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.
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