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Posted · Fill cylinders with different colour material

I have a Moore 2 Pro clay 3D printer and an stl file with a number of cylinders of height 15mm. Basically, I need to fill each cylinder with different layers of product material where the material varies in colour as per attached picture. I have a number of problems, mainly:

1. The nozzle makes a bigger diamater, bigger than the inner wall of the cylinder.
2. The nozzle starts printing the bottom part of the first cylinder. When it finishes printing it, it goes straight away to the 2nd cylinder without lifting the nozzle up and have clearance from the cylinder walls.

Can anyone help me please?

I am attaching a copy of my stl file of the inner volume of the cylinders that need to be filled and an image of the different layers with their respective diameters. 
I can be reached on WhatsApp on +356 79010677 

clay tube.jpg

3D_Stars.stl

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    Posted (edited) · Fill cylinders with different colour material

    I'm not clear on this.

    1. You have around 288 cylinders that have already been printed.
    2. You want to fill those cylinders with layers of different colors that are specific thicknesses.

    Your sequence needs to be:

    1. Move up to 17mm
    2. Move over a cylinder
    3. Drop down to the working Z.
    4. Print the color to the proper thickness.
    5. Repeat about 288 times.
    6. Stop and park to change colors.
    7. Repeat for each color.

     

    Does that sound about right?

    Getting around the fact that you need a thin walled nozzle that is about 20mm long - it might be possible to do that.

    It ain't gonna be easy and may require some hand coding of the gcode.

     

    What is your nozzle diameter and what is your layer thickness, and what kind of print speeds are we talking about?

     

     

    Edited by GregValiant
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    Posted · Fill cylinders with different colour material
    13 hours ago, GregValiant said:

    I'm not clear on this.

    1. You have around 288 cylinders that have already been printed.
    2. You want to fill those cylinders with layers of different colors that are specific thicknesses.

    Your sequence needs to be:

    1. Move up to 17mm
    2. Move over a cylinder
    3. Drop down to the working Z.
    4. Print the color to the proper thickness.
    5. Repeat about 288 times.
    6. Stop and park to change colors.
    7. Repeat for each color.

     

    Does that sound about right?

    Getting around the fact that you need a thin walled nozzle that is about 20mm long - it might be possible to do that.

    It ain't gonna be easy and may require some hand coding of the gcode.

     

    What is your nozzle diameter and what is your layer thickness, and what kind of print speeds are we talking about?

     

     

    Thanks Greg. I was hoping that Cura has some functionality which does the sequence you mentioned without me needing to edit the gcode file directly. 
    I have these nozzles at hand:
    https://www.tronxy3d.com/products/tronxy-stainless-steel-304-nozzle-for-moore-series
    Layer thickness is in mm as described in my original post which varies from 0.5mm to 2mm.

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    Posted · Fill cylinders with different colour material

    Seeing the nozzle helps.

    Depending on the extent of the gcode changes required - I think this will require a combination of "Search and Replace" along with a custom post-processor to add more complex moves to the gcode because an "up, over, then down" seems to be a requirement.  It will depend on the Sequence of Operation.

     

    Post processing something like this requires that certain lines in the gcode can actually be searched for.  Cura adds section headers like ";LAYER:" and ";TYPE:SKIN" that are easy to find.  ";MESH:" is problematic because there are combing moves that are ";MESH:NONMESH" and the models themselves would be something like  ";MESH: filename.stl(327)".

     

    The models are only 7.4mm in diameter.  If they have a 1.6mm wall then that only leaves 4.2mm diameter to be filled.

    This project will likely require multiple gcode files.  The first would print all the shells and then 2 through N would be the highly modified gcode that would add each filling color.  That would mean that there would need to be multiple models, one for the shells and additional for the fillings.  The ending of the first file would necessarily be modified and the StartUp of the following files would need to be modified so the transition between the files would be seamless.

     

    This is not an easy project.  I suggest making up a test project of only 5 models to use as a Proof of Concept and then write out a Sequence of Operation that would contain each step required for what you are trying to accomplish.  Once you have that, then some thought could be given to the "How do I do this".  It isn't really any harder to do 500 than it is to do 5.

     

    Some further thoughts:

    • If your firmware understands M32 and can call a second gcode file from within the first gcode file, that would probably be a good thing.  You could create multiple gcode files and call them individually from a master file.
    • Would "One at a Time" be an advantage for parts of the project?
    • Should the "filling" be split into multiple models - one for each color?
    • Will the insides of the cylinders be smooth?  If they are, then the filling can go in with a wide "Outer Wall Line Width" which should keep the nozzle from dragging on the inside walls of the cylinders.  You would want some clearance there.

    This seems obvious but I'll mention it - if you intend to print all the cylinders first, and then come back and fill each with each color layer, you cannot allow the steppers to disarm at any point until the project is complete.

     

     

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