How to pause at layer height and change filament?

[jolly bison]

printer: monoprice maker select v2
firmware: FIRMWARE_NAME:Repetier_0.91
i am using cura where I tried both filament chnage and pause at height scripts in post processing
filament change did not do anything while the pause at height script made a beep sound and move the print head to a corner for like few seocnds and then started printing again.. this was so fast that i could not change the filament.

Q1) How to increase the time interval for pause

Q2) also what to enter in the pause at layer number
Im confused because of the follwing thought:
i have a rectangle with text on top of it. after slicing the first layer where text appears is 3. So if i select layer 2 will it stop "after" completing layer 2 or it will pause "before" layer 2 is started

Q3) I went to the firmware website that was listed in the printer firmware command and it showed that curent version is 2.0 while my printer is 0.92 - how do i update the firmware? i looked at monoprice website but not able to find the printer or firmware at all

Q4) The settings in cura show the gcode version as marlin while the firmware shows version as repetier but the prints from cura still work fine. While modifying the gcode what should i use then? marlin or repetier commands

[molten crater]

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[jolly bison]

hi

[fallow wharf]

Q1: there should be a “disarm timeout” and the method being marlin rather than repetier could matter here as it may not be issuing the correct command to initiate a pause in repetier but the other commands are still running.

Q2: i really don’t understand the question being asked here

Q3: pass on this one sorry

Q4: it usually won’t matter but in cases with “M codes” there will often be differences that mean you should probably default to using repetier but you need to just try it without knowing more details on your firmware.

[jolly bison]

i do not understand disarm timeout

[jolly bison]

wat details i need to know

[upper finch]

3. Typically the sd card (so unfortunatley yours died).. but if it was enabled and allowed by the mobo and firmware, you could do it through a usb cable maybe. There is risks involved in this.

[jolly bison]

o

so i do not need to update fw?

[upper finch]

I don't think it's common for those options to be enabled

[jolly bison]

o

i tried using the code but it dont show pause or anything
; --- Start of Pause Test ---
G28 ; Home all axes
G1 Z5 F3000 ; Lift nozzle to 5mm
G1 X10 Y10 F4000 ; Move to front left corner
G1 Z50 ; Move Z up to make pause obvious
M117 Pausing... ; Display message on screen
M25 ; Pause SD Print (Parking)
; --- Printer should be paused here ---
G1 Z55 ; Move Z up further to test resume (optional)
M117 Resuming... ; Display message on screen
M24 ; Resume SD Print
; --- End of Pause Test ---
G28 X0 ; Home X to finish

just goes home then moves a bit and then goes up

[fallow wharf]

I don’t use this script but it is part of cura’s gcode post processing. My reading of how it functions is that disarm timeout would pass a certain time to the pause command on when it should time out so like if it is set to 0s that means it will pause and then wait for you to resume no matter what because 0 is going to be key value for disabled. If it was set to say 3s it may pause and then immediately resume after 3s because you didn’t interact with it.

[jolly bison]

o that

[fallow wharf]

I rereading 2 and am looking into it

[jolly bison]

i mean when i tried it yesterday it moved to a corner location but started printing again without me doing anything

[fallow wharf]

But one thing i can tell you is gcode layers start at 0 while cura layers start at 1 so there could be a fence post error here. It would be easier to open the resulting gcode file and look at the comments to see where it inserted the pause

And look at the Z position to figure out what you want

[jolly bison]

so im not sure if it actually paused or just moved to corner location and moved back in

[jolly bison]

the gcode file has post processing added after layer 3

[fallow wharf]

That could be a difference in m codes between marlin and repetier though

[jolly bison]

so h how to actually pause here

[fallow wharf]

M codes is “machine codes” and they are not necessarily standard between firmwares. Gcodes are much more standardized between firmwares

[fallow wharf]

Well have you tried changing to repetier method yet?

[jolly bison]

in cura settings?

