The flow rate calibration is done in order to fine tune the amount of plastic extruded by the printer. Also known as Extrusion Multiplier, by calibrating the flow rate you can fix issues caused by under-extrusion or over-extrusion. Besides this, flow rate calibration can also improve retraction values a bit and help with bulging corners and layer seam.

(Note .3mf files included are for Prusa Slicer and Anycubic Slicer. will upload other slicers shortly)

Step 1. I strongly recommend performing the Extruder Tension Calibration. It has a big impact on the flow rate calculation, and you should do it before calibrating the flow rate.

Step 2. should be calibrating your esteps on your Anycubic but since they have it locked down there is currently no way of doing this. But I'm going to tell you how to check to see if yours are off. I suggest you contact anycubic support and tell them we need the ability to calibrate our own esteps. You can manipulate extrusion width value if you try to dial in cube and still can't get it as last attempt.

Calibrate Extruder E-Steps

a. On the Anycubic you will need to take off the PTFE tubing on the extruder side. So there is no obstruction or friction so your filament can flow easily to get more accurate results.

b. Heat up hot end to the recommend temp for filament your using.

c. Go to setting and disable the filament detection.

d. Mark off 120 mm of filament from the end of the top of the extruder

e. Hit the 100m extrude button. The printer should extrude exactly 100 mm of filament mark you made should be 20mm from top of extruder ptfe connector.

f. Measure how many mm is left over after it is done

g. Calculate exact amount extruded = 120 minus what was left over to findout if your estep vaule is correct or if your under extruding or over extruding.

***h. Find and document the current setting for e-Steps (Currently Can't do cause Anycubic has locked machine down)

***i. Calculate New eSteps number = Current eSteps number * 100 / Exact amount extruded

***j. Change your estep number in your printer to the number calculated above

***k. SAVE your settings

***l. Repeat the process as many times as it takes until your extruder will push through exactly 100 mm of filament. Until exactly 20 mm is left over.

(***Note the steps with asterisk beside them you can't currently do because Anycubic has the firmware locked down. Please contact anycubic and request they change this.)

Step 3. Pressure Advance should be calibrated before Calibrating Flow Rate.

Pressure Advance / Linear Advance | Ellis’ Print Tuning Guide (ellis3dp.com)

Step 4.

The Flow Rate Cube

Default Flow Rate for this Cube is 1 This will be a good baseline to get you started.

Extrusion width of the cube is set to .5 when ask by calculator in flowing steps.

The End Result the Cube walls should be 1mm thick on all 4 walls when your flow rate is correct

Instructions

1. Open the .3mf make sure you use Open Project and not import. Will not import my settings and will not hollow out the cube if you do. Slice and Print out the cube.

(Note you may have to update the location for your Arcwelder.exe to the location you have it If not skip this step)

2. After Print is done, Take Calipers and measure all 4 walls and record your measurements enter your measurements in the Calculator on this site. Flow Rate Calibration - Improve Print Accuracy | 3D Print Beginner

(Note: It’s really important to use the calipers correctly, and not apply to much pressure. Measure only the last few layers, to account for any wall imperfections and The caliper should be placed close to the end of the wall, to account for any difference in the nozzle pressure.)

This will give you your new flowrate.

Or you can calculate like this. This will also give you your new flowrate.

(Average of the 4 measurements = measured line with.)

The cubes requested line with is 1mm

Default Current Flowrate is 1 (Until you change on next pass of procedure)

3. Enter the new Flow Rate value in your slicer

Now that you have the new flow rate value calculated, go back in your slicer and save the new value. Use only the first two digits of your calculated flow rate.

In Anycubic Slicer, you need to edit the Extrusion Multiplier value.

In Prusa Slicer, you need to edit the Extrusion Multiplier value.

In Simplify 3D, you need to edit the Extrusion Multiplier value.

In Cura, you need to edit the Flow value. This is represented as a percentage, so enter the value accordingly.

4. Reslice the cube with the new flowrate and reprint the Cube.

5. Rinse and repeat till you get close as you can to having walls 1mm thick on all 4 corners.

6. Remember to save your work!

(Note Its recommended if you change type or brand of filament, you should do flow rate calibration and save a profile for that filament.)

Personall I don’t do this calibration for each spool of filament. I do it once for PLA / PETG / ABS / TPU and maybe do it once in a while, if I notice I get different results in my prints. While this is recommended, I prefer doing prints instead of continuously calibrate my printer.

Here is a general video to help show you what you are trying to accomplish in this tutorial. Hope this helps. Happy Printing