Hangable Filament Swatches With Transluncency Test

Hangable Filament Swatches

These filament swatches build on the great Mini Filament Swatches by FrostbiteDesign, and are designed to fit within their great storage boxes.

The Numbers & Layers Area

The numbers in each section of the transparency tester indicate how many layers of filament you’re looking at, at the standard 0.2mm layer thickness. There’s a key on the back in case you forget. There’s also a version without this key.

The numbers serve two other functions:
1. Showing you how many layers are required to hide an adjacent color, or how many to use to get a desired transparency effect.
2. Helping you decide how tall to raise make raised letters when working with the given filament. For example, in most of these the “8” is hard to read because it’s only 2 layers (0.4mm) tall, but the 9 layer (1.8mm) tall “1” is easy.

The Label Area

In addition to being a decently sized flat example of what your filament looks like, the label area aligned with the face of the swatch so you can add 3D printed letters on it without worrying about filament swaps. However, after looking at the many other swatch solutions available, I believe that FrostbiteDesign had the right idea when they chose to use a label. 3D printed letters - either as holes or protrusions - are significantly harder to read.

I recomment a simple thermal printed label with black on white that will be easy to read on the darkest or lightest filaments.

Hangers

I’ve added some Swatch Hangar Tabs that you can add to any other model so that you can hang your swatches alongside your spools. Add them to shelves, or anything else.

The swatches slide onto these easily, but you’ll feel a little resistance when pulling them off. This is to ensure they don’t fall off easily, especially if they’re attached to something that vibrates - like a 3D printer. 😉

Swatch Boxes
You have two options for swatch boxes.  

The box in my example photos is from the original  Mini Filament Swatches page that inspired this design. These have a base that is roughly ⅓ as tall as the swatch and models for an optional solid or translucent lid. These could be stacked but there's nothing to keep them from shifting around. Unfortunately they were uploaded with a license that doesn't allow me to include them here. 

Fortunately Polar has created some with a shareable and remixable license. These appear to come up to just slightly below the hanger tab, and do not have a lid. 

Bambu Lab AMS

If you have a Bambu Labs AMS I’ve included a plate that will fit on the front of it and allow you to hang the swatchs directly in front of the spool with that filament. This is useful because the cover is tinted, that plus the dust that builds up on it, makes it hard to get an idea if the color in your AMS is really the color you want.

I recommend you put a strip of double sided tape under the lip of the AMS hanger plate to keep it from vibrating off.

You’ll find a version of this in the bambu_multiple_plates_with_everything.3mf file that has been split with a dovetail joint and arranged vertically so that it can print without supports. However, i strongly advise you to print this at half-speed with a brim because it will wiggle too much if you print fast, and the brim will help keep it attached to the build plate. I taped the two halves together on the back, then attached double-sided tape to hold it to the AMS.

Using With Filament Stackers

My Filament Stackers now come with a built-in slot to insert and display the swatch.  If you tend to have multiple spools of the same color around, and keep them in a Filament Stacker (or something similar) I recommend printing duplicate copies of each swatch. That way there's one to display in front of unopened spools / refill boxes. Store the extras in a "duplicates" swatch box when not in use.