"Pause at Height" Issue

[MichaelThorne 0]

Diving into the world of 3D printing with my sons and we are having a blast. We wanted to change colours mid-print. We did some research and found the "pause at height" script in Cura is how it can be done. However ... no matter how closely we follow "how-to" videos ... we can't get our prints to pause. There is a mention of a pause in the Gcode. I must be doing something wrong. Any advice?

 

We are using Cura 4.8. 

 

TIA

 

Michael, Carter and Keaton

 

 

[GregValiant 1,248]

What printer?  What firmware does it have?

Please post a Gcode file here.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I cannot remember where I read it, but I believe the Pause at Height is not working with height, but is ok with the layer number. I am on an older version and I always use layer number and not height, so I am not sure.

Maybe @gr5 can clarify?

[GregValiant 1,248]

Pause At Height is not good when Adaptive Layers are enabled, or when Z-hops are enabled.  In the case of adaptive layers, since the layer height varies and since a search for the Z height is vary specific, the chances of entering a Z that is actually present in the file is like picking a number for the lottery.  When Z-hops are enabled the Z jumps up and down and Pause at Height picks the first instance of the Z that it comes across.  That may not (often is not) the working Z height but rather a Z-hop height.  When the script continues after the pause it will seem to skip a layer or two.  It doesn't actually skip a layer but rather prints it at the Z-hop height.

Using the PauseAtHeight Plugin with it set to "At Layer" works well.

 

Creality has been playing with the way their boards interpret Gcode commands.  They don't seem to feel it's necessary to inform anybody of what they did.  For instance it has just come up that M117 doesn't work on the 4.2.x boards and there have been complaints that M0 does not work to pause the print.  In regards to Creality machines - neither problem appears to be related to Cura or Marlin.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

Good to know:) Thanks!