Printing in color with Diamond head

I purchased a Diamond head recently. I switched my firmware to Repetier, making the appropriate adjustments to use such a head with a RUMBA board. Now I am ready to design a print where I can mix colors. How do I do this?

You may find a few tips on my website [deltaprinter.co.za]

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You only learn when you change your mind.
[www.deltaprinter.co.za]

You may find this thread helpful [forums.reprap.org].

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

So you are manually entering g-code for each color change?

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Lymphomaniac1
So you are manually entering g-code for each color change?

If you created a colour .AMF file and you use slic3r the gcode will reflect the colours(T0, T1, T2, .........) but you can change the colours while printing with Repetier-Host.
Use the config-->firmware EEPROM configuration to change the values of the weight of the each extruder for T0, T1, T2, T3...... etc. This will in turn change the feeding rate of each extruder for the colour specified in the gcode(T0, T1, T2......) and thus change the resulting colour.
All this while you are printing.

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You only learn when you change your mind.
[www.deltaprinter.co.za]

This may be a dumb question, but I am just beginning with 3 color printing. How do you make the .amf file? What software do I need?

Thanks,

Stuart

The traditional way is to generate n * stl files, 1 for each color

You then load each stl into slic3r and then save it as a amf

see end of [manual.slic3r.org]

See also [reprap.org]

See also this thread [forums.reprap.org]

You can add a "post-process" to Cura and Slic3r, to add colour-change commands to the gcode file after it has been generated. However, the M567 command is only recognised by RepRap Formware, not Repetier or Marlin. I don't know whether you can run RepRap Firmware on a Rumba board though, sorry.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/10/2016 07:24PM by frankvdh.

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Lymphomaniac1
This may be a dumb question, but I am just beginning with 3 color printing. How do you make the .amf file? What software do I need?

Thanks,

Stuart

Create the different colour items in OpenSCAD(free software available at [www.openscad.org]) and export it as AMF. Then use Slic3r (http://slic3r.org/) to combine the amf files into one item and create the gcode.

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You only learn when you change your mind.
[www.deltaprinter.co.za]

Thanks for the information. It is very interesting and may get me started. I guess I will need to learn OpenSCAD

Stuart

The Rumba board is basically a combination of the Mega2560 and RAMPS 1.4 board with the added feature of controlling 3 extruders. My understanding is that RepRap Firmware is not meant to run on Mega2560-based boards instead on ARM based boards.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/11/2016 09:20PM by Lymphomaniac1.

.. and keep in mind, 3-color printing will never get you the full color gamut for FFM printing.

For that, you would need at minimum 4 colors - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and White.

For better black saturation, 5 color with Black would be best.

Quote
Ezrec
.. and keep in mind, 3-color printing will never get you the full color gamut for FFM printing.

For that, you would need at minimum 4 colors - Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and White.

For better black saturation, 5 color with Black would be best.

Personally, I think you need 6. CYMK like an inkjet or laser printer plus white because we don't have white paper to start with. That should take care of the hue but with an inkjet printer, the saturation is taken care if by the dot density (I think). So shades of grey are just less black dots on a white background. But we always have to print with the filament (colour) balance adding up to 100% so we need transparent as well. I could be wrong of course - I always get hue and saturation muddled up.

Quote
Lymphomaniac1
Thanks for the information. It is very interesting and may get me started. I guess I will need to learn OpenSCAD

Stuart

Open Scad is worth the learning curve IMO. Another way of doing 3 colour objects, is to create the separate parts in OpenScad and save each one as a separate stl. Then in Slic3r add the first stl to the platter, then select the object and choose "Load part" and add the second stl. Repeat for the other stls. You'll then have what looks like a directory tree looking like Object / stl1, stl2, stl 3 etc. Select each stl in turn and assign the appropriate extruder (tool) from the drop down list. You can then export the gcode as normal (no need to bother with amf file).

Just be aware that Slicr assigns the number 1 to the first tool (and calls it extruder) and you printer software may use 0 as the first tool number. So in my case, if I want to use tool 2 I have to select extruder 3 in Slicr which can get a bit confusing.

You can also use this technique for different filaments, not just different colours. So, for example you could use something exotic for the outer perimeters with the main body printed with common or garden PLA. Or you could use "soluble" support material. Or how about electrically conductive filament to make traces embedded within the object? You'll need to set up tool definitions with appropriate operating and standby temperatures for each filament but it can all be done.

Hello, I am also new here, just had diamond hotend last week. I have followed every step from here : [reprap.org]
The problem is, eventhough I change extruder in Repetier, it still output the same color (which I think is the mix of three colors).
I also try to print primetower_5.amf (from [www.thingiverse.com]) that should have 5 box with different color, the result also have all same color.
Am I missing something here?

@sfuady

bring your hot end up to temp

manually extrude some, e0 should move

send a T1 command

manually extrude some, e1 should move

send a T2 command

manually extrude some, e2 should move

Thank you for quick response.
I tried it, and output color is all the same, it is not very consistent mixing color of 3 filament I use.
Is there any setting for the extruder?

You need to purge out the current material, this is the purpose of a wipe block.

Ie you change color then print out enough material so the new color start flowing as a wipe block, you then print what you want in the new color
And repeat as needed

As for actual mixing... no the diamond head doesn’t actually mix, it more combines into tooth paste like filament, if your layers are thin, its sort of mixes, sometimes

Also pigmented filaments do not behave like ink, different colourants materials with different properties, some always over power others.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2016 04:47AM by Dust.

I already purge out a lot of current material, but nothing seems change, the color still mix. I also realize that all motor are running no matter what extruder I use from manual control.
Could it be firmware problem? I purchased one that already assembled by the company

Found the problem. I need to insert some text in the start code : [reprap.me]