Programmed Pause

[tobyCwood]

I already use Pause @Z both in my start gcode as well as at the SF front panel interface... for my SF-bots... but seems it would be real cool if I could set a pause at a layer number or Z height within the process prior to slicing. I have four bots which are not SF bots.

[parachutist]

What's an SF bot?

The lack of a simple pause-planning GUI interface in S3D is the reason I don't use S3D much, It would be nice if S3D would add this function

[Althor]

I've used pause at layer/height is very valuable in printing more functional parts by adding captive hardware (i.e. nuts or electronics)
I just purchased S3D and was disappointed not see this value added option.

[BaronWilliams]

+ 1

This is quite useful for a lot of different purposes.

Although there are ways to do this already, if you dig deep into the software. But they aren't so convenient.

There are times when I want to embed magnets into a printed part. There are 2 ways to do this.

One method requires making 2 profiles, and uses the Stop printing at height and Start printing at height options in the Advanced tab. I make one profile that prints up to a certain height and stops. I run that profile first. When it completes, I put the magnets, then run a second profile that starts at the height the 1st profile finished at. The nice thing about this approach is that you can easily visual the results when you use Prepare To Print function.

There's another way to do this kind of thing, if your printer supports the pause G-code M226. In the Script tab of Simplify3D there's a way to insert G-code at a specific layer using the REPLACE keyword in the Additional terminal commands for post processing section. You can use this to pause at a specific layer, but not height. Use something like this:

{REPLACE "; layer 10" "M226 ; Layer-10"}

In that line M226 is the pause G-code, and 10 is for layer 10. Pause might be different for other printers, and some might not support pause at all. What this REPLACE command does is find all occurrences of the comment "; layer 10", and replaces them with "M226 ; Layer-10". This comment "; layer 10" is created by Simplify3D in the G-code right before G-code for layer 10 starts. This comment is only found once in the G-code for a given layer. So the net effect is that you get a single pause at layer 10 by using this little trick. It works great, but having an actual Pause At Layer setting would be much more convenient.

[vudoprint]

+1 for Replace tip

[kresty]

I'd love a GUI way to add a pause at various layer heights. I printed multiple color coasters that way, but it's sometimes annoying/tricky to find the right spot to pause.

[tobyCwood]

What's an SF bot?

The lack of a simple pause-planning GUI interface in S3D is the reason I don't use S3D much, It would be nice if S3D would add this function

"SF" is Sailfish; Rep1&2/2X and all the clones... any mightyboard based bot.

With Sailfish we can now program as many pauses as we want and insert the commands in the start gcode:

;@pause 1.0
;@pause 2.0
;@pause 3.0
;@pause 4.5
;@pause 10.8

instead of the comment, gpx (the post processing app S3D uses to generate an x3g file for the rep styled machines) generates the slicer code for x3g that performs the specified height pause which includes the instructions for moving everything out of the way accordingly and set the temps. It also allows access to the GUI for loading and unloading filament and unpausing.

These pauses are not actually instructions to the slicer SW (Simplify3D) instead it's commands to gpx which inserts the commands into the x3g file, but there's no reason why it cannot be done as gcode via Simplify3D.
I have quite a few nonSailfish bots and I would love to be able to do this on some if not all of them.
I guess this would be too hard for the S3D programmers to pull off...

[Broncosis]

{REPLACE "; layer 3" ";move away and pause \nG1 Z10 F1800 \nG1 Y10 X10 F3000 \nM0 \nG28 X \nG92 E0 \nG1 E-1.7500 F900 \n; layer 3"}

here is a little more complex post processing code for pausing

this stops at layer 3 >>> {REPLACE "; layer 3" <<<< simply change the layer number you want to stop at

this code lifts my print head 10mm and then moves it to the left front corner and retracts 1.75 mm
";move away and pause \nG1 Z10 F1800 \nG1 Y10 X10 F3000 \nM0 \nG28 X \nG92 E0 \nG1 E-1.7500 F900 \n; layer 3"}
and then put the the layer 3 marker back in place just to be nice and keep the code consistent for future reading

the not this is for Marlin based machines with a lcd control panel it may work on others with a pc attached
I am not sure about that I haven't printed with a pc attached in years

the resulting code looks like this

G92 E0 << simplify3d resets the extruder count
G1 E-1.7500 F1800 << simplify3d retracts
;move away and pause << my comment
G1 Z10 F1800 << my requested move to 10mm height your going to want to change this depending on what height you put your pause at
G1 Y10 X10 F3000 << move to the front left corner of my print bed
M0 << the Pause command you can now use the lcd to load and unload filament or put your part in
G28 X <<< quickly re homes x in case while loading filament you moved it just a bit
G92 E0 << and then we reset the extruder count again
G1 E-1.7500 F900 << we do the retraction our selves that simplify does at the end of every layer this keeps everything super constant
; layer 3, Z = 0.464 << and then this is the normal layer indicator that put back in at the end of our replace string

notice that it notes the z height of every layer here as well which can help you find the exact right spot to put your pause if you need a bit of help fine tuning the height or to double check that its going to be high enough to clear what ever object your inserting

[scobo]

+1

Another vote for a "pause at layer X" function.
Cura has this and it can come in very handy.

[dloaec]

+1

Pause 'at height' and/or 'at layer' is needed !