Need help with making profile for MakerGear M3-ID  

Need help with making profile for MakerGear M3-ID

I've been working on getting the MakerGear M3-ID to work with PrusaSlicer off and on since I purchased the printer a month or so ago. The profile package that the OP supplied (located here: http://forum.makergear.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=7273&p=41829#p41829) does not work for anything except single extruder mode. And it looks like they are not active anymore so no idea if they made the profile or they got it from someone else. Also, official MG support says they would like to help but so far have not provided any info about how to translate the custom G-code scripts.

I know very little about how to write G-code scripts. But I have managed to get the M3-ID to work in dual mode by changing the custom G-code for the printer within PrusaSlicer. Under Printer Settings, go to the Custom G-Code section and in the Tool change G-code replace whatever is present with:

{if current_extruder == 0}T1{endif}

{if current_extruder == 0}G1 X250 F18000{endif} ; park T1

{if current_extruder == 0}M104 S165 T0{endif}; set T0 inactive extruder to 165 C

{if current_extruder == 0}T0{endif}

{if current_extruder == 0}G1 X-25 F18000{endif}; makes sure t0 is parked

{if current_extruder == 1}T0{endif}

{if current_extruder == 1}G1 X-25 F18000{endif}; makes sure t1 is parked

{if current_extruder == 1}T1{endif}

{if current_extruder == 1}G1 X250 F18000{endif}; park T0

I have tried this and so far I am getting results but there are still lots of kinks I need to figure out. Some of the problems I have are:

1. In some modes like duplication and dual, T0 will preheat but not T1. Both will try to print prime line but T1 will fail due to cold extrusion warning. This should be easy to figure out - set the temps then wait. But I don't know how to do this yet.

2. Ooze control - I am trying to figure out how to get the inactive tool to cool off a bit. PrusaSlicer has inbuilt controls for this but it doesn't work on T1 until after the 1st tool change. So T1 will print prime line, park, but not cool so the contents of the nozzle will drain with gravity then when it does the tool change and prints, it will not prime again resulting in a long period of no extrusion.

3. An odd thing about Z axis speeds during mesh bed leveling. When I use Simplify3D (S3D) to slice, the mesh bed leveling z-movements are slow and start and stop very slowly (gradually). When I slice with PrusaSlicer with this profile, the z-movements are quick and do not have a slow ramp up and down for the speed. I can't figure out where this speed setting is. It seems like the speed is way too slow with S3D but again, I don't really know.

4. I can't get the ooze shield function to work at all.

I struggled with the translation above. I did not really know where to use {} instead of [] and figured out that I needed == instead of = and I also found out that I should be putting the {endif} to close out the command (I guess it's kind of like HTML where you need to do the /command to end?)

Why go through all this effort? Is PrusaSlicer any better? Yes. It is. I've been using it for several years daily and it continues to get better and have more features. I wish MakerGear would step up and make an official profile for it, but I understand the request may not be their top priority right now. Everything about PrusaSlicer seems way better than S3D, especially with working on multiple extruders.

I think Prusa is developing another printer with tool change, an IDEX or something. So maybe there will be more support for other tool changing printers like the M3-ID soon.

Is there anyone out there that can help?