Important Information
- Don't power the unit from a PC or laptop, use the recommended Raspberry Pi 5.1V power supply.
- When mounting the cartridge holder, make sure it does not hit any bed clips or parts of the printer.
- Make sure your cables don't get tangled or pulled.
- THIS IS A BETA UNIT, DO NOT LEAVE IT UNATTENDED.
- Use in a well-ventilated area.
- We are not affiliated with any cartridge manufacturer and have no relations with them.
- Don't get ink on your hands or any part inside or outside of your body.
- There are only limited mounts in the github repo so you might have to model your own hotend mount
- PolyDye is for advanced users
- PolyDye Beta Kits require additional items that we don't supply to be purchased
1. Introduction
Welcome to this electronics how-to guide. In this document, we will cover how to assemble and calibrate your PolyDye unit for full color printing.
2. Calibrating PolyDye
Measuring Offsets
Using a ruler measure from the nozzle to the center of the cartidge nozzles on the Y axis and note it down
Next...
Using a ruler measure from the nozzle to the center of the cartidge nozzles on the X axis and note it down
Open the Printer Settings and enter the values taken down in the previous step. Note if the cartidge is in front of the nozzle the Y measurement is negative.
These measurements do not need to be super accurate but try to get them as close as possible, we will refine them in the next 2 steps
3. Y Y Alignment
We have found when using vanilla Marlin Version 2.1.2.5 on 3 different printers the YohYAlignment value is 56000. If you are running the same version this may be a good start.This alignment step is to ensure when the nozzle is moving front to back and back to front that the ink is deposited at the same position
Home the printer and move the nozzle as much down as it can by using your printers menu options, then move the nozzle up 3mm
Go to the web interface and print "YYCalibrate.gcode This must be done after homing and positioning the nozzle otherwise collisions may occur
Once the print has done remove and inspect the paper, the purpose is to have a straight line. If it looks like the above image adjustment is needed.
Using the YOhY alignment buttons, reprint the file to align the strips to form a straight line
Repeat these steps until a straight line is printed as shown above.
Slicer Settings
PolyDye is designed to work with OrcaSlicer version 2.2.1 and above. When using other slicers you do so at your own risk.
PolyDye requires some very specific slicer settings to operate correctly. Please take note of the layer height settings, the first layer height and layer height settings must match those of the PolySlice model. Avoid using anything that will change your layer count(ie adaptive layer height etc..)
Quality->First Layer Height: 0.2
Quality->Layer Height: 0.13
Others->Brim: 5mm Outer and Inner -- To prevent ink spill in case of misalignment
Support->Independent Support Layer Height: OFF
Quality->Precise Z Height: OFF
Dynamic Layer Height: OFF
Strength->Wall Loops: 3
Machine GCode
Please find the layer change and fade height scripts here Slicer GCode
Slicing Prints
In order to colour print a model it needs some specific meshes and color information, we will focus on the provided test prints
Open CalibrationTest.stl in OrcaSlicer and slice it using the above profile settings. Save it into the /Images/CalibrationTest folder with the presliced images
Next make sure your PolyDye is turned on and navigate to http://phantom.local
Click on the GREEN align button and select all the files in the /Images/CalibrationTest folder then click ok
Wait for a few minutes until a CalibrationTest.zip gets downloaded to you download folder. Extract the zip file and copy the contents to the root folder of your SD card.
3. Test print and calibration wizard
Insert the PolyDye SD card then turn on your printer and ensure the print bed is clear as well as the Polydye unit's cables.
Click the Resfresh button and wait for the sd contents to load. Select CalibrationTest.gcode and hit print
Once the print has completed take a photograph of the print as shown below
Next, navigate to the cartridge offsets menu option.
4. Offset Wizard
Click on the browse button and load in the image from the previous step
Using the calibration square move scale and rotate it to fit over the large printed filament block and click on the Store Filament Button
Next position the calibration square over the block printed in ink and click the store Ink Button
Finally click on the calculate button and add the values to the values taken down in the first step
Repeat the first step by navigating to Printer Settings menu option and entering the adjusted values for the offsets and clicking the save button
Power cycle the unit