Awesome! I’m excited to get it going this weekend. Great work!
Such a cool project! Thank you for your hard work. No need to wear a cape for you to be a hero! It feels like it has reached a dev stage with just barely enough documentation across snapace, multiace, post-apocalyptic, and blackfrogkok GitHub threads to guide my smooth brain through python scripts, serial com11, SSH, SCP, micro-molex-to-usb wiring and firmware+multiace mod combinations to occasionally succeed.
So Far I have One Ace 2 pro able to act as dryer plus feeder for U1 tools 1-4, with successful implementation of max V 1.3 pax firmware version. I don’t know why but I get “klipper failed to start” issues 8 times out of 10 after multiace firmware combo flash or pax+ SCP bash multiace. I can restore stock behavior 10/10 by just reflashing pax, so failure is always an option. 1.3FW is sufficient until I understand more of tech subtitles.
I want to learn at this level to get a semi-user-friendly experience where I can have 4 permanent ready spools in ACE, but then have quick ability to retract/disable one to be fed by stock feeder on stock spool spot, yet have easy reload of “core four” at end of print. I would call that Single MultiAce + manual stock combo to get easier 8 spool options for 4 color prints. If I am successful, then I will try to add a refurbished Ace 1 (running $150 on ebay) to the mix to use multi capacity to provide (slow and high waste) 8 color ability, and 12 possible options (8 ACE + 4 manual stock).
Is my description accurate of possible implementation combinations or am I extrapolating past achievable capability?
Adding install advice in case others are idiots like me and going round in circles: Install multiace under lava ssh login and not root login so printer (which uses lava) has permissions to access the needed files.
Hi, thank you!
ok, i think the readme uses root already.. It will check that and warn if not …
About your Stock, ACE Setup: It’s possible already, just switch bewteen normal and multi mode.
Unload and Restart is needed, thats it.
Hello,
I hope you can help me. I’ve tried to execute the DnG Ace Pro installation and have managed to really lock up my U1. I can see the U1 from its URL locally, but I can’t make any changes, It refuses to calibrate and is stuck at that point in the cycle. I have a 0003-0522-0000-0003 erro message showing a configuration load anomaly. I have tried to restore factory settings as the screen recommends, without success. Please help a NewB who should have left well enough alone. I’m using the latest Paxx firmwear.
Hi, sorry, but i have no knowledge regarding DNG Crafts Firmware, maybe make it an issue there or ask Snapmaker support.. I think there is an emgency flash prodcedure, but never did that. Look up the snapmaker wiki https://wiki.snapmaker.com/
I have been trying, for some time, to get this to work, but am unable to get the install to persist through a reboot. I have enabled advanced mode and root access, but every time the printer boots, it wipes the install and I have to start over. Is there a step I am missing?
You have to do a shh connection to the printer and send touch /oem/.debug then restart, enter wifi again, install. Or just download a firmware bin and flash it, no ssh needed…
I’ll give that a go. Thank you!
Since the very first version I have been asked about this “occasionally”, so I finally sat down and built it: ACE per head mode, which gives you 7 colors from a single ACE.
For now it works with one ACE only (either V1 or V2). It ships as a prerelease and comes without support. I am setting up a sticky feedback thread in the Issues, and I would love to hear how it works out for you.
Just select head mode in config (tested with head 4 only, but selectable) and connect complete ACE with a 4in1 combiner to that head. Remaining Feeders work like Stock-Mode.
I’m following your dev work closely but trying to not bug you like a annoying entitled customer: tinkering is the tinkerers responsibility, and I am enjoying the learning from failures along the way for education. I’m traveling so can’t test out lastest rev yet; but ironically I have my 2nd ACE delivered waiting for me at home now with the intention of trying the prior version auto swap capability using each ACE going to tools 1-4 so Filament swaps = active ACE swap.
What are the options under 0.99b for those who have multiple ACE units? using new “per head mode”, When testing it, all other tools must be manual/stock feeding mode?
I’ve been brainstorming for how to make U1 ACE swaps more reliable, and I believe it all comes down to filament cutting vs optimizing tip shape, correct? Does filament cutting need to be between extruder and hot end, or could a cutting lever on top of U1 head that is pushed when macro move to extreme right (and mount some Lever Pushing surface) work in theory? At first I was assuming it needed a servo and extra wiring and weight, but if could do it by a side lever push it sounds so much more doable.
