Can you pause a print for a day?  

Re: Can you pause a print for a day?

Not sure, I've had issues with the print aborting when the "Change filament" process takes too long time because I need to purge it 3 times to get a clear color. I guess you'll need to do some firmware hacking to pause a print that long.

If you know that you have to print a model in two prints, you could create two processes, one from layer a to layer c and one from layer c to layer e.
You could then print only the first process and then print the second process next day or when you get home... I assume that would work, if the model itself doesn't warp or change shape while cooling, which probably is a big risk.

I would like to know as well, I cant print during night, since my printer is sitting on a shelf attached to the wall in the living room. On the opposite side of the wall is our bedroom, and even though my printer is dead quiet while Im sitting next to it, there's a really low frequency noise generated in the wall, that sounds like the neighbors playing techno inside the bedroom. Would be nice if I could pause it and resume it the morning after.

Re: Can you pause a print for a day?

I'd be concerned about the filament degrading while sitting in that state for a long period of time.

Re: Can you pause a print for a day?

...
...
If you know that you have to print a model in two prints, you could create two processes, one from layer a to layer c and one from layer c to layer e.
You could then print only the first process and then print the second process next day or when you get home... I assume that would work, if the model itself doesn't warp or change shape while cooling, which probably is a big risk.
...
...

Thanks, Patrick!

I can leave the printer running all night without disturbing anyone, but the print I'm making is only at 16% after more than 7hrs of printing. Either I stop it, or I print it again when there are several days without anyone leaving the house, that could be tricky.

So, I'm going to give it a try for an hour observed and see what happens.

Warping is maybe less of a concern with this design, because it is an anti-warping plate 😆 But it's totally untested and the first prints went wrong, for reasons that I have since then fixed. But there might be other problems that I have overlooked.

Re: Can you pause a print for a day?

I'd be concerned about the filament degrading while sitting in that state for a long period of time.

Thanks Ancientwolf!

I'm thinking this would be similar to finishing a print the normal way, except that the filament cooling fan and the heat sink fan both stay on, so the hot-end cools down quickly. There should not be much degradation due to heat, but the initial squirting out of the test strip on the side will be missing.

Therefore, I have paused the print when the nozzle is above the inside of the design where it will matter less than on the edge.

My procedure for this experiment so far:

(ambient temperature 24.0C, 58% humidity)
pausing print at 0515hrs: Pause>Tune>Nozzle>21
wait a minute, then Settings>Temperature>Bed>50

at 0524hrs: nozzle is down to 31C, bed 50C; Settings>Temperature>Bed>40

at 0529hrs: Settings>Temperature>Bed>30

at 0535hrs: bed temp is still at 34C; Settings>Temperature>Bed>21

at 0540hrs: Settings>Temperature>Fan speed>0

All quiet now, will wait a bit and try to restart the print......

Re: Can you pause a print for a day?

Restarting the print worked well:

Restarting procedure:
at 0558hrs: Nozzle reported as 29C, actual probably 26C
Bed reported 30C, IR measurement 26.4C

Settings>Temperature>Bed>35

0602hrs: IR temp 35.0C max; Settings>Temperature>Bed>40

0604hrs: IR temp 41.2C; Settings>Temperature>Bed>45

0606hrs: Settings>Temperature>Fan speed>255; Settings>Temperature>Nozzle>230

0607hrs: Settings>Temperature>Bed>50

0608hrs: Settings>Temperature>Bed>55; Nozzle now at 177C

0609hrs: Settings>Temperature>Bed>60; Nozzle is at 209C

0610hrs: Settings>Temperature>Bed>65; Nozzle at 221C

0612hrs: Nozzle reached 230C; Tune>Fan speed>0 (to make sure nozzle is not stuck on print);
Resume print; Tune>Fan speed>255

The print resumed without a glitch and no ill effect is visible on the print object.

Pause procedure abbreviated for next experiment:

Pause print 0615hrs:
Pause print
Settings>Temperature>Nozzle>21
Settings>Temperature>Bed>21
0620hrs: Nozzle below 50C; Settings>Temperature>Fan speed>0

Re: Can you pause a print for a day?

The print successfully resurrected without a glitch after more than 12hrs!

😀 😀 😀

That makes life so much easier!

Restart at 1833hrs:
ambient 24.3C at 62%relHum
Bed to 35C; then increase in 10C steps each time it has stabilised for a minute
Nozzle to 230C when Bed switched to 55C
Fan to 255
Bed to 65C
Fan to 0 for about 20s
Resume print
Fan to 255

Happy dance.....

Re: Can you pause a print for a day?

Awesome. Good job. 😀

Re: Can you pause a print for a day?

My mammoth print is almost finished, I hope the last layer does not mess things up somehow....

56hrs and 3min so far, including a total of 21hrs in 'hibernation' (or whatever one wants to call this state), so 35hrs print time, with last layer z15.95 still to be printed.

Re: Can you pause a print for a day?

The prolonged-pause (P-P) will cause problems with some (maybe all) objects.

While it will be inconsequential in some cases, it will ruin the print in others.

This one is a PLA prototype of a surfboard fin design I named 'Peregrine Falcon Wing Fin'.
The is z200mm and the print was paused at z111.8 for about 12hrs.
Note the horizontal line along which the fin would certainly fracture if it was to be used. There is even a very small gap between bottom part and top part of the print, where the next layer did not adhere properly because the bottom half had shrunk.
Maybe it would work better to leave the bed heated while paused?
Or, heat the bed and enclosure back up to the previous temperature before restarting?
Anyway, such modifications might prevent cosmetic problems, but i think I will plan the printing of Peregrine in polycarbonate for a time when the print will not have to be paused.

It needs more tinkering before it's ready, even in PC the fin would not be strong enough.