Plugin to Change a Setting at a certain Z.

[zBeeble 2]

There are quite a few things under post processing that will change many settings at a certain Z.  They make temp towers and what not.  All cool stuff.

 

I made my own printer.  It has some interference at higher Z w.r.t. wiping.  I'd like to be able to turn wiping off at layer 50.  It seems that it would be cool if an arbitrary setting could be modified at a certain Z ... so that's what I'm asking for.

[Slashee_the_Cow 438]

How much of a change needs to be made? Do you just need to insert a gcode command at layer 50, or do you need to remove a wiping command from every layer above 50, or... what?

[zBeeble 2]

I don't know internals, but there is a checkbox for wiping.  I suppose you could remove it's effect for every layer above 50.  Is that an easier ask?

[zBeeble 2]

I just took a moment to download the gcode file to my workstation ... it looks like that idea is possible:

 

 

;LAYER:50
;WIPE_SCRIPT_BEGIN
G0 X250 Y35.322
G0 X270 Y35.322
G0 X250 Y35.322
G0 X270 Y35.322
G0 X250 Y35.322
G0 X270 Y35.322
G0 X72.326 Y35.322
G1 F1500 E2.54158
;WIPE_SCRIPT_END

 

... so yes... looks possible.

[Slashee_the_Cow 438]

Ah, so you have Experimental > Wipe Nozzle Between Layers turned on? Looks like something it wouldn't be too hard (always famous last words) to whip up a post-processor to remove above a certain layer. Just.. not at 12:30 at night. Later today though I'll look it.

[zBeeble 2]

Thanks!  I'll look forward to trying this out!

[zBeeble 2]

I was thinking about this and it could also be managed by a layer-by-layer take to regular expressions or whatnot.  Having had a look at the G-code, I can definitely envision a python script to do it, even reading the layer numbers --- but having a plugin preserves the print-button feature.

[Slashee_the_Cow 438]

So, I'm sorry it's not a plugin, just a post-processing script... but on the bright side that means it's just a single Python file so you can mess with it if you want. Although if you need regexes to control your wiping you may want to see a doctor about that.

 

Just put the Python file inside the zip file (can't upload .py files) into Scripts subfolder of your Cura configuration folder, restart Cura and then add it in the post-processing settings.

StopWipingAtZ.zip

[zBeeble 2]

It's close ... I can work with that, but to be completely pedantic about it, setting the layer to 250 makes it stop wiping on 249.  🤔

[Slashee_the_Cow 438]

6 hours ago, zBeeble said:

It's close ... I can work with that, but to be completely pedantic about it, setting the layer to 250 makes it stop wiping on 249.  🤔

In theory, it's going by layer number in the Cura preview, which starts at 1, but in the gcode the layers start at 0, so I subtract one from the value you put in the settings (because what the Cura preview says is layer 250 is labelled layer 249 in the gcode, but it is in actuality the 250th layer).

 

I can change it if you want. Whenever I do a script for someone I always want to have a happy customer.

[zBeeble 2]

No... it's obviously fine.  heh.