Problem with resuming after colour change
Hello all,
I'm expecting that there are many here who are whizzes at Prusa slicing.
I am using aCreality Ender-3 V2 Neo.
I have recently begun using the PrusaSlicer(2.6.0) and am finding that my prints are coming out at least 150% better/cleaner than when using the Creality slicer or Cura. So very happy with the change of slicer.
Now to my problem.... the colour-change-at-height feature works very well in terms of stopping and parking, but I have a real problem with re-starting after the filament change. I have no idea what I am meant to do (if anything).
After changing the filament, I push the "print" button on my printer control screen. The nozzle temperature then rises to the required setting and the beeper beeps. Then.... nothing, ....and the temperature drops back down to room temperature. The bed temperature remains at the set temperature throughout the whole procedure.
So far, each time I have done a colour change (5 or 6 so far), I have simply continued to move the cursor around the screen and then back to "print" and repeated the "press print / temperature rises / beeper beeps" procedure again and again until, finally, the printer resumes printing. In the end I never know why it has resumed printing when it does resume. Very unscientific!
But I must say that the end result is a very clean colour change and a beautiful print.
In the colour change which I have done a few minutes ago, I had actually pressed print and left the printer for 30-40 minutes. When I returned, nothing had happened except the nozzle temperature had dropped to room temperature. After four or five "press print/etc/etc" procedures the printer finally resumed printing. Again, I don't know why it resumed. I just kept doing the same thing over and over.
I've spent hours on google searching for the answer to no avail. Probably should have come here first!
This has been a long introduction to my question: is there a setting in PrusaSlicer where I can set a specific time for the dwell/pause at colour change???
Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any suggestions or instructions.
RE: Problem with resuming after colour change
All Prusa Slicer is doing when you insert a colour change is adding in the Gcode command defined in Printer Settings>Custom Gcode>Color Change G-code. You must be in Expert mode to see these settings. Normally this is defined as a M600. Sometimes there are instructions for adding an extra priming but that's only on some profiles (like the updated MK3 ones).
After that its all down to your printer firmware. Unfortunately the firmware Creality supplies for its printers is pretty variable. Some don't support M600 at all. It gets worse as different versions of firmware for the same printer models can support different stuff. It is up to the owner of the printer to figure out what the printer requires and then modify the profiles they are using accordingly.
Remember all the non Prusa profiles included are submitted by users. As such just because it worked on their printer when they submitted it doesn't mean it will work on yours given the firmware variability mentioned.
If your firmware does support extra arguments for a specific Gcode command then those can be added to the profile in PS. For example the Marlin website page here https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M600.html details the possible options for the M600 command. As I said before though , which if any of those will work is dependent on the printers firmware not the slicer. Creality printers are usually built on a version of Marlin though so its a good place to start.
RE: Problem with resuming after colour change
I'm adding to my post with the solution I found in case anyone else strikes this issue:
By accident or dumb luck I noticed that, if I press "print" while the printer is beeping, the print restarts.
I must have been (eventually) doing this on my previous filament changes but had not noticed the corelation.
So, when using PrusaSlicer "filament change" feature with Ender-3 v2 Neo the steps are:
1/. the print stops and the hot-end parks
2/. manually remove the first filament using the lever on the extruder (not using the wheel because the stepper is locked)
3/. manually load the second filament, again using the lever. push it in until it gets to the hot-end. The nozzle temperature will have dropped below melting point, so you will feel reistance at that point.
4/. the cursor on the screen will have moved to the "tune" position. After loading the new filament, move the cursor to "print" and press the control knob. Nozzle temperature will begin to rise.
5/. when the temperature get to about 180 degrees, I open the extruder lever again and push the filament to purge some of the first colour residue. (I don't know if this is really necessary, but I do it anyway)
6/. when the nozzle temperature gets close to the set temperature, the printer begins beeping. As soon as it starts beeping, push the control knob on "print".
7/. the extruder wheel will begin to turn as it begins a small purge.
8/. during the purge, pull that excess material away from the nozzle. The hot-end will then move to the print position and immediately begin to print the new colour, so you don't want it to drag the purge material with it and drop it on the model.
That's it. This is probably super-basic to many of you, but I'm posting my solution so someone like me might find this information and not have the frustration that I had. Thank God for dumb luck!
RE: Problem with resuming after colour change
Thanks i had the same problem and thought i was to stupid to do the colour change ...
you helped prevent a lot of frustration 😀