Here's my setup: New pre-assembled Chameleon Mk2, on an Ender 3 Pro, with Prusa Slicer. Trying to do a test print with just 2 colours.
If I hold the switch for a second to home it, then 5 seconds to feed the filament I can pre-load the filament into one tube, which I'm assuming is Tool 0. Then hold for a quarter second to move to the next position and preload another tube which I'm assuming is Tool 1. I did see the trick in the video about easier loading, but I did it with the stepper to make sure it was in the correct tube and that it was indeed capable of pushing/pulling the filament.
I stopped both filaments about an inch before the Y adapter. There's nothing going through the Y adapter to the printer's extruder.
I used the gCode generator and put the output into Prusa Slicer's Tool Change gCode.
When I go to print, lots of stuff starts moving, but nothing actually happens. The printer homes and gets ready, the bed hits the button a couple times, the display says it's doing Chameleon tool changes and the Chameleon stepper start going, but neither filament moves at all. While the stepper is going I can easily pull the filament in & out, it does not feel like the Chameleon is gripping it at all.
So here's a bunch of questions:
1) Is there a picture somewhere showing which hole belongs to which tool?
2) Is the filament in the correct starting position?
3) I've never used Prusa before, I usually use Cura but I don't believe it can support 4 extruders (happy to be corrected on that though?). When I set it up I picked my printer and left everything at default. Then I went to Printer Settings and changed the number of extruders to 4. Although I just now saw the "Single Extruder MM" check box. It is currently unchecked. I'm pretty sure I've loaded the models correctly and assigned them to extruders.
3a) Should I have Single Extruder MM box checked?
3b) Is there anything else I need to do to prepare Prusa? 4) Probably getting ahead of myself, but I left it moving while doing nothing for a few minutes and noticed it paused the printer at one point. Is that always going to happen? I was under the impression that it was an automatic process...
Oh, the BMG clones are wonderful! Watch my videos on the cheaper versions, as there is some minor mods you might (or might not) have to do for some of them, but once you do, they're ultra reliable. (The two mods are using a 2mm drill bit to open up the filament path and using a washer/PTFE/Printed spacer to prevent the gears from getting out of alignment.)
Check out the videos of the Sunlu and the Ender 5... they're both upgraded to the BMG... and in all honesty, the only better extruder I've seen is the E3D Hemera, which is 10x the price.
Bill
@Bill How confident are you that it will print with a BMG clone? I was looking at this one: https://www.amazon.ca/iMetrx-Extruder-Upgraded-Creality-Anycubic/dp/B09LXJT6D1/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2W5AINPL8DDNQ&keywords=bmg%2Bextruder&qid=1652833998&sprefix=%2Caps%2C56&sr=8-5&th=1 Because I have to be honest, I don't like the idea of throwing more money at it, especially when there's a restocking fee if it ends up not working.
Hmmm... you can always use my direct as well... wjsteele @ hotmail . com (no spaces.) Not sure why you'd get an error like that on the first one... just to make sure, it's bill @ 3dchameleon.com with no spaces... you can also use info @ 3Dchameleon.com and it'll also come to me.
@Bill I tried to e-mail you at the above address but got the weirdest message. It was returned undelivered to what looks like your hotmail address. It's not clear if it went through to the 3dchameleon address. Did you get it?
There is a screw missing, I dropped it during one of the several times I changed that part around and it magically vanished. I don't have an extra one on hand and haven't had a chance to track down a replacement yet. 3 of the 4 are in and there's no wiggle on the stepper.
Underneath the red part is a metal bracket with screw holes. The stepper and red piece are aligned, the gap is all perspective and camera flash. The motor is centered in the opening.
That being said, the red piece itself is community made so maybe something is off with it. But it's also the only thing solving this problem: https://www.3dchameleon.com/forum/support/ender-3-pro-extruder-jam
You were correct, it wasn't quite activating the switch. I've adjusted that and have a new problem. The Chameleon doesn't push the filament hard enough to overcome the tension in the extruder. There's no way to adjust the spring tension, which on one hand seems like a poor design decision from Creality, but on the other hand in the 3 years I've had the printer I've never had a tension problem when it's being used as designed. In any event, it's what I have so it's what we need to get working. I tried using some super thin support scraps at the X to shim it and push the spring lever in to ease the tension, but couldn't get it in the goldilocks zone. It either pushed the filament in but then the extruder didn't grip it tight enough, or didn't go in at all. If you have any suggestions I'm all ears, otherwise I guess I'll try to modify that part to give less tension when I have some time on the weekend.
Still don't know why it wants to pause but I'm not ready to cross that bridge yet. We'll figure that out once the mechanical operation is working.
1) Yes... attached is a simple graphic. Basically, the top outside is #1, the one just under it is #2... inside top is #3 and inside bottom is #4. 2) 1" is fine... it will load and then unload after the first use... note the position it is placing the filament for future loads. 3) You're good... you don't need to set anything other than the 4 extruders (and copy the settings from the first one to the other three, then past in the gcode. Optionally, you can turn on the purge block in the Print Settings tab. 4) Not sure what the pause was... we don't ever pause the print in our code. Now, to get to the root of your problem... I'm guessing that you don't actually have the button at the proper location indicated by the gcode generator. If it's not turning on the red light on the switch, then it's not hitting it... secondly, if it's not hitting it for the proper time, then it will also not function correctly. Since there is no connection between the electronics of the printer and the electronics of the 3D Chameleon, the button is the only interface... and having the timing correct is critical for sending the proper commands. Timing isn't just about how long the button is pressed for, but also the distance and speed the printer is moving when it tries to engage the button. If they're too fast, then the button press will be shorter than needed... likewise, if they're too slow, it'll be longer. Make sure you can press the button and advance the colors manually before each print... if not, simply power cycle the unit to reset it. Any videos you can send me will also help me diagnose it for you... just send them to my email... bill @ 3dChameleon.com.