A10T Single Color

General
1

I have a new A10T. I'm trying to get it to print multi-color models. I created three models and cobined them in Simplify3d. If I plug the printer into my computer and use the Simplify3d printer control panel the model prints correctly in all three colors.

If I send the same gcode file to the printer via Octoprint, it prints with only one color T2. Obviously it's a config issue with Octoprint. I have set the number of extruders in the Octoprint printer profile dialog as three, ands set the shared nozzle check box.

I've read that it could be a virtual extruder issue, but don't understand how to define virtual extruders.

Capture
Capture563×799 41.6 KB

octoprint-11-05-2020.log (302.4 KB)

2

I'd like to see a serial.log (which needs to be enabled) and the gcode file. Not sure if they are needed but the .stl files as well.

3

The discussion at Color Mixing using multiple extruders to 1 nozzle is probably more useful.

4

Here are the files you requested:

Serial Part 01.log (3.9 MB)
Serial Part 02.log (3.8 MB)
Serial Part 03.log (3.9 MB)
octoprint-11-06-2020.log (1.6 MB)
Flag Part 01.gcode (3.0 MB)
Flag Part 02.gcode (3.0 MB)
Field.stl (684 Bytes)
Red Stripes.stl (4.2 KB)
White Stripes & Stars.stl (91.5 KB)

Thanks,

Kevin

5

I see a couple of problems looking at Flag Part 1.gcode and Serial Part 1.log.

First, the .gcode problems. The start gcode contains variables enclosed in {} which is how Cura does it. S3D uses []. It looks like the tool change is using the proper syntax.

Second, the .log problems. I used NotePad++ to remove the temperature report lines and the echo:busy lines (using the regular expression: ^.*echo:busy.*$\n|^.*T:\d.*$\n). From the errors posted below, it looks like the printer profile changes didn't take because OctoPrint appears to be rejecting T1 and T2 and if you set the number of extruders to 3, they should be valid.

Can you verify that the files you posted are from after you made the printer profile changes?

2020-11-06 09:40:16,736 - Send: N1 G90*17
2020-11-06 09:40:16,743 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:40:16,744 - Send: N2 M82*27
2020-11-06 09:40:16,748 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:40:16,755 - Send: N3 M106 S0*100
2020-11-06 09:40:16,759 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:40:16,760 - Send: N4 M140 S70*86
2020-11-06 09:40:16,764 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:40:16,765 - Send: N5 M190 S70*90
2020-11-06 09:40:18,768 - Printer seems to support the busy protocol, will adjust timeouts and set busy interval accordingly
2020-11-06 09:43:00,376 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:43:00,378 - Send: N6 M113 S2*103
2020-11-06 09:43:00,390 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:43:00,393 - Send: N7 M104 S215 T0*32
2020-11-06 09:43:00,398 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:43:00,400 - Send: N8 M104 S215 T1*46
2020-11-06 09:43:00,404 - Recv: echo:M104 Invalid extruder 1
2020-11-06 09:43:00,405 - T0 reported as invalid, reverting to T0
2020-11-06 09:43:00,406 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:43:00,407 - Not queuing T0, that tool doesn't exist according to the printer profile or was reported as invalid by the firmware
2020-11-06 09:43:00,409 - Send: N9 M104 S215 T2*44
2020-11-06 09:43:00,413 - Recv: echo:M104 Invalid extruder 2
2020-11-06 09:43:00,414 - T0 reported as invalid, reverting to T0
2020-11-06 09:43:00,415 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:43:00,416 - Not queuing T0, that tool doesn't exist according to the printer profile or was reported as invalid by the firmware
2020-11-06 09:43:00,418 - Send: N10 M109 S215 T0*27
2020-11-06 09:43:00,423 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:43:00,425 - Send: N11 M109 S215 T1*27
2020-11-06 09:43:00,429 - Recv: echo:M109 Invalid extruder 1
2020-11-06 09:43:00,430 - T1 reported as invalid, reverting to T0
2020-11-06 09:43:00,431 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:43:00,432 - Not queuing T0, that tool doesn't exist according to the printer profile or was reported as invalid by the firmware
2020-11-06 09:43:00,434 - Send: N12 M109 S215 T2*27
2020-11-06 09:43:00,438 - Recv: echo:M109 Invalid extruder 2
2020-11-06 09:43:00,439 - T2 reported as invalid, reverting to T0
2020-11-06 09:43:00,440 - Recv: ok
2020-11-06 09:43:00,441 - Not queuing T0, that tool doesn't exist according to the printer profile or was reported as invalid by the firmware
2020-11-06 09:43:00,443 - Send: N13 G28*33
2020-11-06 09:43:05,176 - Recv: X:-15.00 Y:-8.00 Z:0.00 E:0.00 Count X:-1205 Y:-642 Z:0
2020-11-06 09:43:05,177 - Recv: ok
6

