Confused about color mixing and gradients // A10M

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Tastenkrueppel
Posts: 6
Joined: Sat Jan 26, 2019 5:16 pm

Confused about color mixing and gradients // A10M

Post by Tastenkrueppel » Sun Jan 27, 2019 6:07 pm

Hello all :)

i was playing around with our A10M and the possibilities of the mixing extruder lately. This included testing some gradients (see my Geeetech A10M Gradient Test Towers for reference). Up to this point i thought it's a pity that you have to choose between printing a gradient OR two separate colors OR one mix.

Until i heard about "virtual tools" and "direct mixing" that seem to let you define and print several colors or mixes. But now i'm stuck because i don't seem to find comprehensive information about that topic. Following questions have arisen since:

* Where are those "virtual tools" defined? Are they baked into the firmware or defined by the Gcode?
* Can one define the gradient Start/Stop and mixes via Gcode?

which ultimately led to the question

* Can one define a palette like:
T0: Gradient
T1: Gradient with reversed color ratios
T2: 100% E0/0% E1
T3: 75% E0/25% E1
T4: 50% E0/50% E1
T5: 25% E0/75% E1
T6: 0% E0/100% E1

which can be accessed like seperate colors in the slicer? According to my sparse information it should be possible but i didn't yet understand how.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated. Thank you all in advance.

Cheers

TMeeks
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2019 12:04 am
Location: Chantilly, VA
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Re: Confused about color mixing and gradients // A10M

Post by TMeeks » Sun Jan 27, 2019 10:26 pm

I wish I could answer with confidence. But, I have not had enough experience with mixing heads as yet. But, I believe you are on the right track.

But, more importantly, M3D's Discord channels for the ProMega and CraneQuad have several threads devoted to this very topic. And, the M3D community is working on the issue. Here is one approach. But, it may not be the final and best route to go. It's a Cura plug-in.

https://github.com/ketterrm/Illuminati-Mixer

Voxelizer is putting a LOT of effort into not only two color mixing; but, CMYK mixing for heads like the QuadFusion from M3D. It looks like it's going to be very powerful for color mixing. They are in beta now. You might try to contact the developers to see about participating.

For now, we have just taken delivery on our CMYK CraneQuad (CMYK Mixing) and we'll receive our first A20M sometime this coming week. So, I would like to keep in touch with you regarding color mix strategies as we learn more together. I will also check to see what is required for people interested in color mixing to participate in the very active threads on M3D's Discord channel.
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KiBs681
Posts: 4
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2019 6:17 pm

Re: Confused about color mixing and gradients // A10M

Post by KiBs681 » Sun Feb 09, 2020 9:53 pm

well - it's been quite some time since this question was raised - but the answer is pretty simple:

you can define as many extruders with corresponding starting code in the slicer software...
I did exactly what you are asking for in Cura for the A10M:

5 Extruders from 100%/0% to 0%/100% in 25% steps. The startcode is also containing purge commands so you can print without additional tower - but you need a burge bucket as you can find on Thingiverse...

Extruder1:
; Start Extruder
M163 S0 P1.00; Set Left to 100%
M163 S1 P0.00; Set Right to 0%
M164 S0; Save Mix
M211 S0 ; Turn off soft stops
G1 X-10 F6000 ; Go to X=-10 at 100 mm/sec
G92 E0 ; Reset extrusion distance on new tool
G1 E50 F90 ; Extrude 50 mm of filament at 1.5 mm/s on new tool
M211 S1
G92 E0 ; Set current extruder position to 0mm
G0 F10000 ; Increase feed rate before next travel

Extruder2:
; Start Extruder
M163 S0 P0.75; Set Left to 75%
M163 S1 P0.25; Set Right to 25%
M164 S1; Save Mix
M211 S0 ; Turn off soft stops
G1 X-10 F6000 ; Go to X=-10 at 100 mm/sec
G92 E0 ; Reset extrusion distance on new tool
G1 E50 F90 ; Extrude 50 mm of filament at 1.5 mm/s on new tool
M211 S1
G92 E0 ; Set current extruder position to 0mm
G0 F10000 ; Increase feed rate before next travel

Extruder3:
; Start Extruder
M163 S0 P0.50; Set Left to 50%
M163 S1 P0.50; Set Right to 50%
M164 S2; Save Mix
M211 S0 ; Turn off soft stops
G1 X-10 F6000 ; Go to X=-10 at 100 mm/sec
G92 E0 ; Reset extrusion distance on new tool
G1 E50 F90 ; Extrude 50 mm of filament at 1.5 mm/s on new tool
M211 S1
G92 E0 ; Set current extruder position to 0mm
G0 F10000 ; Increase feed rate before next travel

Extruder4:
; Start Extruder
M163 S0 P0.25; Set Left to 25%
M163 S1 P0.75; Set Right to 75%
M164 S3; Save Mix
M211 S0 ; Turn off soft stops
G1 X-10 F6000 ; Go to X=-10 at 100 mm/sec
G92 E0 ; Reset extrusion distance on new tool
G1 E50 F90 ; Extrude 50 mm of filament at 1.5 mm/s on new tool
M211 S1
G92 E0 ; Set current extruder position to 0mm
G0 F10000 ; Increase feed rate before next travel

Extruder5:
; Start Extruder
M163 S0 P0.00; Set Left to 0%
M163 S1 P1.00; Set Right to 100%
M164 S4; Save Mix
M211 S0 ; Turn off soft stops
G1 X-10 F6000 ; Go to X=-10 at 100 mm/sec
G92 E0 ; Reset extrusion distance on new tool
G1 E50 F90 ; Extrude 50 mm of filament at 1.5 mm/s on new tool
M211 S1
G92 E0 ; Set current extruder position to 0mm
G0 F10000 ; Increase feed rate before next travel

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