Duet3 Toolboard questions

Sascha_Lenze

Hi there,

We are running a Duet3 6HC controlled IDEX printer, each printhead is equipped with a 1LC toolboard.

We are using the machine for production in an industrial environment (machine building for pharmaceutical companies) and do mostly print metal FFF parts for sinter based AM. Our plan is to exchange printheads regularly, depending on the material we print (316L, 17-4PH, Inconel, Hastelloy, Al2O3 ceramics, just to name some) or (as an idea) to have another printhead for every material we print.

Due to differences in the demands of the filament regarding extruder and hotend setup the printheads (actually 5) can be pretty diffrent from each other, with diffrent E-Steps for 1.75mm and 2.85mm filament as an example.

As we don't want to go into the configuration of the printer and reboot every time we switch between the tools I am searching for hints and tips what we can probably do in order to get a overall better workflow.

Any suggestions are welcome.

Best regards
Sascha

dc42

@Sascha_Lenze please clarify: are you looking to change the steps/mm for some particular extruder driver depending on which tool is loaded?

You can change the E steps/mm at any time using the M92 command. I suggest you set up a macro file for each tool and run that macro file when the corresponding tool is loaded. In that macro file you can adjust the E steps/mm and anything else that depends on the tool.

Sascha_Lenze

Hey @dc42,

we have a couple of tools (actually 5, could be more in the future) that are planned to print different materials that (due to their melting temperature as an example) can not be printed in the same extruder/hotend.

Also, in the IDEX system we plan to print different configurations of materials at the same time, like 316L and Al2O3 or 316L and 17-4PH, and so on.

The idea is to have a specific tool for every filament and change the tool together with the filament if we want to print it. The tools have a 3-point (e3d alike) mounting with a single screw securing so they can easily be swapped by hand without using tools.

So in the system we have a couple of parameters that need to be changed every time we swap the tools, like X,Y and Z offset compared to a 'calibration' tool and e-steps as there are diffrent types of extruder gears mounted for .175 and 2.85mm

I know when swapping tools the can-bus needs a reset. Is there a possibility to check for what tool is present in the system and call a specific gcode doing the settings for the respective tools or do we need to do this in the slicer?

Sorry for my noob questions. Duet3 and tools are new to me from the user perspective.

Best regards
Sascha

T3P3Tony

@Sascha_Lenze said in Duet3 Toolboard questions:

I know when swapping tools the can-bus needs a reset. Is there a possibility to check for what tool is present in the system and call a specific gcode doing the settings for the respective tools or do we need to do this in the slicer?

As you want to swap tools without resetting the machine i suggest the following general approach in a Detach, reattach set of macros.

detach:

undefine the tool and associated definitions (e.g. heater, temperature sensor etc). this way you wont get heater faults etc as the tool is disconnected

attach:

redefine the attached heater, temp sensor and tool. you can also set any parameters that are specific to the tool like temperature limits, steps/mm etc

There are at least two possible ways, in the attach macro, to determine what tool is connected:

read the "boards" key from the object model and determine the CAN address of the attached boards. each tool can then have its own CAN address so you can setup the tool based on the can address of the attached tool
use the uniqueID of the toolboard on each tool, rather than the CAN address.

Sascha_Lenze

@T3P3Tony,

thanks for the quick and detailed reply.

I will try to do it like suggested, it could happen I come back to you with some question during the implementation.

Regards
Sascha