Slicer error and feature request
Hi,
I set a filament change on slicer for one of my PLA prints for the purpose of deploying a captive nut into the build. It would be great if there is an option for a pause instead of a complete filament change having to remove the filament and insert it again. Does anyone know if there is such functionality within slicer to do this and if not how do we go about feature requests? I think there could be a use for a pause for other features such as deploy captive magnets to a print, a pause would be much better than a filament change.
In the process of the filament change, I noticed that when I attempted to insert the filament, the printer did not wait till the nozzle temperature reached the correct temperature before the stepper attempted to drive it in. This resulted in the stepper motor slipping and making grinding noises while attempting to insert the filament. Either something is not right in Slicer or not right in the firmware on the printer as it is not waiting for nozzle temp to be correct before inserting. Clearly the printer needs to wait till the correct temp is reached in the extruder before trying to drive the filament into the extruder, additionally when the print starts up again after a filement change the existing print might have cooled down, would it not be a good idea for the print to the then resume at a much slower rate on the first two layers to heat up the build and ensure a good bond has been achieved ? The reason I say this: it took me quite a while to insert my captive nut which created a long delay and this allowed the existing print to cool off, when it attempted to resume, there was a layer adhesion problem and the finished print simply split in half.
I am aware there are two issues here and I am not sure which part of the forum to register this under ?
Please advise ?
thanks
Gavin
RE: Slicer error and feature request
Feature requests and bug reports should be posted https://github.com/prusa3d/PrusaSlicer/issues . There's also sections there for firmware issues, MMU issues etc. The forum is more for peer to peer help and advice. Github gets a issue number for devs to reference and they actively work from there. Its pot luck if a dev sees an issue posted here in the forum.
You could insert the filament change gcode where you want pauses, then generate your gcode and afterwards do a post processing find/ replace on the M600 filament change code with the gcode to pause, move extruder out the way and then a resume on button press. Not tried it but should work.
RE: Slicer error and feature request
Unfortunately, there isn't a direct button press to do this in Plicer. But it is possible with using custom g-code in the "Before layer change G-code" section of the Printer Settings in Expert mode. Check out the .3mf files of my cat diswasher magnet on PrusaPrints here: https://www.prusaprinters.org/prints/7056-dishwasher-cat-magnet
If you look at the before layer change G-code I have an if statement that inserts a custom pause at a specific layer (in that model 4.20mm). This is done in addition to two other actual filament color changes. Not exactly a "set it and forget it" print. 😉
(Yes, this is an attempt to artificially inflate my download count.) ;-P
See my (limited) designs on:
Printables - https://www.printables.com/@Sembazuru
Thingiverse - https://www.thingiverse.com/Sembazuru/designs