export in Excel format. While I am not certain, I hope that it will help me quickly capture a series of ID tags and export as a group. I will let you know how it actually performs as soon as I can give it a workout.
I will lso let you know how this entire quest goes. I'm convinced that the documentation is well worth the effort over the long term for those of us that find ourselves printing repeated products for others or retail.
This is only the beginning of this journey. So, if you are interested in better color management of your filaments, please check back to this blog.