Yes, the printer profile has been set to three extrudes, shared nozzle for some time. The A10T comes with a color mix app, but it only prints layers as different colors. My first test was also a flag, but the red, white and blue areas were all at different heights, or layers, and Octoprint printed those fine.

This is my first try at a true mix, although I’m not actually using mixed colors. I’m using red, white and blue filament, and combining three models into one in Simplify3d, assigning each model a separate process controlling a specific extruder.

This is all about learning the tricks, and eventually I’ll load Cyan, Magenta and Yellow filament and try true color mixing.

7

On my LulzBot TAZ 6, I have a single extruder and a dual extruder so I have defined a profile for each. With the single extruder (and firmware) installed on the printer, I get the following from entering T0 and then T1 on the Terminal screen:

Send: T0
Recv: ok P15 B4
[...]
Not queuing T1, that tool doesn't exist according to the printer profile or was reported as invalid by the firmware

If I only change the printer profile in OctoPrint (i.e. I haven't physically switched the tool head or the firmware) I get:

Send: T0
Recv: ok P15 B4
Send: T1
Recv: echo:T1 Invalid extruder
T1 reported as invalid, reverting to T0
Recv: ok P15 B4
8

The other thing that I don’t understand, is the extruder being used is not T0, it’s T2. T0 and T1 are ignored.

9

I guess I'm confused because you said in your initial post that the gcode generated by S3D and sent from S3D was successful but the same gcode sent through OctoPrint fails. Did I understand correctly?

You can download Pronterface (PrintRun) from https://github.com/kliment/Printrun. The precompiled Windows version is at http://kliment.kapsi.fi/printrun/Printrun-win-18Nov2017.zip and actually send the exact same .gcode from Windows and OctoPrint.

10

Sorry for the long delay - family issues.

I set up the process in Simplify3d to start with extruder 2, T2, because that's the color I want. It prints the entire job with that extruder. Yes, I can print successfully straight from Simplify3d via USB. The same file when sent to Octoprint does not change colors.

Since originally posting this things have gotten weirder. I'm fairly sure this started after an Octoprint Upgrade, but I did not notice it immediately because I wasn't printing multiple colors at the time.

I now get error messages in Octoprint of invalid tool selection.

I'm going to start a new thread with screen captures and full logs from octoprint of a small test print.

I've also discovered the multi-process procedure in Simplify3d. Again, I get successful multicolor prints when printing by USB from S3D. I get a single color print with multiple on screen errors when using OctoPrint.

11

Please add a pointer here to your new thread.

As I posted in my reply about my TAZ 6, there are two error messages possible when selecting different tools (extruders). The first is from OctoPrint which is not sending the tool change command because it hasn't been told that tool exists. The second is from the firmware which received a tool change command it didn't recognize.

With OctoPrint, you can perform this experiment yourself. Connect to your printer and in the Terminal tab, Type T0, T1, T2, T3, etc. and examine (and/or post) the output. If all the error messages are from OctoPrint, then your profile isn't defined correctly. If all the error messages are from the firmware, then the same gcode sent via USB from S3D should work when uploaded to OctoPrint and sent from there.

We probably need to see the gcode file and the serial.log output to help you further.