Programming a filament change like a tool change

[JohnInOttawa 97]

Good morning everyone.  I suspect this question has been asked and answered in various forms but I'm just not finding it today.

 

Here's the idea:

On my CNC (Gcode driven of course), programming tool changes is routine.  These can be implemented without an automatic tool changer, the machine goes to safe and waits for the operator to advise when ready to proceed (after the tool change is complete).  In my software (Mach3), you can change the tool, reset zero and move the gantry position if needed (to the zero reference), and when you hit the continue prompt, the machine returns to the correct position at safe, then descends and continues the job with the correct bit.

 

Soooo, let's say I want to run a 3 color job on my UM3, for example a name plate background in black, with two colors (say red and white) embossing a logo on top.  I only need black up to the point I am going to start with color so there would be no overlap (but I would need to get the exact layer correct).

 

I'm aware of 'Pause at height' but the last I heard about that feature it was not working correctly and it was unclear to me if one could combine pause at height with a filament change and get good results.  Maybe there is a plugin somehere?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

John

[kmanstudios 1,115]

2 hours ago, JohnInOttawa said:

I'm aware of 'Pause at height' but the last I heard about that feature it was not working correctly

If I am correct (it has been a bit of time) I have used it just fine in 3.6 and 4.0.

[leliep 26]

Actually I am having problems with "Pause at height" also:

 

After loading a model into Cura 3.6.0 I add a post processing script "Pause at height" or "Filament change" for a change at a certain layer number.

When during printing the printer (UM3) reaches that certain layer, it goes to pause and I can change the filament. When I resume the print after changing the filament, the (travel-)speeds seem to be different (very high) and there seems to be no more z axis advancements.

Is anybody being successful in doing this or could it be some Cura problem (or am I just plainly stupid)?

 

I tried the "Pause at height" without changing the filament and it went perfectly fine...

Edited January 9, 2019 by leliep

[rsan 0]

I just tried the exact same thing today on our Ultimaker S5. I attempted to print a logo with two colours against a black base. I added the two post processing scripts in Cura: "pause at height" and "filament change". My first attempt resulted in the print pausing and then... nothing, so I removed "pause at height" and left in "filament change" in my next attempt. Unfortunately, that resulted in the same thing as well. It never prompted me to change the material. The buttons to change/unload the material from the material station were also greyed out, so I was not even able to manually do it either. I spoke to tech support and explained what I was trying to do, and they said that due to the way that the material station is set up with the printer, there is no way to do it other than to "trick" the printer into thinking that the active bolt is empty by cutting off the filament at the port 1 or port 2 entrance in the material station bay, which should then prompt the printer to tell the material station to start feeding in the next bolt of the same material.