Creating custom materials

With BuildBee you can create your own custom materials for when you can’t find what you’re looking for in the Add-On Marketplace. 

Custom Materials let you define the print settings for a material you want to print with. If you are using a common material like PLA, ABS, or PETG, we recommend trying the ones in the Add-On Marketplace. If your material isn’t available, create a custom material.

Those on a Starter Plan can purchase preset slots, or upgrade to a Pro subscription for unlimited preset slots.

Step 1 - Open My Presets

- Open the dropdown menu in the top right hand corner.

- Select 'My Presets'.

- Select the 'Materials' tab.

Step 2 - Create your own Material preset

- From the 'Materials' tab, select 'CREATE' to begin the process.

- You must enter the following information for each preset:

You can use the tooltips on each setting to get a better understanding of what each setting will change.

      - Material name: The name of the material. This should be short and clear. Try to use the material brand and product name.

      - Description: Use this field to describe the material properties that make it unique.

      - Tooltip: Some helpful text that can convey specific information on the material settings which will appear as a 'help' icon (e.g. maybe it prints at an unusual temperature).

      - Temperature (°C): The temperature that the extruder nozzle will heat up to.

      - First layer temperature (°C): The temperature of the first layer of your print.

      - Bed temperature (°C): The temperature of your 3D printers heated build plate (If your printer doesn't have one, this will be ignored).

      - Max volumetric speed (mm³/s): Will set a constant flow of material to speed up your prints (a value of 0 will disable this feature).

      - Maximum print speed (mm/s): Sets the maximum print speed for printing.

      - Minimum fan speed (%): Sets the minimum fan speed for cooling.

      - Filament cost ($/kg): The price of your filament per kilo, which is used to estimate the cost of your prints when you submit to a queue (won't affect printing).

      - Filament density (g/cc): The density of your filament, which is used to estimate the cost of your prints when you submit to a queue (won't affect printing).

- Once you are happy with the settings, select 'SUBMIT' to finish. This will create the material preset and add it to your account.

The settings are prefilled with default values that should work if they aren’t changed.

If you set a maximum volumetric speed, the printer will attempt to keep a constant filament flow out of the nozzle, by varying the travel speed of the printer head. Leaving this value at zero will disable this feature. If you want to use volumetric printing, start off with a speed of around 3 mm³/s. To make sure the printer doesn’t try to travel too fast while volumetric printing (for example with very thin walls) the maximum print speed should also be set. This will depend on the specific printer being used, but the default value should be appropriate.

Step 3 - Use your custom materials

- Begin by returning to the homepage of the Buildbee app.

- Select a model.

- Select your printer or queue.

- Select your custom material from the 'My Custom Materials' section:

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