Quality

At 3Dfils, we know how important quality filament is for achieving perfect 3D printing. That's why on this page, we'll explain everything we do to offer you top-quality filament.

At 3Dfils, we have developed checkFIL, a real-time quality control software that allows us to monitor the quality of the filament in real time while it is being produced and that controls all the parameters of the manufacturing process to avoid deviations from the established tolerance.

This way, each coil we produce is unique and can be fully traced from the moment the raw material arrives until it is shipped to the customer.

The most important parameters we monitor are the following:

Diameter

We use dual-axis laser sensors to continuously measure the filament diameter. Traditionally, single- or dual-axis sensors have been used, but only providing the average of both measurements. This makes it impossible to determine the true quality of the filament.

At 3DFils, when we give you a tolerance value, it refers to an actual measurement of one of the two filament axes and not to an average of these.

Ovality

Ovality is a parameter that hasn't been considered in the 3D printing filament industry. Most companies that measure diameters along two axes tend to use the average of both to calculate their manufacturing tolerance. This means that filaments with the same average diameters can perform very differently when printed.

This is where ovality comes in. Ovality is a parameter that relates the measurements of both axes to indicate the difference between them. Excessive ovality can cause printing problems and/or jams because, even if the average diameter is correct, one of the axes is larger than the tolerance.

Standard deviation

Simply giving the maximum tolerance isn't enough. Two filaments that share the same maximum tolerance can print very differently.

That's why at 3DFils we wanted to add another parameter to our quality control: the standard deviation. This parameter measures the variation in diameter along the entire length of the filament. A low standard deviation means that all measurements taken are very close to the average diameter.

What quality do we offer?

At 3DFILS we assure you that all our coils will meet at least these quality parameters:

Maximum tolerance:	< 0.05mm
Ovality:	<2%
Standard deviation:	<0.02mm

These numbers are guidelines and may be lower depending on the material and diameter. To find out the specific quality of a filament, it's best to visit its product page.

Check it out for yourself:

So you can check the quality of your filament, we've included all the quality data on the stickers on each spool. This way, you can find the unique information on the spool you're going to use on the box, along with its unique identifier, which allows you to see all the spool's characteristics meter by meter.

On the sticker you will first find the diameter of the filament accompanied by the maximum tolerance for that spool.

Below you have the standard deviation for that specific coil.

Finally you can see the ovality expressed as a percentage.

For any questions regarding your spool, you will need to use the Spool Number (SN) that appears at the bottom of the sticker.