S5 with Material Station - Change Materials at a Layer

[flyntm 2]

I can't seem to find how, in Cura, to have the S5 with Material Station  change materials (colors) at a specific layer.  I'm wanting to print with 4 colors thus changing to the second extruder won't do it and it seems that with the Material Station I should be able to switch material bays?

There's bound to be a way????

 

Thanks for your help!

Edited November 25, 2022 by flyntm

[Dadkitess 21]

Well, IIRC, no, it's not possible. Do not own it though, just remember what the commercial told me and it surprised me a LOT as it would clearly be required to be worth the price.

[MariMakes 208]

Hey @flyntm,

 

Thanks for your question 👍

I must admit that I thought the same when I saw the material station for the first time but the software doesn't support printing more than 2 colors. It was not created to enable printing with more than 2 colors, just to make sure that the printer keeps printing if your material runs out. 

But in the office we have printjobs like this by triggering an end of filament. 


I want to emphasize that this is not a supported workflow and it would require some practice, but...

It's relatively easy to trick the printer in the following three ways 
A. You can add a pause at height in the Cura Post Processing Script
B. You can trigger a faulty end of filament by grabbing your filament before it enters the material station and giving it a jerk 
C. You can load a new filament that has a different color but also select it to be generic PLA like the material that "has run out" 

So if you really want to, I think it's possible to do it, but don't tell anyone I told you 🤭

[flyntm 2]

Thank you for your response.  I was able to print my parts by disconnecting the material station, inserting a "change Filament" command and swiping out spools in the back of the S5.  It works but it's a lot a trouble.

 

My question is why, or rather why not?  Since it can already change spools for the empty case, it seems that it wouldn't  be hard to implement firmware for a color change?

[Dadkitess 21]

It's quite the problem with UM printers : cost a lot, can do a lot, but won't. Not to be salty, but hell, this material station is clearly designed and priced to do material switch, it actually does it when it comes to spool running out of filament !... But nope, it has not been programmed to do that, which is a shame, quite like a lot of other features.

 

I mean... 3k for an enclosed "humidity controlled" small container which can be used to continue a print from one spool to another one ? And with everyting inside to allow filament switch and gives it a totally new and logic use ? I don't get it.

Edited November 30, 2022 by Dadkitess