Do you need separate filament profiles for multi-color printing than single color?
I'm trying to do more multi-color printing on my five head Prusa XL, and am running into a situation where filament settings that work fine when printing a single color object fail when printing the exact same filament and settings in multi-color.
The attached image shows two versions of a print. The first was printed the old-fashioned way for getting multi-col0rs out of single head printer: each color was printed separately on the XL, and then glued onto the part.
The other piece in the image was printed with 4 colors using the exact same filament and settings, but this time there's lots of stringing and blogs all over. Clearly the filament settings are fine since printing each color separately shows no stringing or blobs.
I wanted to try this experiment without input shaping turned on, but the old XL non-input-shaping printer configuration doesn't exist anymore :-(.
It looks like tthe white filament, and possibly the pale blue, are damp. The XL is very sensitive to moist filament, especially when changing toolheads.
Cheerio,
RE: Do you need separate filament profiles for multi-color printing than single color?
I strongly suggest to dry all filaments used in that print first, try again and the post the results in this thread.
Some information about filament drying: https://help.prusa3d.com/article/drying-filament_332086
The reason why the old fashioned looks better is because there is no tool change where the filament can string and on the other hand the orientation of the print.
RE: Do you need separate filament profiles for multi-color printing than single color?
I've never needed separate filament profiles for single and multi-color printing, except in some very exceptional cases.
From the look of the prints, on the separate, single color version you've printed the white/blue features horizontally, flat on the bed. However on the multi-color print they're printing vertically along with the model, and they appear to be very shallow, very short lines per layer. So it's not really an apples-to-apples comparison.
It may be that your filament/print settings may need some fine tuning for such a feature that wouldn't manifest as obviously or at all in something more simple like the single color, flat-on-bed versions.
RE: Do you need separate filament profiles for multi-color printing than single color?
Thanks for the suggestion about filament drying. I've been running a 12-MK3 print farm 24/7 for five years and haven't run into anything like this before, but those were all single-filament printers. The filament used in this mutli-color test is brand new, and to double check each was able to print a pristine benchy IF the colors were printed separately. Printing 4 benchies simultaneously, each with a different color gave the same bad results as the above example.
That sounds right. All the filaments are being printed at a quarter speed allowing more time for absorption and for boiling to mess with internal pressures. Toolchange is a moment when damp filments run into issues.
With 5 toolheads you must expect to do more than 5 times as much drying.
Cheerio,
RE: Do you need separate filament profiles for multi-color printing than single color?
Do you need separate filament profiles for multi-color printing than single color?
I wouldn't necessarily say you need separate filament profiles for every spool, but if you print enough then over time you'll notice trends that you'll want to categorize. Like I've noticed many different brands of, specifically, white PLA will ooze like crazy with the 'normal' 215-230 temps; I've noticed that .25 nozzles with multiple colors also seem to ooze more with 'normal' 215-230 temps; if I'm printing something with small/short perimeters that are slowed then I don't need the 230 temps for fast run melting. So I have a PLA@200 profile to cover all of those instances.
I wanted to try this experiment without input shaping turned on, but the old XL non-input-shaping printer configuration doesn't exist anymore :-(.
Non-linear advance profiles are at the bottom of the Prusa list under Legacy profiles Family:
In your photo the light blue filament has weird banding like its getting burnt over and over again. The white looks has some webby parts like it's partially clogged from cooked filament. It looks like a stringy mess but then the black and dark blue parts are relatively fine. Kinda looks like the stringing is from the white filament alone and is just getting deposited onto other colors from traveling. First thing I'd do is lower the temps on light blue and white by ~15-20° and see how that turns out. Maybe even check your filament settings to make sure they're getting retracted at least 12mm (20mm default) when tool is disabled, otherwise your filament might be parked and cooking.
I'm not into fine tuning as much as others are, but with a print like this (shallow-walled) I don't think you're going to surpass the quality of the separate pieces method.
XL-5T, MK3S MMU3 || GUIDE: How to print with multiple-nozzlesizes do read updated replies || PrusaSlicer Fork with multi-nozzlesize freedom || How Feasible is Printing PETG for PLA supports on XL very
RE: Do you need separate filament profiles for multi-color printing than single color?
Thanks for the tips! At least with this Matterhackers PLA on hardened nozzles I've had to run the temperature to 230 or it will clog when trying to do the large prints that are 95% of my printing. This is my first attempt at something this intricate. Trying this filament with a temperature tower, the lower the temp, the more stringing I get, which is counter-intuitive, although every temperature has stringing. Note: this was attempted after the white PLA spent most of the day in a Sunlu dry box.
Anyway, trying your other suggestions now...
Do you need separate filament profiles for multi-color printing than single color?
I wouldn't necessarily say you need separate filament profiles for every spool, but if you print enough then over time you'll notice trends that you'll want to categorize. Like I've noticed many different brands of, specifically, white PLA will ooze like crazy with the 'normal' 215-230 temps; I've noticed that .25 nozzles with multiple colors also seem to ooze more with 'normal' 215-230 temps; if I'm printing something with small/short perimeters that are slowed then I don't need the 230 temps for fast run melting. So I have a PLA@200 profile to cover all of those instances.
I wanted to try this experiment without input shaping turned on, but the old XL non-input-shaping printer configuration doesn't exist anymore :-(.
Non-linear advance profiles are at the bottom of the Prusa list under Legacy profiles Family:
In your photo the light blue filament has weird banding like its getting burnt over and over again. The white looks has some webby parts like it's partially clogged from cooked filament. It looks like a stringy mess but then the black and dark blue parts are relatively fine. Kinda looks like the stringing is from the white filament alone and is just getting deposited onto other colors from traveling. First thing I'd do is lower the temps on light blue and white by ~15-20° and see how that turns out. Maybe even check your filament settings to make sure they're getting retracted at least 12mm (20mm default) when tool is disabled, otherwise your filament might be parked and cooking.
I'm not into fine tuning as much as others are, but with a print like this (shallow-walled) I don't think you're going to surpass the quality of the separate pieces method.
RE: Do you need separate filament profiles for multi-color printing than single color?
Thanks for the suggestions. I carefully adjusted the generic PLA settings to remove stringing and am now getting much better results with multi-color printing. In case anyone else is running into trouble, I've documented how to get MatterHackers Build PLA to print multi-color on the PrusaXL.
