Keeping track of filaments with single extruder multimaterial printing
I successfully printed some items using the single material and multimaterial printing options, but now I am looking at doing something a little more complex which requires 5 different colors. So far I only used 2 different colors. Question is how do people keep track of which color to insert at any given time since the printer only asks you to change filament?
RE: Keeping track of filaments with single extruder multimaterial printing
I did a 3 color print and just made an order list after confirming by moving the scroll bars around after slicing.
RE: Keeping track of filaments with single extruder multimaterial printing
I only do simple multi-color, and record the layer/color when setting the change filament entries. With the CoreOne, since it is hard to find what layer is printing when a change is applied, not sure at this point I'll even be doing that. But using five colors, stack the filament ahead of time, and each change should be easy to tell what color is next.
But then, if you are a masochist and are doing a 5 color variant ala MMU mimicry (swapping color within layers), my hat is off to you, but you're on your own for that complexity.
A few years ago I posted a simple post-processing script to keep track of changes, see:
If you use Linux and Prusa's implementation in flatpak containers you will find perl access blocked - but if you download and compile the source from Github it still works. This is especially annoying if you use Raspberry pi as the memory limitation makes it a long compile.
Cheerio,
RE: Keeping track of filaments with single extruder multimaterial printing
I'm not going to do another multi-material/color single extruder print until the BondTech INDX is available. Not worth the effort.
RE: Keeping track of filaments with single extruder multimaterial printing
Ah, yeah after posting my original post I thought 'this must be a problem Claude.ai can help me solve', so now I have a Python script that supposedly gives me the filament changes.
python threemf_parser_color_fixed.py Logo.3mf
Toolchange Sequence for 'Logo.3mf'==================================
Start with: Extruder_1 (Black) (#000000)
Toolchange 1: Change to Extruder_3 (Light Purple) (#DC8ADD)
Toolchange 2: Change to Extruder_5 (Khaki) (#F8E45C)
Toolchange 3: Change to Extruder_2 (Medium Sea Green) (#2EC27E)
Toolchange 4: Change to Extruder_5 (Khaki) (#F8E45C)
Toolchange 5: Change to Extruder_2 (Medium Sea Green) (#2EC27E)
Toolchange 6: Change to Extruder_3 (Light Purple) (#DC8ADD)
Toolchange 7: Change to Extruder_1 (Black) (#000000)
Toolchange 8: Change to Extruder_4 (Crimson) (#E01B24)
Toolchange 9: Change to Extruder_1 (Black) (#000000)
Toolchange 10: Change to Extruder_2 (Medium Sea Green) (#2EC27E)
Toolchange 11: Change to Extruder_5 (Khaki) (#F8E45C)
Toolchange 12: Change to Extruder_3 (Light Purple) (#DC8ADD)
Toolchange 13: Change to Extruder_1 (Black) (#000000)
Toolchange 14: Change to Extruder_5 (Khaki) (#F8E45C)
Toolchange 15: Change to Extruder_1 (Black) (#000000)
Total toolchanges: 15
Haven't had a chance to verify it yet though, but I should get around to it tomorrow
RE: Keeping track of filaments with single extruder multimaterial printing
I was able to create an application with Claude.ai that parses the bgcode file and provides you with a tracker for the color/filament changes. If anyone searches the archive and finds this I thought I should mention that you can grab the application from URL: my gitlab page. It is a Linux application.