[fallow wharf]

I could go find the exact difference but I don’t use either repetier or marlin so i would need to go look through the documentation

[jolly bison]

o

[upper finch]

It's a "melzi" board if that helps anyone.

[fallow wharf]

Yes

[jolly bison]

o

[fallow wharf]

Well pursuant to this exact pause issue it needs to be changed here:

[jolly bison]

o

so change cura back to marlin?

[fallow wharf]

It depends on your firmware. I am taking you at your word and understanding that your machine is actually running repetier

[jolly bison]

idk anything bruv 😭

i just posted everything that i could find from pronterface command

[upper finch]

Might be able to check what firmware if you scroll through your printer menus and look for the "info" screen. On the blue screen attached to your printer.

[fallow wharf]

Because gcode is so well standardized it generally won’t matter what it is set to but for machine codes like pause and stuff it very well may

[jolly bison]

there is none

i already checked

[fallow wharf]

Yeah I’m trying to help but i don’t know what what printer you have either so 😅

[jolly bison]

its monoprice maker select

v2

[fallow wharf]

Lemme see if the online manual says

[jolly bison]

i have manaual

[fallow wharf]

(Also i do see where you listed it in the first post and I just missed it so my bad)

[jolly bison]

o

[fallow wharf]

Do you have the machine hooked up over usb?

[jolly bison]

yes

[fallow wharf]

And have something like pronterface*?

[jolly bison]

yes

i used that to get firmware

[fallow wharf]

Was there more text you can send from that output

[jolly bison]

yes

[fallow wharf]

If you grabbed it yourself from pronterface and it says repetier its repetier

I thought maybe you had just found that via a search online

[jolly bison]

SENDING:M115
FIRMWARE_NAME:Repetier_0.91 FIRMWARE_URL:https://github.com/repetier/Repetier-Firmware/ PROTOCOL_VERSION:1.0 MACHINE_TYPE:Mendel EXTRUDER_COUNT:1 REPETIER_PROTOCOL:2
Printed filament:398.83m Printing time:3 days 20 hours 20 min

here is what it gave me as result

full result

[fallow wharf]

Yeah so in cura set it to repetier and in that pause command script as well

[jolly bison]

change to repetier in both?

o ok

[fallow wharf]

Yeah i would

It usually won’t matter but some stuff it does vary

Gimme a sec and I’ll research if there is a difference in the pause command m codes between the two

[jolly bison]

o btw the manual says reprap

idk if reprap and repertier are diff

bc there are two diff options for each in cura

[fallow wharf]

Yeah i saw that but they just maintain the gcode standard for open source 3d printing not one particular firmware

[jolly bison]

o

[fallow wharf]

Reprapfirmware is something else and not related to reprap.org

Well not related anymore than the other firmwares are anyway

[jolly bison]

o ok

[jolly bison]

how do i convert this to repertier

; --- Start of Repetier Pause Test ---
G28 ; Home all axes
G1 Z10 F3000 ; Lift nozzle to 10mm
G1 X20 Y20 F4000 ; Move print head to a visible position
M117 Check screen for pause... ; Display status on LCD
@pause ; Repetier-specific command to trigger a pause
; --- Printer pauses here and waits for user click ---
M117 Test resumed! ; Update message after clicking resume
G1 X100 Y100 F4000 ; Move to verify resume works
G28 X0 ; Home X to finish

google gave me this which is VERY differnt from the other one

[fallow wharf]

So M25 is pause on repetier as well however it is SD Pause and i gather from the other comments your sd card doesn’t work and you’re printing off usb via computer?

[jolly bison]

yes

usb cable

[fallow wharf]

Looks like it’s already set for repetier, note the line beginning with @pause

[jolly bison]

yes

[fallow wharf]

Did you test this file yet?

[jolly bison]

nop

should i try?

[fallow wharf]

Give it a go

[jolly bison]

ok

[fallow wharf]

The usb printing is potentially going to be an issue with pausing and as I don’t have any experience on that firmware i cannot say if itll work or not but that’s promising with the existence of “@pause”

[jolly bison]

uhh it moved to home and then to one of the edges

[fallow wharf]

Worst case you can insert a “wait” command but that’s not ideal because it will just wait for exactly the time specified

[fallow wharf]

As in its not doing the rest of the print now either?

[jolly bison]

no

it moved to home

thgen came to center

and then to the left edge and stayed there

while the script thing google gave said that it will show paused on screen and move again after i click something on printer knob

[fallow wharf]

Okay so revert your repetier change in cura. Ideally we would set it up to properly work on repetier but we may have to do quite a bit of troubleshooting to get stuff going. So as such please revert that to marlin. Then i think there’s a tab to change what the pause script inserts and we can change it to that @pause

[fallow wharf]

And it probably would if you were printing off the sd card

It is specifically “SD Pause”

[jolly bison]

o

..

[jolly bison]

change gcode in cura settings or the post processsing script

?

i can screen share if that is easier :3

[fallow wharf]

Lets clarify. Initially you were starting the print and 2 layers printed normally then it would go to a certain position and park the head and then immediately resume.

We talked about changing the output from marlin to repetier and presumably you did that

Then it sounded to me like you were communicating that now it was no longer even printing those first two layers. Is that correct?

[jolly bison]

yes
currently post processing and cura setting both set to repetier yes

[fallow wharf]

This is contradictory

[jolly bison]

o

[fallow wharf]

Yeah set cura back to marlin and the post processing pause at layer leave on repetier and try again please

[fallow wharf]

Yeah so I wouldn’t put much weight on it because the post contradicts itself

[jolly bison]

the code that google gave me just tested the pause - move to positon A, move to pause positon B at the side of square, come back to original positon A

but in reality the printer moves to positon A, goes to edge positon B and stays there

does no go back to A

[jolly bison]

cool

i have not even added filament yet

[fallow wharf]

Maybe there is a resume command you need to issue from pronterface

[jolly bison]

yes there is a pause button here

but im not sure how to be accurate in that as the gcode lines are in 1000s

[fallow wharf]

Well hopefully the @pause pauses it precisely via your gcode and then you can click it again or something to resume. I’ll see if i can find that documented for pronterface as I haven’t ever used that feature

[jolly bison]

o ok

[fallow wharf]

Yeah try running it again and see if resume button or something pops up on pronterface

[jolly bison]

that button is always there when i sart any print

i can pause anytime

just that it needs to be at a precise time

[fallow wharf]

Yeah but @pause in the gcode will accomplish that you just also need to be able to resume

[jolly bison]

o ok

ok so to clarify

set the cura setting to marlin and post processing to repetier
pause at layer 3
see if anything shows up on pronter or printer screen
and see the results

yea?

and this time actually add filament and print?

[fallow wharf]

Yeah, but i suppose you do not need filament to test the behavior so don’t worry about that bit

[jolly bison]

o

but is it fine if the nozzle and bed get heated without filament

[fallow wharf]

Generally yes

If the hotend was on for like an hour straight it could degrade the polymer (residual material left from prior prints) enough to become a clog that would maybe require a cold pull but for a few minutes it won’t be an issue

[jolly bison]

o ok

ok so here is what happened

i selected pause at layer 3

so i guess it moved AFTER layer 3

it moved to the top right corner and stayed there for like a bit and showed the message change

then it beeped for 3 seconds and moved back to printing area and started printing again

[fallow wharf]

Can you upload the gcode file so i can take a look

[jolly bison]

yes

also i did nothave to press anything on printer or on pronter face app on pc

it moved back on its own

[fallow wharf]

Yeah figured looking at options now. Theres always “G4” command if we can’t find a viable pause

Indeed after the beep it just goes on

[jolly bison]

what

[fallow wharf]

Are you comfortable modifying the gcode in a text editor saving it and running it?

