This page is documentation of my experience with the Airwolf HDx 3D Printer. The printer is used in a classroom setting to teach High School students about CAD and 3D printing. It gets a lot of use. The purpose of this page is documentation of problems and solutions.

The settings that come preset for the HDx do not push the boundaries of the printer. My goal with this configuration set is to minimize print time and fatal errors so I can push as many models through in the minimum amount of time. I really don't care if quality is sacrificed, as long as the print completes successfully.

• Travel Speed
• Retraction
• Perimeter Speed
• Infill Speed
• Infill Density

• Skirt: 4 loops
• Perimeters:
• Bed Temperature:
• Extruder Temperature:

The goal of a proper pause/resume is to pause the print, come back an indefinite amount of time later, and resume where we left off. This allows the printing to be more thoroughly monitored. Secondary goal is to be able to change filament in the middle of printing. The following code was developed to allow this functionality. This code only works if your G-Code uses Absolute Coordinates. To check, look to see if there's a G90 line in your gcode file, indicating that the following lines are using absolute coordinates. This code has not yet been tested. It is inserted in under Settings→Printer→Custom G-Code:

Start

G28                    ; home all axes
M117 HD Printing...

G90                    ; Switch to Absolute Coordinates
G0 Z15                 ; Drop bed 15mm
M109 T0                ; Wait for Extruder to heat
G92 E0                 ; zero the extruded length
G1 F100 E25            ; Extrude 25mm
G92 E0                 ; zero the extruded length
M117 Wipe Nozzle...    ; Update display with instructions
G4 P10000              ; Pause to wipe nozzle
G1 Y20 F1000           ; Move Y to avoid clips and as warning that print is about to start
G4 P2000               ; Pause after warning

Pause

M104 S0        ; Turn off extruder heating element
G91            ; Switch to Relative Coordinates
G1 F3000 E-10  ; Retract Filament 10mm
G0 Z10         ; Lift Z Axis 10mm
G90            ; Switch back to Absolute Coordinates
G0 X0 Y0       ; Home X-Y

M117 Print Paused... ; Update display

Resume

M109                 ; Preheat nozzle, wait for completion
G91                  ; Switch to Relative Coordinates
G1 F100  E10         ; Extrude Filament 10mm
M117 Wipe Nozzle...  ; Update display
G4 P10000            ; Pause to wipe nozzle
G0 Z-10              ; Restore Z Position
G90                  ; Switch back to Absolute Coordinates

End

M104 S0        ; turn off temperature
M140 S0
G90            ; Switch back to Absolute Coordinates
G0 X0 Y0 Z300  ; Home X-Y, Move Z to Bottom
M84            ; disable motors

Cancel

M104 S0        ; turn off temperature
M140 S0
G90            ; Switch back to Absolute Coordinates
G0 X0 Y0 Z300  ; Home X-Y, Move Z to Bottom
M84            ; disable motors

• The heated bed does not heat evenly. I have measured a heat differential of 25C with an infrared thermometer. Along with the large differential across the bed, the position of the thermocouple does not yield an accurate bed temperature. I suggest using a thermometer to measure the actual temperature of the bed and adjust the bed temperature settings accordingly.