Moving Nozzle During Pause & Resume

njsokalski · June 19, 2023

I am relatively new to Cura (and 3D printing in general), so I would like to closely observe some of my models while they print to help me learn the effect of certain scenarios. One of the most important things I want to be able to observe is the internal structure (such as the infill). I have heard about the Pause & Resume feature, but there is one problem with it for my purposes. When clicking the Pause button in Cura, the nozzle does not move away from the model. This makes since, but it prevents me from seeing the model, so it doesn't really do much as far as allowing me to take a quick look at the current state of the model. If I use the Jog controls in Cura to move nozzle out of the way (and then move it back before resuming) I end up with one of the stringy mess scenarios (which is not surprising). I have not looked into the details of how to use Pause & Resume to for things like changing filament mid-print or other things it is used for, but whatever it is used for, is there a way to have Cura Pause & Resume (at unplanned times, so GCode is not appropriate for this) without creating a stringy mess? I know that what I am asking for is more of a debugging feature that an actual setting for a final model (in other words, if you already know the perfect settings, you really wouldn't need to pause it JUST to observe), but does anyone have a suggestion on how to do this?

GregValiant · June 20, 2023

"When clicking the Pause button in Cura..."

That sounds like you are printing via the USB port.

If you are printing from the SD card then the printer "Pause" function may do what you want. On my older Ender the pause routine does park the head but it also allows the hot end to turn off. In addition, the stepper motors disable in 2 minutes and at that point the printer loses track of where the nozzle is. You can't simply auto-home and continue.

BUT only the LCD menu will allow you to have any control of what happens during an un-planned pause. It should be good enough for a quick peek before you have to hit the resume function.

If you use Pause at Height then you have more control (you can park the nozzle in the back so your view of the model is better) but the Pause code is hard coded into the Gcode at a specific layer/height.

Edited June 20, 2023 by GregValiant