Multicolor - Extruder

Hi,

I developed/developing a water-cooled multicolor-extruder and need some help.

I'm using v.1.0.4dev, RADDS 1.5, 5 RAPS128 and 4 other stepper drivers (1/256 sm0ver.drv). two heating elements and one thermistor for the extruder.

The extruder works fine, thats not the problem, but (a support for a second heater in multicolor extruder would be fine, but my heater get the power from outside the radds):

When changing colors I need an option like fillament change in the firmware, but in another way.
- goto x_y(_z)
- change to next used extruder and
- press x mm fillament out (cleaning color)
- ( a cleaning nozzle parameter would be fine - drive with the nozzle over a cleaning pad or such like this)
- go back to position

Is there any way to do that automatically at extruder change?


Here is a suggestion for multicolor extruder support in your firmware:
It's a relatively simple thing (I think so)

I use the colors and mixing tables from RGB and use red, yellow, blue, black and white (set 1 part blue, 1 part yellow for green in best case).
At the Moment I have to write new mixing tables for printing with new colors.

a table or file (colors.h) with up to 256 colors (or more) with mixing tables (like now with virtual extruders) from 2/3-5 extruders (set in the config tool). Then I would give every color a fixed index number, 1- e.g. 32/64/128 fixed color Indexer for better slicer support. Indexer > 256 free color Indexer. I think, then it's easier to integrate a second or third extruder for solutable or electrical filament

Fixed Index for groud colors like red, blue, yellow, cyan, mangenta, black, white. bind the to the 2/3-5 extruders
Fixed Index - fixed color tone with changeable values (M163) for for every fixed Index
Free Index - self made colors

Fixed index ground color - Extruder 1
Color Name (in my case for red in the first extruder)
M163 S0 P1
M163 S1 P0
M163 S2 P0
M163 S3 P0
M163 S4 P0
M16x - I1 (index number)

More information about my multi-color extruder: Thingiverse and look for Sprenger or Multicolor-extruder.

Hope you can help!

Comments

  • that's something that you usually do in the custom g-code settings of the slicer. anyway iirc you can store some g-code commands in eeprom that will get exectued by the firmware at toolchange.

    look at repetier.ino to find the g-code to store the code
  • Sounds like very specific needs that I can not write my self. I think it can be done with some own code. Especially the second heater is just finding where it gets set and add a second output modified the same way.

    The many color problem will stay a problem a sit also involves a slicer and these are tool oriented.
    What might come in later firmware versions are commands making it easier to assign weights to the virtual extruders. But this also is for everyone different as there are so many shades of cyan, yellow and magenta and some don't even have them but different colors or olny 2 or 3 to switch from. So best we can expect some day is that you can define somewhere settings to assign to virtual extruders or to load. Currently you could do that with Repetier-Server in a static manner with scripts. But that would be a good candidate for a wizard that lets you define mixing ratios to colors and let you assign them to the virtual extruders before printing.
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