Color change at height

[jdmech]

My machine is a Flashforge Creator Pro - I was wanting to print some drink coasters (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:115150)
and I thought i might try to use both extruders to print 2 different colors on the same stl file by starting with one color, stopping at a measured height,
then finishing with the second color by starting at the previous height. Is this possible to do with only one stl file? It would save a ton of Meshmixer work.

Thanks - jd

[CompoundCarl]

You can tell the printer to pause at a certain height using the LCD screen on the FFCP

[jdmech]

You can tell the printer to pause at a certain height using the LCD screen on the FFCP

Thanks CompoundCarl - can you elaborate a bit more for me, I'm not quite sure what the whole thought would be here , thanks - JD

[CompoundCarl]

It's called "Pause at Z", and you'll have to sit in front of your printer and look for the setting in the menus. It's different depending on what firmware you have.

[KiLLiN-TiMe]

This would not work with the STL file, but would create a GCode file with a pause.

If you want to pause with Simplify 3D then you need to use a post process script on the scripts tab like this.
{REPLACE "; layer 50\n" "; layer 50\nM0\n"}
This would pause the printer at the 50th layer.

I have a profile that I saved, I call "print with pause" that I use when I want to pause my printer at a certain layer, in my case this is usually to swap the color of filament. I will figure out what layer I want my pause and then go into the script and modify just those couple of digits. Just change the 50's to the layer number you want to pause at.

Now, if you want to move the print head out of the way before it pauses then you would want your script to look like this...
{REPLACE "; layer 50\n" "; layer 50\nG28 XY\nM0\n"}

So you understand, the replace function will find the text in your gcode that says "layer 50" and then it will replace it with "layer 50" Home the "X" and "Y" axis and then "pause".

So what looked like this in your gcode...

Layer 50

Will now look like this....

Layer 50
G28 X Y
M0

And so you know, the little "n" means new line in you script. If you don't include them it will put all of your gcode script on the same line.

And yes you will have to press something to make the print continue. If your printing from your computer Simplify 3d will pop up and tell you it has paused and you need to click resume to continue.



HTH
KT

[CompoundCarl]

KiLLiN-TiMe - That method does not work for x3g based printers. So it will not work for the FlashForge Creator Pro. That is why I suggest using the LCD

[KiLLiN-TiMe]

Good to know!

[reddadsteve]

I have a Flashforge Creator X and am able to successfully pause for color changing using via S3D scripting using the M322 command. I always save the X3G file to an SD card and print off of the SD.

If I only need one color change I simply add a line to the end of the "starting script", such as "M322 Z0.6 ;pause in the gcode". This is the simplest way. I found that .6 was the lowest layer I could pause at since Z height changes during the initial wipe and lift. I like to sometimes have one color for my base.

When I need multiple pauses in a project I add lines to the post processing section, such as "{REPLACE "; layer 5" "M322 Z3.2\n; layer 5"} {REPLACE "; layer 30" "M322 Z6.4\n; layer 30"}

Works like a charm. I do put the pause command in the REPLACE at least a few lines earlier in file than is needed to be sure it is executed on time. Not sure if this is fully required but it makes it easier to just have Z height to be correct than to worry about exact layer number when changing the layer height parameter.

Steve

[pmsciart]

Using a MakerGear M2 (24V V4 hotend) printer and Simplify3D:

To pause a print at a particular Z level, to change filament, do this:

Set everything up in Simplify3D.
Press the Prepare to Print button.
Save the G-Code to the SD Card using the Save Toolpaths to Disk button.

The Marlin firmware in the printer will only recognized 12345678.123 filenames. Use .g as the extension.

Edit the g-code on the SD card in Notepad.
ctrl-f to find “z = 22” if you want to pause at 22mm.
Add the following lines:

; add a color change
G91 ; set relative positioning
G0 Z40 ; drop the bed
G90 ; return to absolute positioning
G1 X205 Y50 F9600 ; go to the purge position off the table
G91 ; set relative positioning
G1 E-50 F225 ; eject the filament
M84 S0 ; disable idle timeout
M25 ; Pause SD Print
; press Pause Print/ Resume Print in Simplify3D to resume printing
G92 E0 ; zero extruder
G90 ; return to absolute positioning
G92 E0 ; zero extruder
;

Save the file.
Eject the SD card.
Insert the SD card into the printer’s SD card slot.
In the Machine Control Panel window of Simplify3D, press the Print from SD Card button.

The print will pause where the inserted code is. Change the filament, and then press the Pause SD Print button, so it changes into the Resume SD Print button. Then press it again to resume printing.

I tested this. It works reliably for me.

When I did not zero the extruder in both relative and absolute coordinates after the M25 pause, the printer ejected ~50mm of filament immediatly after resuming.

Happy Printing!

Paul
pmsciart.com

[MontyFlange]

I just tried the M322 code and it didn't work. Just carried on printing

Code: Select all

G92 A0 B0 ; zero extruders
G1 Z0.4 ; position nozzle
G1 X110 Y-70 E130 F300 ; purge nozzle
G1 X120 Y-70 Z0.15 F1200 ; slow wipe
G1 X110 Y-70 Z0.5 F1200 ; lift
G92 A0 B0 ; zero extruders
M322 Z11 : PAUSE
M73 P1 ;@body (notify GPX body has started)
; **** end of start.gcode ****

What did I do wrong ?