Materials & EquipmentBeginner4 min read

Managing Your Materials Library

Add filaments and resins, track stock levels, and keep cost-per-gram calculations accurate.

materialsfilamentstocklibrarycost per gram

The Materials library stores every filament and resin you use. Each material has a cost-per-gram rate that feeds into your cost calculations, plus stock tracking so you know when to reorder.

Adding a Material

Go to Materials and click Add Material. Enter:

  • Name — e.g., "eSUN PLA+ Black" or "Elegoo Standard Resin Grey"
  • Type — PLA, PETG, ABS, TPU, Resin, Nylon, etc.
  • Colour — hex value for visual identification
  • Spool weight — net weight in grams (typically 1000g)
  • Price per spool — what you pay
  • Density — g/cm³ (PLA: 1.24, PETG: 1.27, ABS: 1.04)
  • Current stock — number of spools on hand
  • Low stock threshold — get alerted when stock drops below this

Cost Per Gram

Printforge automatically calculates the cost per gram from your spool price and weight. This is the rate used in the calculator. When spool prices change, update the price and the cost-per-gram updates everywhere.

Material Type Filter

The Materials page has a type filter dropdown. If you stock 30+ materials, filtering by type (PLA, PETG, etc.) keeps things manageable.

Colour Swatches

Each material shows a colour swatch based on the hex colour you entered. This helps visually identify materials in lists and the calculator dropdown.

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Managing Your Materials Library — Printforge Learning Centre | Printforge — 3D Print Cost Calculator