The Anicept SBFM
The SBFM is the Self-Built Filament Monitor! It's a smart, simple, and cost-effective method of detecting a plethora of issues when 3D printing. It can find extruder and hotend jams, filament tangles, runouts, and any other issue that causes filament to stop feeding.
Created by
Anicetus 🚀
Tier 4
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Anicetus 🚀
submitted The Anicept SBFM for ship review ago
Anicetus 🚀
added to the journal ago
Ready to submit! Probably?
For the past hour or so, I've been working on getting this thing totally ready to submit. I'm actually not going to submit it tonight, since I'd rather wait for some time tomorrow, just in case I remember something I have to do. For now, though, I think it's ready!
I used AI to make some code (I'm sorry,,, i've said it before and i'll say it again: I'm not a software guy) and uploaded it, along with some human written instructions on how to use it. In any case, I did look it over and edit things, and I'll stress that I understand how it works and can--and probably will--troubleshoot it.
Ok enough yap. Here is picture :D
ngl i'm not exactly sure what images to put for updating the repo, so I guess these will do. It was only 1 hour of work anyways.
ok gng cya tmrw :D
Anicetus 🚀
added to the journal ago
Finished CAD, getting ready to submit!
Today I finished the case! Here's what it looks like:
Pretty nice if you ask me. I did run into an issue where my design used 5x11x3mm bearings, but those kind of don't exist on aliexpress,,,,
anyways, it was a fairly easy fix, which I however managed to complicate badly. after a while of looking, I found some 7x11x3mm bearings, meaning they have a wider inner diameter. I tried to find a model of these on grabcad and official manufacturer sites, but couldn't for the life of me. after wasting 10 minutes doing that, I finally made a 5-second model in fusion ðŸ˜
i adapted the design to accommodate the different bearings, and then finished my BOM:
as you can see, it all comes to only $19! this is my cheapest project yet lol
I started a github readme, and began getting this thing ready to submit. speedy project :D
Anicetus 🚀
added to the journal ago
more case work
I've done a bunch of work enclosing this thing! I think I have it mainly figured out, and I like how the big gear is visible from the outside. I think it adds a cool aesthetic
Anicetus 🚀
added to the journal ago
Research + cad
This project should be fairly simple and easy, and I don't plan to spend super long on it. Yesterday and the day before, I did a bit of figuring and landed on using a photoelectric sensor and the ESP32-C3 SuperMini. That way, I can send data straight from the ESP32 to the Klipper host over wifi, meaning the whole thing only needs the two power lines from the 3D printer!
I came up with a rough CAD outline as well:
I'm not entirely sure how to make sure the filament feeds into the PTFE tube quite yet, unless I do like most extruders do and have a kind of funnel thing. That sounds good. The little black block with the bearing and the gear-looking thing will have a spring or something that pushes it towards the other gear-thingy so that it applies pressure on the filament. The gears are made of TPU, so the filament kinda squishes into it.
Basically how the photoelectric sensor works is that it reads whether or not the light beam can travel from one of those posts to the other. So if the esp32 measures how many times that changes (from open to blocked, and vice versa) in one second, then divides by 20 (the number of holes on the coded disc), it gets the rotations per second. Then it multiplies this rotations per second rate by the circumference of the smaller gear that the filament rubs against--about 12.56637, with a diameter of 4mm--to get how much filament is passing per second.
So, to get the theoretical minimum filament change detection, that'd be a one-spoke difference. One spoke is 1/20th of the gear, so 1/20th of the smaller gear (which is directly connected) is around 0.63mm. Thus, it makes one measurement every 0.63mm of filament movement, and can detect a problem after around that amount. Awesome.
This thing should also be quite cheap. The PTFE tube is quite likely already owned by whoever builds it, and the ESP32-C3 SuperMini costs like $3 on AliExpress. The photoelectric sensor, for some reason, isn't showing up a lot on AE, and I don't want to risk getting a nonfunctional one from a bad seller, but I found this one on eBay for like $8 total, which isn't too bad. Then two collet clips are like $3 max, and the three bearings don't have to be anything special--maybe another $3. Total that's around $17, which is very very very very very good. Absolute cinema.