Thanks, and I am glad you are enjoying the learning side of it, thats what i do too.
On the modes: per-head mode is a test release for now. Full support for all four ACEs is coming in a not-too-distant version. With 2 ACEs today, multi mode is the way to go, and it does swaps just the same. Honestly the color difference between one and two units is small now (7 vs 8), but multi mode also auto-loads and dries filament, which for me is a real convenience.
I mainly built head mode for the people who kept asking but did not want to spend on a second ACE. That said, it also opens up future possibilities on the ACE side. Background swaps, for example, would not be technically possible in multi mode, so head mode is the foundation for that kind of thing.
On the cutter: it can sit above the toolhead, that part is fine. The catch is that every offer to actually build one has stalled so far, and it would also push purge waste (poop) up significantly. The alternative is tip forming, but I do not have a good approach for it at the moment. And keep in mind the ACE feed/transport itself contributes to the failures now and then, so it is not only about the tip shape. I do not see AMS-level reliability in this combination, but I would be very happy to be proven wrong.
Are you aware of this?: U1 filament cutter or tip shaping for MultiAce swaps
I am now 
I’d like to leave a suggestion here: if possible, someone — or Decay71 himself — could make a video showing what the installation is like, from the cable that was purchased, how to assemble it, how to connect it, and how to install it. I think that would be something that would get a lot of new people to start using and testing it.
Hi, i tried to cover that part here, hope it helps
I will try to do more manuals but lots of things to do..
Wow, master, congratulations! This site with these guidelines turned out excellent. It became very easy.
One question I have: how is it for configuring, at print time, where the colors go? Can Snapmaker Orc handle that mapping?
Another question regarding usability: since you’ve been using it for a long time, how is the system’s reliability? Do you have a lot of problems with jams, clogs, or anything like that? Tell me a little about your day-to-day experience with it—how is it going?
Thanks!
Yes, color mapping is one of the manuals I still want to write. The short version: instead of printing directly, you export your multicolor gcode from the slicer and upload it in the multiACE web UI. The preflight then shows you all the colors found in the gcode next to the filaments currently loaded in your ACE slots, and you can assign them just like in the print dialog of Snapmaker Orca. Then you just hit print.
As for reliability: unfortunately my day to day experience has mostly consisted of testing for a while now. Let me put it this way: multiACE uses the stock load and unload routines (including their retries), so if you run the ACE units with compatible spools (for example, cardboard spools sometimes snag in the ACE Pro, and the ACE 2 has pull-in problems with a few filaments) it comes down to U1 loading and unloading. The errors you see in normal operation also show up here, just more often if you try to do 500 changes. In my normal printing routine, mostly single color up to 4 filaments, and if more, mostly per-layer changes with 30 to 50 swaps per print, it works well. I also have the feeling that so many tool changes in a row are not quite what the toolhead was originally built for, because errors seem to occur more often the longer a print runs.
But that may not apply to your printing routine. And even though I have received quite a bit of positive feedback, the GitHub issues are mainly error reports, so I have not heard much about long-term experience from other users yet.
Clogs: none that i remember in the last three months. Jams on loading do happen from time to time when a filament tip does not form cleanly on unload, but in that case the printer just pauses and you can resume the print after a manual reload (unload).
The By-Head mode really lowers barrier to tinker, so thanks for adding it at any level: I can keep a working 3 tool printer (for my kid to stay cool with friends) and use 4th head as learning base for Klipper/AMS optimizations and expansions. Once I get the process and workflow down, the OG Multi Mode may be more efficient to move to.
One comment on the initial configuration testing issue of clogs and jams vs someone who has it working nicely: Once you have any error, you are way more likely to keep having more issues until you ditch or print through the 2m of filament inside ACE tubing.
One Web Preflight feature request is ability to save the post-processed file to printer or disk so can re-print easily from Printer UI (or mobile web UI that I have next to printer but don’t have my gcode saved on). Alternatively is there an updated version of Post-Processing Script that can run from Orca? I try to pre-slice and load on printer a batch of files that my young son can initiate and monitor himself.
**EDIT: Oops, Ignore that. I looked at the gcode version saved to printer and it has the ACE macro add-ins. Can just reprint the file from GUI: EDIT **