Low Filament Alarm

Edit: I no longer produce or offer this item.

The 3D Printer Low Filament Alarm is a simple tool born out of necessity. When you are about to run out of filament this sounds the alarm to alert you and give you time to pause & reload, thus preventing running out during a job.

The inspiration came when I did just that on an extended print job. I knew it would be close and I took the gamble anyway. I ended up feeling silly because I was cooking right in the other room and happened not to notice in time. Stupid problem to have.

And I know I’m not the only one with this problem. Almost all consumer grade 3d printers are open loop and don’t have anything to detect the presence of filament.

I have seen fancy aftermarket upgrades on Kickstarter that pause prints for you, but they are expensive and difficult to set up. In any case my printer is closed source, so it is deliberately un-tinker-with-able!

But that doesn’t matter now, my device is easy to setup and can work on any 3d printer. Ive used it on a few roll at this point and it gives me peace of mind. This tool is great insurance for getting through long print jobs and helps me use the very ends of your rolls.

Features:

Works on any 3d printer with any filament material & diameter, no adjustments necessary!
Can be used as-is out of the box or combined with fittings (sold separately) to allow connection with a bowden tube.
Has printable add-ons that enable automatic filament dusting/oiling and multiple mounting positions, see the free add-on STLs here.
No battery drain unless the siren is sounding.
Easy to fish the filament through. (Other devices I’ve seen have internal pockets where the ends of the filament get stuck and are annoying to fish filament through.)

This device is super reliable because it relies on an internal mechanical switch. (As opposed to an optical sensor which has trouble detecting translucent and clear filaments, and can only be optimized for one filament diameter.)

This is a tested tool that just works. No need to mess around with an unreliable DIY solution or with wiring something up to your printer electronics.

Device comes with a piece of foam for use in the oiler accessory (not provided), while supplies last.

Optional Bowden Tube ADD ON: Two brass fittings & small section of 4mm OD PTFE tubing allow you to put the low filament sensor in line with your existing 1.75mm bowden tube system.

Relevant Video Support/Demonstrations: