Just watched The Edge Of Tech’s video about the X1 setup. Was pleased to hear the handy app has a fair bit of control over the printer. It did occur to me, however, how does filament loading work? Can it be done through the handy app or does it have to be done through the touch screen or, is it automatic?
The obvious follow up question is, how do I unload?
I’ve got the X1 standard on the way, no AMS (keeping life simpler). I’m completely blind and therefore can’t use the touch screen at all. My hope is to get a friend to help me set it up when it arrives, then it’s just ready to go… Hoping doesn’t always help though.
Is this a device I can run, after setup without touching the touch screen on the printer at all?
one of the main advanced of the AMS is that it auto loads/unloads at every print
but with out AMS it is a manual load cycle you need to perform
first a preheat is needed to 250 degree ( or your filament temperature, 250 is what get used by AMS )
Then you push the filament to the extruder and then you press the extrude button
if i am not mistaken, all parts can be done from the app ( set temp and extrude )
if filament run out you can repeat the load steps, you just flush out the last bit of filament ( unlike prusa it does not unload the last bit of filament but use new filament to push the last bit out of the nozzle )
to unload you have a button ( only on touch screen ) that will park the nozzle and cut the filament so you can just remove the filament with no need to extrude in reverse,
but you can also perform this with the app by setting the temp and then manual extrude in reverse
keep in mind , pausing and runout and unload will cause the nozzle to cool down , so you always need to heat it back up to temperature to remove or load new filament. (not the case with AMS )
below i linked a official wiki page that explains the above steps ( with pictures and no sound video )
so i add it just as reference.
That’s a relief, thank you. Not the most ideal situation but at least I can do it. I’ll perhaps put a request in for an unload button for the app.
I did consider the AMS, but think it would add more complexity to an already unknown machine. Maybe down the line, but I’m also very aware of just how much waste there is in any multi material system. My friend’s company owns the patent for a valve nozzle which means that no purge tower or cut offs. So frustrating when such cool tech exists but can’t be used.
Since the manual load/unload process isn’t as easy as with other printers, I would recomment to get the AMS. You don’t need to use it to change colors within one print but I suppose it would make life much easier for you by keeping different filaments ready. You only need to choose the one to use in the slicer before printing. Unfortunately the AMS is not cheap…
Yeah, does seem it is the way forward. I can’t quite stretch to that at the moment, maybe in the new year. I think multi material introduces other issues. It’s going to be an expensive way of single material prints and I think I’m going to struggle with the multi material prints due to the current accessibility of the slicer. I am hoping some feedback might get the devs looking in the right direction with future updates. Can’t expect too much out the gate, but the slicer is no where near as easy to use as Prusa slicer, my slicer of choice. I don’t suppose you know if I can kick off a print from the micro SD card on the handy app, do you? I’m guessing there will be an official, or unofficial profile for Prusa Slicer at some point which would be ace.
you can not start a print from the sd card with the app
but you can directly start a print from the slicer, so a SD card is not needed
as long it is the last print performed , you can restart it from the app from the history tab, the history tab shows your printed files but only the last file will print , other files are corrupted if you try to reprint them ( based on own testing )
if you keep default settings, then the slicer is fair easy to use
put a file on it , orient it in right direction ( if not in right direction, 10th button from left ) and press slice
it does switch a tab to the preview tab and limits what you can do on that tab
but once you pressed slice and it is sliced you press print and on the popup you press send
then the printer will start
ofcourse it depends how used you are to a slicer as the layout is different, personal i feel that it is a bit more easy then prusa slicer as it has a lot less settings
a setting profile can be easy made, but some functions will not work with third party slicers
the functions i am talking about is the flow calibration and anything lidar related ( first layer scanner and bed leveling by lidar )
also the vibration calibration will not work and direct sending to printer, so by using a third party you miss a few of the core functions and does it become a “normal” printer"
i am sure if you ask support for a prusa slicer profile that they will provide you a basic converted profile
it could be possible that it is a profile for superslicer ( a prusa fork ) as that slicer has just a lot extra settings unlocked, on other side if they have a superslicer profile it can easy be converted to a prusa slicer profile.
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