{"id":392,"date":"2017-03-25T09:27:57","date_gmt":"2017-03-25T16:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/birkbinnard.com\/blog\/?page_id=392"},"modified":"2026-09-01T12:34:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T19:34:40","slug":"5-color-vase","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/birkbinnard.com\/blog\/5-color-vase\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Color Vase"},"content":{"rendered":"
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No, this is not a multi-extruder or multi-nozzle print. Although my printer has dual extruders and a Y-adapter allowing it’s single nozzle hotend to print using 2 different filaments, I have never been able to successfully complete a dual extruder 2-color print.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what I have been able to do is switch filaments in the middle of a print. This is possible because my printer’s firmware has 2 very convenient commands: Pause print & move, and Resume print. This has enabled me to continue a long print at the point of running out of filament on one spool by simply switching to a new spool. The spool changing process is fairly simple:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First,  I use the Pause print & move command to pause the print when the printhead is at some internal location – such as some infill or the interior loop of a vertical shell. This stops the print, raises the printhead vertically about 2 inches above the last printhead position, maintains the nozzle temperature, and keeps the fans running. I then manually pull out the current filament and feed in the new filament. I push some of the new filament through the nozzle to make sure I have cleared out the old filament color and of course clean off the end of the nozzle. Finally, I run the Resume print command to restart he print, and the printer does exactly that – returns the printhead to the last position and continues printing with the new filament.<\/p>\n\n\n

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As you can see from this close-up photo there is no visible seam or discontinuity at the point of color change. Since most of the parts I print are large ones I have found myself with a fair number of short spools of filament, none of which are capable of a complete print. But using this technique I’ll still be able to use the filaments simply by switching colors during a long print.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note that, to make the part more interesting I gave it an oval cross-section instead of a simple round one. This photo shows that somewhat better than the top one:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Here is the completed part on my printer:<\/p>\n\n\n

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Print time: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The part is actually 298.8 mm high; the control panel shows the printhead at it’s home position of 365.00 mm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slicer: Craftware<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Layer height: 0.200 mm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Print speed: 100 mm\/sec<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> to download the STL file for this part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Update: 25 Mar 2017<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No, this is not a multi-extruder or multi-nozzle print. Although my printer has dual extruders and a Y-adapter allowing it’s single nozzle hotend to print using 2 different filaments, I have never been able to successfully complete a dual extruder 2-color print. But what I have been able to do is switch filaments in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-392","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/birkbinnard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/birkbinnard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/birkbinnard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/birkbinnard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/birkbinnard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=392"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/birkbinnard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/392\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1783,"href":"https:\/\/birkbinnard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/392\/revisions\/1783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/birkbinnard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}