To see this working, head to your live site.

I have some thoughts and some issues

I do not know G-code well but I do know how to leverage the internet to fill gaps but I am still having issues/ complaints

Tip shaping- I get that this is hard to have a one size fits all since the large amounts of printers and setups but this site needs to have more comprehensive page devoted to it since it can cause failure to load and clogs and jams. The time it takes to try a new setting, then on a fail having to reset the printer clean the build plate and reposition the filament is exceedingly time consuming.

PTFE tube- Since I have done a lot of resetting the machine and 3d chameleon a Major annoyance is the NON-clear PTFE tube. From a trouble shooting standpoint that foggy stuff is annoying.

General lack of details- This site is generally lacking in any form of actual help. We get basic theory on operation and a few videos from Bill that show decent operation of things but no details. Chris's Basement video series is THE starting point with this setup and really not much else.

All in all it is an amazing solution to a problem and I don't want my complaining to downplay the innovation that is the 3D Chameleon but the site needs to do a bit better and smoothing out the bumps.

My setup: Ender 3 MB: BTT E3 SKR MINI V3

Extruder: Sprite Extruder

5 comments

5 Comments

Alan

Apr 11

I ended up with tip shaping that is completely different and it finally got mine working. Ended up with 20 second color changes and no clogging jams or chewed up filament

Instead of cooling and shaping the filament tip I just extrude the molten filament and pull it back. Only the very tip (~1mm) will be molten and it makes a perfect sharp tip as it's pulled back and cools in the time it takes to come out.

I found this more quickly by just running the tip shaping code from a console, by itself.

Mine ended up like this. Give it a shot, it should be near universal

G0 E10 F500; push out the molten filament
G0 E-15 F4000; quickly retract
G0 E-10 F150; slowly retract
G0 E-60 F4000; quickly retract

Edited

Matthew Tratz

Apr 12

Replying to

Thanks for the heads up. I will give this a go this weekend. I had thought of just running an M702 command in place of tip shaping. Digging in my firmware M702 is what triggers unload filament on my LCD menu which does a quick version of tip shaping.

Alan

Apr 12

Replying to

I actually took inspiration from the built-in unload feature on my K1 Max. Mine seems to be way less stringy than that one though. Both could work, but just make you you move the tool head to a good place to extrude that little bit so it doesn't end up in your model. I just use the initial position for the switch press so it's in the corner

Matthew Tratz

Apr 10

Thanks for info.

las_vegas

Apr 10

The tip shaping process is entirely dependant on the type and brand of hotend your printer is using. Some have a very short heat exchange or larger diameter pass through in the heat-sync. Some, for instance the original Creality hotend in Ender 3s, use a PTFE tube as it's passthrough. IMO, the only effective way of finding the best shaping script for your specific printer would be through trial and error with a test script such as this:

;****** TEST SHAPING CODE *******
M83 ; extruder relative mode
M109 S200 ; Set extruder temp for PLA and wait for it to come to temperature

;<<< Start Of Tip Shaping >>>
G0 E20 F1500 ;
G0 E-5 F500 ;
G0 E5 F1500 ;
G0 E-1 F500 ;
G0 E1 F1500 ;
G0 E-25 F500 ;
M106 S255
M109 S180; cool down to prevent swelling
G0 E24 F1500 ; last tip dip with cold tip
G0 E-24 F500 ; last tip dip with cold tip
;M104 S150; cool down to prevent swelling
;G4 P15000 ;
M109 S150; cool down to prevent swelling
M109 S180; ok... go back up in temp so we can move the extruder
G0 E-50 F500 ; back out of the extruder
G92 E0
G0 E-50 F500 ; back out of the extruder
G92 E0
M104 S200;
;<<< End Of Tip Shaping >>>

M104 S0 ; turn off temperature

Run the test after loading the filament to see the results, then tweek the code to get the best results. Once complete, transfer to Tip Shaping code into your Tool Change script.

I know it's a PTA, but it's a necessary process.

BTW: In the case of the original Creality hotend, i highly recommend using the 1.8mm ID PTFE tube included with the 3D Chameleon directly into the hotend.

Edited