Options for pausing prints?

[mkoic 2]

Hello.  New to the community, but I was wondering if it has been discussed to add some options to pause prints through Cura.  What got me thinking about it was the video below.  I could envision a couple of use scenarios where pausing at defined times would be useful.

 

1)  Pause after a support roof is completed - as shown in the video, this would allow you to have no z-distance for the top of a support.  Complete the support, pause and move to a defined location, allow the user to apply a support release agent manually (via pen, brush, etc.), then resume printing.

 

2)  Pause after a designated layer is completed - would allow for installation of thread inserts or nuts within a part (or other types of hardware)

 

I think that this capability would be very useful.

 

 

 

 

 

[IRobertI 516]

Extensions -> Post Processing -> Modify Gcode -> Add a script -> Pause at X

[mkoic 2]

14 minutes ago, IRobertI said:

Extensions -> Post Processing -> Modify Gcode -> Add a script -> Pause at X

  Thank you.  That's helpful if someone knows Gcode, but I would think that it would be more user friendly to have a way for it to be implemented through the Cura interface.  Would this be something difficult to do?

[mkoic 2]

Actually, maybe I misunderstood you.  I don't have Cura on this machine, but I think you're telling me that there's a plug-in that will let me add pauses at layers, right?  I'll check into that when I'm home.

 

As for the first use case (after a support roof is completed), manually entering a pause for each support roof could be time consuming if there are multiple elevations that are supported.  Having Cura automatically do this would be helpful.

[IRobertI 516]

Yes, I meant that there are pre-made scripts that will let you pause at specific heights or layer numbers. No way to automatically pause for supports roofs though I'm afraid. Then again I don't think it would be difficult to create a script for that (for someone who is used to writing such scripts).

[LMychajluk 0]

I've been trying to use these post-processing scripts with no success on my Anycubic MegaX. I've tried to use them to change Temp for printing a temp tower, but that doesn't seem to work, and I was just trying to use the 'Filament Change' script to pause and give me a chance to change colors at a specific layer, but the print continues straight through the layer change to the end.

 

Is there something I'm missing when using the Post-processing scripts?

 

Cura 4.6.1, btw...

 

-Lee

[Guest maht]

16 hours ago, LMychajluk said:

I've been trying to use these post-processing scripts with no success on my Anycubic MegaX. I've tried to use them to change Temp for printing a temp tower, but that doesn't seem to work, and I was just trying to use the 'Filament Change' script to pause and give me a chance to change colors at a specific layer, but the print continues straight through the layer change to the end.

 

Is there something I'm missing when using the Post-processing scripts?

 

Cura 4.6.1, btw...

 

-Lee

 

Different gcode flavours and printer firmware types could be the reason. As you can see there are a few different scripts for different firmware types in 4.6.1. Did you use the generic one or a different one?

 

Fun fact: The next release will have a unified pause at height script that allows you to select your firmware type from within it, thanks to @ahoeben.

[mkoic 2]

I tried the generic Pause at Height script last night.  I wanted it to insert a pause at two different layer heights, in my case layer 33 and layer 55.  When I ran the part, it paused perfectly at layer 33 and resumed when I told it to, but it never paused at layer 55 or at any other layer.  It just ran the part to completion. This was in 4.6.0.

[Guest maht]

33 minutes ago, mkoic said:

I tried the generic Pause at Height script last night.  I wanted it to insert a pause at two different layer heights, in my case layer 33 and layer 55.  When I ran the part, it paused perfectly at layer 33 and resumed when I told it to, but it never paused at layer 55 or at any other layer.  It just ran the part to completion. This was in 4.6.0.

 

Thanks for the info. Did you implement this as multiple scripts per pause? Maybe you can share a project file with me (File > Save as...) or a Gcode output so I can analyze it.

[mkoic 2]

On 6/8/2020 at 6:09 AM, maht said:

 

Thanks for the info. Did you implement this as multiple scripts per pause? Maybe you can share a project file with me (File > Save as...) or a Gcode output so I can analyze it.

I looked back in the project file, and I made a mistake with the scripts.  On the first pause, I selected to pause at "Layer no." which is what I wanted to do.  But on the second pause, I accidentally went with the default of "Height", so it wanted to pause at 55 mm but my part was only about 37 mm tall.  So let's chalk this one up to "operator error" :)

 

If this extension is ever edited, maybe that selection should default to blank or say "Select" until the operator makes a choice, rather than having a default of "height".