I probably spent an hour thirty two days ago figuring out what parts I wanted to use, and I counted more or less two hours yesterday arranging the components and making the gear/coded disc situation. This could be my fastest project yet lol
Anicetus 🚀
started The Anicept SBFM ago
3/21/2026 - Research + cad
This project should be fairly simple and easy, and I don't plan to spend super long on it. Yesterday and the day before, I did a bit of figuring and landed on using a photoelectric sensor and the ESP32-C3 SuperMini. That way, I can send data straight from the ESP32 to the Klipper host over wifi, meaning the whole thing only needs the two power lines from the 3D printer!
I came up with a rough CAD outline as well:
I'm not entirely sure how to make sure the filament feeds into the PTFE tube quite yet, unless I do like most extruders do and have a kind of funnel thing. That sounds good. The little black block with the bearing and the gear-looking thing will have a spring or something that pushes it towards the other gear-thingy so that it applies pressure on the filament. The gears are made of TPU, so the filament kinda squishes into it.
Basically how the photoelectric sensor works is that it reads whether or not the light beam can travel from one of those posts to the other. So if the esp32 measures how many times that changes (from open to blocked, and vice versa) in one second, then divides by 20 (the number of holes on the coded disc), it gets the rotations per second. Then it multiplies this rotations per second rate by the circumference of the smaller gear that the filament rubs against--about 12.56637, with a diameter of 4mm--to get how much filament is passing per second.
So, to get the theoretical minimum filament change detection, that'd be a one-spoke difference. One spoke is 1/20th of the gear, so 1/20th of the smaller gear (which is directly connected) is around 0.63mm. Thus, it makes one measurement every 0.63mm of filament movement, and can detect a problem after around that amount. Awesome.
This thing should also be quite cheap. The PTFE tube is quite likely already owned by whoever builds it, and the ESP32-C3 SuperMini costs like $3 on AliExpress. The photoelectric sensor, for some reason, isn't showing up a lot on AE, and I don't want to risk getting a nonfunctional one from a bad seller, but I found this one on eBay for like $8 total, which isn't too bad. Then two collet clips are like $3 max, and the three bearings don't have to be anything special--maybe another $3. Total that's around $17, which is very very very very very good. Absolute cinema.
I probably spent an hour thirty two days ago figuring out what parts I wanted to use, and I counted more or less two hours yesterday arranging the components and making the gear/coded disc situation. This could be my fastest project yet lol
3/24/2026 - more case work
I've done a bunch of work enclosing this thing! I think I have it mainly figured out, and I like how the big gear is visible from the outside. I think it adds a cool aesthetic
3/30/2026 7 PM - Finished CAD, getting ready to submit!
Today I finished the case! Here's what it looks like:
Pretty nice if you ask me. I did run into an issue where my design used 5x11x3mm bearings, but those kind of don't exist on aliexpress,,,,
anyways, it was a fairly easy fix, which I however managed to complicate badly. after a while of looking, I found some 7x11x3mm bearings, meaning they have a wider inner diameter. I tried to find a model of these on grabcad and official manufacturer sites, but couldn't for the life of me. after wasting 10 minutes doing that, I finally made a 5-second model in fusion ðŸ˜
i adapted the design to accommodate the different bearings, and then finished my BOM:
as you can see, it all comes to only $19! this is my cheapest project yet lol
I started a github readme, and began getting this thing ready to submit. speedy project :D
3/30/2026 8 PM - Ready to submit! Probably?
For the past hour or so, I've been working on getting this thing totally ready to submit. I'm actually not going to submit it tonight, since I'd rather wait for some time tomorrow, just in case I remember something I have to do. For now, though, I think it's ready!
I used AI to make some code (I'm sorry,,, i've said it before and i'll say it again: I'm not a software guy) and uploaded it, along with some human written instructions on how to use it. In any case, I did look it over and edit things, and I'll stress that I understand how it works and can--and probably will--troubleshoot it.
Ok enough yap. Here is picture :D
ngl i'm not exactly sure what images to put for updating the repo, so I guess these will do. It was only 1 hour of work anyways.
ok gng cya tmrw :D