Selecting print head on XL  

RE: Selecting print head on XL

After trying various things on the print tool mapper screen (on the printer), I found a way to "remap" the print job to tool 5. Not the most intuitive, but you can select print head 1 (called for by the gcode) and remap to print head 5. This makes it seem like it was set in Prusa Slicer. I see in that menu under "Filament Settings", there is a pull down for extruders 1 thru 5, but nothing that says this selection will be called out in the gcode. Trying more experiments.

I would think the settings would need to be mapped at the printer only since PrusaSlicer won't know (??) what spool of what filament is loaded into what print head when the gcode is created. Still learning about how to declare a multi-material print so I can print something using a combination of PETG (say for a box) and TPU (say for a seal around the lid).

Looking for any good advice on how to handle this kind of multi-material and specific head selection for print jobs.

RE: Selecting print head on XL

Okay, I may be getting closer:

Take this example: Using OpenSCAD, I create a box and insert a gasket around the perimeter of the mouth. I do this with 2 distinct shapes. I export to STL and open with PrusaSlicer. It seems the only way to assign PETG to the box and TPU to the gasket is to use the filament presets on the "Plater" screen and use the multi-color tool to "paint" the box with one color and "paint" the gasket with another. Export to gcode and get to the XL printer and select for print. Then remap "tool 1" to "head 4" with PETG loaded and remap "tool 2" to "head 5" with the TPU.

Is there a cleaner way to do this? This is the one of the greatest capabilities of the XL. Not quite as intuitive as I had hoped, but maybe an idea for future software updates. So far, I'm a very happy customer!

RE: Selecting print head on XL

(Multi-material printing discussion moved to this thread)

RE: Selecting print head on XL

I too was surprised to see that when you wanted to print with just one color located on a print head other than print head #1 it wasn't possible in Prusa Slicer.  

This is a simple work around I came up with.  First load your model.  Then right click and choose "Add Shape"

After adding the shape (I chose a cylinder) scale it down to a small (dime size) with a few layers height.  

Then choose the small cylinder color from whatever you have loaded in Tool Head #1 and choose the other tool head color for your model.  In my case I had white loaded in TH 1 and yellow loaded in TH 4.  

The amount of waste and time is minimal for the small added shape and wipe tower.  

Prusa will hopefully fix this in a future software update.

?

Just click on the Extruder next to the object in the right hand pane and select the one you want.

Cheerio,

RE: Selecting print head on XL

Or right click on the part, Extruder, and select the desired extruder.  If you have a multi-part model, export as multiple STLs, add them all at once, say yes when it asks if it’s a multipart model, then you can once again select each part and assign an extruder.

RE: Selecting print head on XL

I’m trying to figure out how to export multiple STLs from OpenSCAD from a single project. If I clear and save one piece at a time, I can’t see a way to get all STLs to import into prusaslicer with the same 3D center. I figured there was a way to do this with other design systems. I saw a YouTube about importing multiple STLs at the same time and it worked great for that guy.

Try this:

// 3 colour Demo for forum

a="Cada";

b="ver";

part=1; // 1/2/3

if (part==1){
  difference(){
    cube([60,20,5]);
    doa();
    dob();
  }
}
if(part==2){
  doa();
}
if(part==3){
  dob();
}

module doa(){
  translate([19,5,3]){
    linear_extrude(height=2){
      text(a,valign="base",halign="center");
    }
  }
}

module dob(){
  translate([45,5,3]){
    linear_extrude(height=2){
      text(b,valign="base",halign="center");
    }
  }
}

Run and save STLs changing the part constant each time, name the outputs accordingly ( part1.stl ... part2.stl ... ) then import the STLs together into Prusaslicer, tell the slicer they are parts, not objects.

Cheerio,

RE: Selecting print head on XL

Excellent!! Thank you. I see what I was missing now. "Parts of the same object". That's what keeps everything in reference to the same xyz space.

I was off on a "children()" tangent that was leading nowhere, haha. This is great. I appreciate your custom demo code 🙂

I'm now trying to add modifiers, objects and/or parts to the assembled object in prusaslicer. Each time I try, the inserted item seems to jump out of the assembled object. Maybe merge all the parts somehow into a single object. I'm studying up on the prusaslicer object hierarchy. Experiments continue...

Thanks again and cheers! 🍻 

RE: Selecting print head on XL

Posted by: @cadaver

After trying various things on the print tool mapper screen (on the printer), I found a way to "remap" the print job to tool 5. Not the most intuitive, but you can select print head 1 (called for by the gcode) and remap to print head 5. This makes it seem like it was set in Prusa Slicer. I see in that menu under "Filament Settings", there is a pull down for extruders 1 thru 5, but nothing that says this selection will be called out in the gcode. Trying more experiments.

I would think the settings would need to be mapped at the printer only since PrusaSlicer won't know (??) what spool of what filament is loaded into what print head when the gcode is created. Still learning about how to declare a multi-material print so I can print something using a combination of PETG (say for a box) and TPU (say for a seal around the lid).

Looking for any good advice on how to handle this kind of multi-material and specific head selection for print jobs.

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