Thanks for your input geert_2, I'm with you on the "keep it simple" method, but that wasn't the point of the experiment. The point was, could I imbed a nut. And sure, the first shot at trying this I used your exact method: I just stuck around until it was time. The second time I printed the part, I was doing (once again) more than one thing at a time, and missed the window, I think by only a few minutes. That's when I discovered the flaw in that method. So now what I do, is use a post-processing gcode routine that displays the current layer being printed on the controller LCD. That works pretty well for estimating when I should be there.
But here's the more general case I was working towards: what if you have a model that might need to run overnight or simply over many hours and you need to insert a nut or some other part into the assembly at different layers. I was hoping that someone had come up with a more elegant solution that allowed a more precise estimate of the times that certain layers started and finished, or some great method for prepping the already printed ABS material for the next layer if you insert gcode pauses at the layers requiring the insertion of a part.
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geert_2 559
What about staying around and keeping and eye/ear on the printer? Or via a webcam? Me being a simple man, I myself would go for simple solutions...
Alternatively, if the design allows it, and depending on the load-direction, you could go for other methods of inserting the nut, for example via side-openings, or by melting-in threads or nuts with a soldering iron.
I have successfully used these methods (the cone-shaped opening is only for inwards-directed loads obviously):
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