multiple filament sensors

Phil333

Hi,

I am having 2 filament sensors for 2 extruders.
Whenever one sensor does not detect filament, the print stops.

This also happens, when I print with extruder 1 only, but the 2nd extruder (filament sensor) is not loaded.

I think I am doing something wrong, because the printer should only check the filament sensor according to the extruder not on general.

Here is the snippet from my config:

; Filament runout sensors
M591 D0 P1 C"e0stop" S1                          ; filament sensor for E0
M591 D1 P1 C"e1stop" S1                          ; filament sensor for E1

Do I need to do anything else?

Thanks a lot!

Phaedrux

If you don't want the sensor monitored, disable it with S0? Perhaps have a macro to disable/enable either one?

How would the firmware know whether the other tool would be called upon later on in the print or not?

Phil333

Thank you @Phaedrux

Well I assumed that the firmware only considers M591 when trying to extrude with the relevant extruder.

If I understand you correctly it is either
S1 = check from now one - regardless of whether the tool is used at all
od
S0 = dont use it at all

I do want the sensor to be monitored, but only the one that is in use.
Both options are not really convinient, so are there any "best practice" tips of how to integrate this into prusaslicer and cura with variables etc. for activating only the filament sensor that is needed?

Phaedrux

@phil333 said in multiple filament sensors:

Well I assumed that the firmware only considers M591 when trying to extrude with the relevant extruder.

I believe it checks at the start of the print job to confirm filament is loaded and ready to go. If not, it pauses and notifies.

In the slicer I believe you could add the enable code to the extruder specific gcode section.

I'll see if anyone has any better ideas.

Phaedrux

It may be best to use the tool change files to enable and disable the sensor, that way the sensor would only be enabled when the tool is selected and could be disabled when deselected. Start with a disabled state in config.g

Phil333

@phaedrux
Thats it!
I have not tested it, but that makes complete sense and I'm sure it will work.
I just didn't though of that

Thanks a lot!

I will report back anyways, so others that might come across knows it

Phaedrux

I didn't think of it either. Thank @chrishamm for that one.

Phil333

@phaedrux

Implementing this in
tpreX
and
tfreeX

(where X is the tool number)
works great!

If I pull the filament out of the sensor, it says:
Printing paused
Extruder 1 reported 'noFilament'

I have 2 more questions:

#1:
Where does that massage "Extruder 1 reported 'noFilament'" come from?
I already created the "filament-errorX.g" files (where X is the tool number), but I would like to change the message

#2:
While testing this, I saw that sometimes the pausing of the print needs longer or kind of freezes the printer.

I mean the tool always stops and normally it goes back to its homing position.
But sometimes it stops, needs ~5-15 sec and then goes back.

2 times it also stayed at that position and never went back to the homing position

T3P3Tony

@phil333 said in multiple filament sensors:

Where does that massage "Extruder 1 reported 'noFilament'" come from?

the error messages are in the firmware code - they are not it a user editable text file. You could add a second notice to the user in your filamen-errorX.g

@phil333 said in multiple filament sensors:

While testing this, I saw that sometimes the pausing of the print needs longer or kind of freezes the printer.
I mean the tool always stops and normally it goes back to its homing position.
But sometimes it stops, needs ~5-15 sec and then goes back.

Try and tie down what part of the gcode file has this issue, the shorter and more reproducible the better.

Does this happen with both tools or just one?

Phil333

@t3p3tony said in multiple filament sensors:

the error messages are in the firmware code - they are not it a user editable text file. You could add a second notice to the user in your filamen-errorX.g

Thanks, then I will leave it as it is.

@phil333 said in multiple filament sensors:

While testing this, I saw that sometimes the pausing of the print needs longer or kind of freezes the printer.
I mean the tool always stops and normally it goes back to its homing position.
But sometimes it stops, needs ~5-15 sec and then goes back.

Try and tie down what part of the gcode file has this issue, the shorter and more reproducible the better.

Does this happen with both tools or just one?

Its hard to say or to determinate which code is doing it, as there seems to be some background (firmware) code to be involved as well.

I think that it happens with both tools, but I will investigate more into it, to see if I can find more details or something reproducible.

I will report back