[jolly bison]

sure

i did just that for the code that google gave me lol

[fallow wharf]

Id like to try a few things:
replace: “@pause now change filament and press ; Do the actual pause”
with: “M1”

And try that file again

If that doesn’t work also try “M25”

Not in the same file but try them both separately

I am assuming M0 was tried already but can also try M0

[jolly bison]

ok

[fallow wharf]

The documentation says that repetier does not support M1 but i see repetier users saying to use M1. And it has been my experience in helping repetier users in the past that repetiers documentation is lacking.

[jolly bison]

o

lol

[jolly bison]

with these commands the printer should just pause at the location?

or it will come back again to print

[fallow wharf]

Pause and ideally allow you to click your rotary wheel to resume

[jolly bison]

o ok

[fallow wharf]

It could also “stop” instead of pausing

[jolly bison]

oo ok

[fallow wharf]

M0 and M1 specifically are commands to stop but their implementation in some firmware’s specifically act more like a pause

[jolly bison]

i see

[fallow wharf]

Unfortunately all i can do is read the documentation make an educated guess and have you try it since i don’t have a repetier machine. Worst case scenario I have a work around but it’s not ideal

[jolly bison]

how long is it

M1 did not do anything

like same as before

went back to printing after beep

trying m25 rn

[fallow wharf]

Not long it’s just using G4 command which is “wait” but i need to let you know how this works and that you need to use it with caution. G4 is what is known as a blocking command. When it is running there is nothing you can do to stop it or move on etc. so this is normally fine but it can be dangerous if you accidentally enter a really long wait time and the hotend is on during this time. So be very careful considering that.

The usage of G4 is simple There is an S parameter and a P parameter
S is for seconds and should be supported on your firmware, P is for milliseconds and will be supported on all firmwares to my knowledge.

So if you wanted to insert a 1 minute “dwell” time you would insert the line: “G4 S60”
Or in ms: “G4 P60000”

[jolly bison]

tried M25 and same thing

[fallow wharf]

Worst case scenario you can of course power cycle the printer but if you accidentally say put in G4 S60000 that would be a dwell of over 16 hours and you would not be able to interrupt it normally

[jolly bison]

the issue that i feel like is happening is that it beeps after the pause and goes toprinting right away

i want it to beep before it goes to pause

[fallow wharf]

Well the issue is it’s just not well supported via usb printing it would work via sd card and stuff like octoprint supports this better

[jolly bison]

what if i just turn the power off by switching itoff from the power cord switch

is octo print similar to pronterface?

[fallow wharf]

Yes that will work and on powering back up it will clear it out

[jolly bison]

imma go eat smth and be back

[fallow wharf]

It uses pronterface as a part of it but it is more of a printer management tool that does a lot more than pronterface

[jolly bison]

o ok

[fallow wharf]

Usually you would run it on a raspberry pi or other small single board computer but you can run it on a desktop or laptop technically

You may want to look into doing that since you’re always using usb for it. The G4 dwell command should at least get you going as a work around for now. Just be cognizant that it’s just a dumb wait command and it won’t have any knowledge of if your fingers are in the way or anything like that.

It will dwell for the requested time and then resume.

[jolly bison]

o ok

[fallow wharf]

So make it ample time for you to notice that it has beeped (put it after the m300) and to get to the machine and change the filament.

You might be able to dwell then manually click pause in pronterface then resume. This might work but it might not. The dwell will need to execute regardless but it should immediately pause from pronterface exactly after that. It may not work if other commands were already sent to the printers buffer.

[jolly bison]

hihi

back

[jolly bison]

https://octoprint.org/download/ this one?

