Filament Sample Swatch and storage box

Filament sample swatches for different filament types, with only the necessary information, including a storage box for 80 sample swatches.

For me the most important about filament swatches is to get an idea about the look and feel of the material, mostly the appearance. It should give an impression about the sides of printed objects as well as the bottom and top. I don't need holes and different measuring and test parts, since i use other objects for tuning in my filaments. Also important for me is that a filament sample swatch does not need too much material to print, as well as printing in a reasonable amount of time.

These filament swatches take about 6m of filament to print and are ready in about 30 minutes. For PLA that's about 2 grams of filament (depending off course on the density of the specific material).

Filament type swatches

There are filament sample swatches for various kinds of filament types. STL files as well as 3MF files are included for:

• ABS
• ASA
• FLEX
• PC
• PETG
• PLA
• PP

If you want a filament sample swatch for a different type that is not included, leave a comment and i will add them later.

Specifications

• Credit card size format
• Stackable
• Filament type clearly visible at upper left corner
• With layer thickness display for 0.2, 0.4, 0.6 and 0.8mm at bottom
• With top finish display for normal top layer and ironing top layer at upper right corner
• Back side has room for additional information (i use Dymo labels for this)

Storage box

I like my filament sample swatches to be stored nicely. That's why i also designed a storage box. It holds 80 filament sample swatches. 

The picture shows a first version of the storage box. The published version has cutouts for the sample swatches, saving on both print time and filament.

Printing instructions

Filament sample swatch

Your best choice is to use the 3MF file. It contains the filament swatch and the modifier block for the area that will be using the ironing functionality of the slicer (using PrusaSlicer). 

If you are using a different slicer then you can use the STL file for the filament sample swatch of your choice. If you also want to use the ironing part then you also need the ‘Ironing Block.stl’ file and use it in your favorite slicer to indicate the part of the sample swatch that displays the ironing top layer.

I use 0.2mm layer height with 3 perimeters and 4 top and bottom layers. Infill is at 10%, but with 4 top and bottom layers the part will be printed without using infill.

Storage box

I use 0.3mm layer height with 2 perimeters and 4 top and bottom layers. Infill is at 5%. You will need support on both the top part and bottom part for the closing mechanism at the front of the box. I use the ‘snug’ style (in PrusaSlicer). 

Originally i designed the box to be printed with 0.2mm layer height. But then it would take about 2 days to print only the bottom part. Printing at 0.3mm layer height it (still) takes about 25 hours to print.