I see on the site it says 3 in 1 out but does not give much details at all.
Can someone elaborate a little on this?
Can it handle more than 3 in?
what options are there for multi in nozzles?
Does it do normal retract as well as firmware retract in combination?
Are the custom scripts more defined than previous versions in case I have to rebuild my old scripts?
Re: 5 in 1 out nozzle
Yes, it should be able to handle up to 6-in-1 extruder systems. Which printer do you have?
To setup a N-in-1 system, you usually just create a single temperature controller for the combined hotend, then create N extruder entries. After that, depending on what type of nozzle you have, you may want to adjust the tool change options. If there are several different filaments that feed into a central hotend, then typically when you start the print all of the filaments are fully retracted. In other words, none are currently pushed into the nozzle. If that's the case, then you want to enable the "Perform tool change prime on first use" option on the Other tab. That will make sure the first filament receives a large prime movement to load it into the nozzle. Similarly, you probably want to check the "Perform tool change retract at end" option to return all the filaments to a fully retracted position.
You should be able to use firmware retractions quite easily by just replacing the G1 E- with G10 and G1 E+ with G11.
To setup a N-in-1 system, you usually just create a single temperature controller for the combined hotend, then create N extruder entries. After that, depending on what type of nozzle you have, you may want to adjust the tool change options. If there are several different filaments that feed into a central hotend, then typically when you start the print all of the filaments are fully retracted. In other words, none are currently pushed into the nozzle. If that's the case, then you want to enable the "Perform tool change prime on first use" option on the Other tab. That will make sure the first filament receives a large prime movement to load it into the nozzle. Similarly, you probably want to check the "Perform tool change retract at end" option to return all the filaments to a fully retracted position.
You should be able to use firmware retractions quite easily by just replacing the G1 E- with G10 and G1 E+ with G11.
Re: 5 in 1 out nozzle
Here is what I posted to someone else on FB when asked why 4.12 did not work. Maybe it will give you a better idea of what I need/want.
I basically need it to "retract while wiping", then lift the nozzle and firmware retract ALL extruders G10 (to remove the pressure from the other 4 PTFE) in order to move around the bed without oozing (to/from the purge tower etc). It can also firmware retract before lifting the nozzle, whichever yields better results. It's the retract AND firmware retract working in conjunction that is critical.
Also, when changing colors, I need ALL extruders to purge what is in the nozzle currently and then retract say 5mm each then the active nozzle feeds 20mm to fill in that extra room with the active color (this fills the little bit of the unused ports with current color to reduce bleeding). It then purges on the tower to get any residual of other color out.
Once purged it retracts and firmware retracts (to prevent oozing because G10 retract all 5 extruders x amount and x speed) and moved back to the print. It then needs to firmware unretract (or G11) then unretract to get the filament ready to print. In theory the color will print perfect.
On 4.xx I can add G10 (firmware retract) to the retract script and tool change script. I need to know exactly when to G11 in order for the firmware retract to work or else the firmware will retract and not undo the retract causing other extruders to just keep pulling the filament up and the active extruder will push melted filament up into that extruder. I have a 11-12 inch multicolor that took me an hour to get out of my PTFE lol.
Here is the issue. If I remember correctly, 4.12 broke (changed the way it happened or didn't happen at all for me) retract during wipe so it started to retract at the end of the line then firmware retract causing blobs. It also changed some of the gcode that I used to identify when to G11 so I would have 3-4 G10 commands to each G11. Each G10 HAS to have a G11 following at some point or it screws it all up.
I hope that made sense. Most of this is possible for any software, but some of it is really hard to guarantee happens. I may buy the upgrade to see if it is fixed or improved. If things don't work, what kind of timeframe are we looking for on fixes? I am hoping this is not a one and done like 4.12 was.
I basically need it to "retract while wiping", then lift the nozzle and firmware retract ALL extruders G10 (to remove the pressure from the other 4 PTFE) in order to move around the bed without oozing (to/from the purge tower etc). It can also firmware retract before lifting the nozzle, whichever yields better results. It's the retract AND firmware retract working in conjunction that is critical.
Also, when changing colors, I need ALL extruders to purge what is in the nozzle currently and then retract say 5mm each then the active nozzle feeds 20mm to fill in that extra room with the active color (this fills the little bit of the unused ports with current color to reduce bleeding). It then purges on the tower to get any residual of other color out.
Once purged it retracts and firmware retracts (to prevent oozing because G10 retract all 5 extruders x amount and x speed) and moved back to the print. It then needs to firmware unretract (or G11) then unretract to get the filament ready to print. In theory the color will print perfect.
On 4.xx I can add G10 (firmware retract) to the retract script and tool change script. I need to know exactly when to G11 in order for the firmware retract to work or else the firmware will retract and not undo the retract causing other extruders to just keep pulling the filament up and the active extruder will push melted filament up into that extruder. I have a 11-12 inch multicolor that took me an hour to get out of my PTFE lol.
Here is the issue. If I remember correctly, 4.12 broke (changed the way it happened or didn't happen at all for me) retract during wipe so it started to retract at the end of the line then firmware retract causing blobs. It also changed some of the gcode that I used to identify when to G11 so I would have 3-4 G10 commands to each G11. Each G10 HAS to have a G11 following at some point or it screws it all up.
I hope that made sense. Most of this is possible for any software, but some of it is really hard to guarantee happens. I may buy the upgrade to see if it is fixed or improved. If things don't work, what kind of timeframe are we looking for on fixes? I am hoping this is not a one and done like 4.12 was.
Re: 5 in 1 out nozzle
We haven't heard any issues of problems with retract while wiping so far in V5. There were literally hundreds of fixes for V4 issues that were part of the V5 development, so many things that affected V4 are no longer present in V5.
If you want to use firmware retractions, I know a lot of our customers just add a simple replace script. For example:
{REPLACE "G1 E-1.0000 F1800" "G10"}
{REPLACE "G1 E1.0000 F1800" "G11"}
However, if you are using retract while wiping at the same time, then frequently the very last retraction isn't actually 1mm. It might retraction 0.7mm while wiping, and then only do a 0.3mm retract at the very end. That means you need to use a slightly different approach since the simple search and replace above won't work. The trick I would suggest is to go to the Output tab and enable the "Include M101/M102/M103 commands" option. That will tell the software to put an M101 at every prime movement, an M102 at the start of the retract and wipe, and a M103 at the end of the retraction. You could then replace the M101 with a G11 and M103 with a M10. You may have to experiment to get it just right, but hopefully that gets you started.
If you want to use firmware retractions, I know a lot of our customers just add a simple replace script. For example:
{REPLACE "G1 E-1.0000 F1800" "G10"}
{REPLACE "G1 E1.0000 F1800" "G11"}
However, if you are using retract while wiping at the same time, then frequently the very last retraction isn't actually 1mm. It might retraction 0.7mm while wiping, and then only do a 0.3mm retract at the very end. That means you need to use a slightly different approach since the simple search and replace above won't work. The trick I would suggest is to go to the Output tab and enable the "Include M101/M102/M103 commands" option. That will tell the software to put an M101 at every prime movement, an M102 at the start of the retract and wipe, and a M103 at the end of the retraction. You could then replace the M101 with a G11 and M103 with a M10. You may have to experiment to get it just right, but hopefully that gets you started.