[fallow wharf]

Yes

[jolly bison]

o ok

uhh i installed it using the installer but it opens up a web browser

and asking me for username and pw

i dont have that

i set it up

now what do i do

my printer is not plugged in

what do i do in cotoprint

yooooooooooooooooooooo it actually worked

idk if it was octoprint that made it work or the M25

it was showing me wait/ chnage on printer screen but rotating or clicking the knob didnt do anything

i had to click resume from octoprint webpage and it started to print again

[fallow wharf]

Yeah octoprint is handling the pause with a macro.

[jolly bison]

o

also idk why but after i pulled the filament out adn tried to insert a new one, it just wont go in???

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[jolly bison]

hi

so i tried lopading new filament and running it and it kinda works

the issue is that when i try to insert new filamnet, the print head movves a little bit

is there a way to modify the gcode so after clicking resume, the printer goes to the corner positon again and then it resumes print to make sure the filamnet is laid correctly?

and also while it is parked i want the head to be more higher up so i can see clearly if the old color filament is completly out or noit

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[jolly bison]

hi

[fallow wharf]

You can add a “G28 X;” after the pause block so that it rehomes the X axis after the filament change.

[jolly bison]

yes i tried that and apparently it worked

but i have no way of actually testing since my printer broke ig

the x axis is not leveld so idk..

[fallow wharf]

You can do a “G91;” to set relative positioning then a “G1 Z30” for example to move up 30mm then after the pause block make sure to add a “G90;” to go back to absolute positioning mode

[jolly bison]

and for making the head be more higher up i just add z = some number to move the head up ya?

o ok

[fallow wharf]

You could also just add to the value in the pause block yet but if you want to do this on any arbitrary print at an arbitrary height then the relative position mode is better

[jolly bison]

oo ok

[fallow wharf]

Also tbh instead of moving up you are better off having the extruder purge some filament first

[jolly bison]

how

[fallow wharf]

To do that just use
“M83;” to switch to relative extrusion mode
Then something like “G1 E20;” which will tell the extruder to extrude 20mm of filament. You can also add the F parameter for feed rate to control how fast it feeds the filament that would look something like “G1 F600 E20;” for 600mm per minute or divide by 60 to get 10mm per second so it would take 2 seconds. After this it is important that you switch back to absolute extrusion mode with “M82;” and then restore the value for the extruder position before the pause with “G92 E<and the decimal value for it here>;” of course replacing that text with the relevant number. You can look at your existing pause block and see where cura is doing that so you can also just move that bit instead of doing this

[jolly bison]

i see

@fallow wharf do u know how do i fix x leveling

[fallow wharf]

It will vary for specific printers but looking at pictures of yours i would probably move the z axis all the way to the top of the frame then turn the printer off and then manually turn the z axis lead screws to get it touching at the top on both sides at the end of the axis and then turn the printer back on and home. Note that the bed leveling is a distinctly different process than the x axis leveling so don’t level your x axis to your bed but rather get your x axis leveled as described and then level your bed.

Also like i said i have never used your printer so im just telling you a generic way to level the x gantry and you might find more relevant information trying to find a video or forum post from someone with a maker select v2

[jolly bison]

u mean these things?

these two are not independent of each other bruv 😭

if i move the left one the right one moves w it

[fallow wharf]

Then there’s probably a timing belt or something at the top

[jolly bison]

wat

[fallow wharf]

This kind of stuff is very annoying when you’re spending a lot of time helping someone

[jolly bison]

the top part is not connected

it is just frame without any wires

or screws

[fallow wharf]

What makes you think the x axis gantry isn’t level in the first place

[jolly bison]

uh someone told me that in the QQ chat

i sent a pic about bed leveling

this one

[fallow wharf]

Bed leveling is not gantry leveling

[jolly bison]

the right side of the bed wont go down any more

[fallow wharf]

Your bed visual looks not level. You gotta give people helping you more information to work with than this. I can only see or respond to the information you post

[jolly bison]

like wat pic u want?

u mean the pic from the other side

?

