Mark is on a quest for that perfect 3D Print.  On his journey he came up with a cool idea to design an extruder with a load cell built-in.  It’s a bowden style extruder and as the filament is pushed into the hot end it records the extra load.

He’s been actively testing different variables such as feed rates, temperatures, and retraction speed.  While doing so he’s been recording and graphing how each variation performs.  Typically when you calibrate your printer settings, you mainly just look at the output of how it’s performing.  Having this inside knowledge has let Mark gain optimal output settings by identifying problem areas (without looking at the leftover stringy plastic hairs).

Mark believes (and I agree) that what he has uncovered is just the tip of the potential of his filament force sensor design and has numerous possibilities.

Check out his entire write-up as well as his collected data here.