I’m looking to do a few prints with two colors of filament in the Polyprinter. I know the Prusa MK3S+ has the ability to pause during a print, allowing for a filament switch. Is there any way to implement that in the GCode for the Polyprinter?
I know the poly printer has its own workflow and slicer tool, and I’m not familiar with either, but I would imagine that even if it’s not a built in feature, as long as you can put in custom gcode you can make it happen for yourself.
Is there a particular reason you want to use the poly printer?
I believe the Polyprinter is the only printer in the lab that can do ABS (and I have Polyprinter ABS filament). I’ll be building the control panel for a car stereo, which can’t be PLA, especially in Texas heat.
All three of the Prusa Mk3s are capable of printing ABS, and the default “generic ABS” profile in PrusaSlicer has given me no issues. I would recommend using a brim.
I did not know that! Don’t ABS prints have to be enclosed?
I think the enclosure we have helps, but even with the doors ajar I haven’t seen any warping or separation. Polycarbonate, polypropylene and ASA might need more temperature control but ABS has been working fine.
Nice! Does the enclosure help contain the ABS smells as well?
It would benefit from a dedicated air purifier with a carbon filter, but it does keep them out of the rest of the multipurpose room.
Is your dual color integrated/intertwined thoughout your design, or is it just starting the print in one color and then at a certain height you would pause the print, switch colors, and restart the print?
I’m not sure exactly how it will look yet. My goal is to have buttons with text that can be backlit, so I’m thinking a white base and white/translucent text surrounded by black? Could that work?
It sounds like the two plastic colors are intertwined and that requires more than one filament extruder (one for each color: white, clear and black based upon what you said above). I don’t know if any of our 3D printers have what is called multi-material extrusion capability. The new XL can have up to five extruders and I don’t know if we bought multiple extruders for it because that’s an added expense for the additional extruders and I was/am not involved with its acquisition.
I’ve heard that Prusa gives you the option to simulate multiple extruders. I can experiment next time I’m in the lab.
The other is print two separate parts: one (the positive insert - clear/white lettering) is press fit into the other (the negative hole - black button), but you’ve got to get the tolerances right.