[fallow wharf]

Well youre saying the x axis gantry isn’t level but that’s based on someone elses claim elsewhere. I cannot verify their reasoning. You post a picture of your bed being visually very out of tram (the actual word for “leveling”) so now i don’t know if it’s just that your bed isn’t level or your axis is actually skewed. I gave you a generic procedure to tram the x axis gantry but you say the motors aren’t independent however all i can see is that they are physically independent so i suggested maybe there is a timing belt between them at the top which i cannot see one way or the other

[jolly bison]

o

[fallow wharf]

They sure look independent from this image i found online before responding the first time

[jolly bison]

yeah so if i move the knob on left, the right one also moves with it

[fallow wharf]

So in order for the gantry to go out of tram and “skew” they would have had to deviate from one another

[jolly bison]

and the issue that i was having is i wanted to level the bed
when i went to do that the left side of the bed, everything worked properly w the paper slding method

but when i came to right side, the bed needed to movedown to allow the paper to slide between extruder and bed but the screws were al tight and bed wont move down anymore

[fallow wharf]

You should do the simplest thing first which is to move the z axis (using the display controller or your computer) to the top of the axis and just visually compare it to that top cross bar and see if they look parallel

[fallow wharf]

You only have so much travel on each one but in combination between them you can change stuff by probably well over a degree of tilt which is ample

[jolly bison]

i see

its going upp rn

let me check if it is parallel

the steel rods look parallel to the fram

but the rubber belt dos not

[fallow wharf]

Then you just need to level the bed. Not the gantry

[jolly bison]

but i have no way to confirming

i just compared it with the balcony bar out of the window

[fallow wharf]

Yeah that’s not a problem. Well I mean it is a design problem but it still works on a cartesian machine despite not being ideal. It’s not something for you to fix or worry about

[jolly bison]

o ok

so now i "only" level the bed from the 4 bottom screws and nothing else

[fallow wharf]

Just compare parts of the machine frame to the motion component. The silver looking bars are called “linear rods” they define the linear axis that the tool head moves along. You can reasonably assume that the frame (the black metal bit) is square so you can safely compare if the linear rods are parallel at the top but your balcony has no such relative relation to your printer because then youre stacking a ton of assumptions about stuff on top of one another. E.g. that your house foundation is level, that your balcony is true to your foundation, that the railing is true to that. That your floor is level, that your table is level. That the feet around the printer are the same thickness, etc, hopefully you get the idea

[jolly bison]

i did this for the pause like u said

[fallow wharf]

Further also look around at the other components on the machine and notice you have two additional linear rods on the z axis as well as two additional ones on the y axis.

[jolly bison]

the E138 is the one that was present after pause so i copy pasted that

[fallow wharf]

Just try to pickup the terminology and purpose of these components as you learn so it is easier to ask questions and diagnose stuff and for people to help you as you learn

[jolly bison]

i see

[fallow wharf]

Your M25 line is the pause so your purging of material needs to go after this so it occurs on resume

[jolly bison]

o ok done

i thought the pause part is before the beep part

since it goes to the location before the beep

[fallow wharf]

Also you might need to like grab the filament extruded and pull it away so it doesn’t end up in your print. If you extrude a sufficient amount this should be easy and safe so don’t try getting your hand super close to the nozzle. Just adjust the values i gave you to something reasonable. You will need to try, observe and change them accordingly

[jolly bison]

yes im just trying it rn without filamnet to see i it works

the pliers are coming tmr

[fallow wharf]

You can look up what the gcode and mcode commands do here: https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code
you don’t need to memorize them but some you will quickly memorize like “G1” and “M25” you can also “ctrl f” to search that page for what you’re trying to do or just look through the list on the sidebar to see if a name of a command sounds like what you want

And just take note in the table if repetier is supported and or if there are any specific notes listed pertaining to repetier since that is the firmware on your machine

[jolly bison]

i see

the print head moved to the corner and afte i resumed moved to the left edge

and then it continued printing

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[jolly bison]

?solved