July 25, 2022

How To – Pausing a print at a specific layer. (Simplify3D)

This is a quick “How to” on pausing a print at a specific layer using Simplify3D.  This was taken from a post I wrote on the Makergear forum but that forum maybe be going away so I am duplicating it here for my use (as well as yours). This method is helpful if say you are running a print and would like to change filament color mid print. (Such as on the a part shown above) or if you wanted to say embed a nut into your print as seen below. (That’s what I will be showing how to do in this tutorial.)

Tip – when designing your part leave adequate clearance so your nut will drop right into the print and also have room above it to clear the hot end once inserted.

After importing the piece into your slicer (Simplify3D in this case) click Prepare to Print!
1. Make sure Preview By “Layer” in selected.
2. Click through the layers to find the layer you would like to stop the print at. (this is either where you want to insert the nut or change the filament color.)
3. The layer number is listed here. (if you are doing a color change make sure the layer number is the one for the new color.)

1. For this tutorial I will be stopping before the layer that just starts to cover the nut.
2. Which is Layer 50 in this case. (Again- if you are doing a color change make sure the layer number is the one for the new color and not the one before it.)
3. After you have all your processes set and you know what layer you’re stopping at save your G-code to disk.

Next you will need to edit your G-code in a text editor. I just used Notepad. (Windows)
Click File Open. (Top Left corner)
1. Change this box to “All Files (*.*)”.
2. Find your File, then click “Open”

1. Hit Control (Ctrl) F on your keyboard and then type in “layer (your number)” in the box that comes up (layer 50 in my case.)
2. It will highlight the right layer line for you in all that code. (you can hit “Cancel” now to close that box.)

1. Copy and paste the following code were it is shown above. (the G92 E0 in the code below was added since the screen shot above was taken.)

G91 ; set relative positioning
G0 Z100 ; raise Z (drop bed)
G90 ; set absolute positioning
M84 S0 ; disable idle timeout
M25 ; Pause SD Print
G92 E0 ; zero extruder

(If you need the bed to drop farther change the Z100 to a larger number.)
Tip – Use M0 command below instead of M25 if running on Octoprint.

Octoprint Code:

G91 ; set relative positioning
G0 Z100 ; raise Z (drop bed)
G90 ; set absolute positioning
M84 S0 ; disable idle timeout
M0 ; Pause Octoprint
G92 E0 ; zero extruder

Now just click “File” and “Save” to save the changes you just made. Upload the g-code to your SD card and start the print via Simplify3D from the “Print from SD Card” button. (or upload directly to Octoprint)

As the part was printing I taped the nut to the Heated Bed to heat it up in the hopes the filament would stick to it better. If printing with ABS you could (in theory) coat the top of the nut with abs slurry or glue stick to help with adhesion.

When the printer gets to the start of Layer 50 it should pause and drop the bed, at this point you can drop in the nut (making sure its low enough to clear the hot end when it resumes) or you can use the jog controls to retract/purge and change your filament if you are just changing colors.

To restart the print you need to first click the “Pause SD Print” button (even thought its already stopped), the button will now say “Resume SD print” just click it again and the print should resume where it left off. (you may need to clip any ooze that happened during the pause from your hot end with tweezers while it’s restarting)    If running through Octoprint just hit the “resume” button once to resume after the pause. Do not hit restart

The filament didn’t really stick to the nut to well so I did get some stringing over the hole and a blob on the hot end.

Here is the finished piece with the nut full embedded into the print. It looks like there’s a layer adhesion problem where I stopped the print to insert the nut but I think that the filament that should have been the outer perimeter just got stuck to the nozzle for a bit after jumping over the nut.

NOTE – This tutorial was originally written in 2017 and may or may not work while printing from an SD card anymore if trying to do a color change. I originally noted “I just tried a pause/color change tonight and they must have changed something in S3D in the last revision or so because I am now getting a retract upon unpausing the print. Maybe they changed something with how the G92 command is handled or something but my pause code is no longer working with starting/running the print in S3D.”  It does still work when using the M0 command with Octoprint though.

All Information, Pictures, and Material is copyright © 2022 by Stephen Thone and may not be used for any personal or commercial purposes without the consent of the author. All rights reserved. The Author makes no guarantees or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of, or results to be obtained from accessing and using the Information herein.