SV04 - Mirror Mode PrusaSlicer

Found some gcode for the Startup and End sections of the Printer tab in Prusaslicer to switch between, Normal, Duplicate, Mirror mode. Created 2 new printers, one for Duplicate mode where I set the build plate size to 150x300x400. Created another called Mirror and set the build plate to 115x300x400. Put the appropriate Start gcode in each printer. Used the same End gcode for both. I had to adjust the Start gcode to fit the bed size of my printer. Also if a leveling probe is involved the G29 needs to go before the printer is set to the mirror/duplicate mode. Did a test print of a Calcat and it came out great.

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Wish I could take credit for the gcode, but I can’t. I found it on the PrusaPrinter site

Prusaslicer IDEX printer setup.zip (3.89 KB)

I’m a little puzzled by the different bed sizes for duplicate and mirror modes. As I understand it, both modes use half the X width of the bed, so why different?

I was just going by what the manual for the SV04 said. I too thought the 115 was a little excessive.

Since I have used mirror mode on my Artist-D, I think I can answer that by the fact that the heads are not equal distance during the print. They move closer together and then further apart. I have done big vase prints where the two heads will bump against each other. Then you have scares where the two heads bump against. You have to have smaller print areas for buffers.

Ah, got it guys. In dupe mode the heads are always moving in the same direction: i.e. never moving toward each other. In mirror mode the heads are always moving toward or away from each other on the X axis, so there has to be extra clearance to prevent the heads from bashing into each other.

Thanks guys.

The Artist D Pro has the same size bed as my.SV04 so I would think that the bed size setting for the SV04 would work on the Artist D Pro too.

On the Artist-D the instructions from Cura says to place the model at -70. There is room to set it to say -60 and give yourself more room in mirror mode, but then the closer to the edges can have problems if you have not done a great job of leveling the bed. A problem I have discovered. It will do fine in middle of bed but does not like the edges.

My bed height is different from side to side too. What I did was put the left extruder in the center of the left half of the bed with a post-it note under it and put the right extruder with a post-it note under it. I then set the Z offset of the right to the same feel as the one on the left. This seems to work pretty well. I can adjust the Z-offset on the fly with the SV04 as it has an adjustment knob on top of the extruder assembly. I’ve been thinking that doing a mesh or reading a mesh when doing a mirror or duplicate is a bad idea as the mesh will adjust for the left nozzle and it will effect the right. Haven’t tried my theory yet but it’s on the list of things to try.

I have a ender 3 that has a build volume of 400x400x500 that I have a IDEX conversion on. using Cura 11 mirror and duplicate mode works great. I have tried to get it working in prusaslicer but the heads collide a little before the print but then it prints. I aslso have this issue with the newest Cura so not sure what has changed. Any help or ideas would be great.

@qkpony As I understand it, the difference should be a matter of how the printer is defined in the slicer. I say that, but I have not actually used an IDEX converted printer.

When printing in the Duplicate & Mirror mode the width of the printer bed had to be less than half of full width on Mirror it is even less than half. You should be able to look at the bed sizes in Cura 11 for those modes and copy them over to either a current version of Cura or Prusaslicer

@Gramps I’m wondering if an IDEX conversion of a non-IDEX printer would even have mirror or dupe modes. IdeaMaker might be an option, since it seems to know more about IDEX than most slicers. Other than that, without some special firmware, I can only think that Duplication would have to be simulated by putting 2 copies of a model on the print bed, spaced apart of course, then assign different extruders to each model. Maybe there’s some special firmware available to add mirror and dupe?

Out of curiousity, what extruders and hotends did you use to convert to IDEX. I ask because I have a JG Maker Artist D Pro. The extruders suck, so I’m looking to replace them, I think preferrably with mirrored extruders.

This is what I used to convert my Ender 3 v2 to a direct drive Amazon.com

I would setup an other printer in Prusaslicer and set the bed width to 190mm the start gcode for the different modes is in the zip file attached to the 1st post. My bed is 300x300 so you can use those as. a guide line for setting your bed width.

So actually using your gcode in the zip I got both modes to work. I just had to tweak a little. Also so you know, you don’t need to change the bed size in the slicer. I kept mine at 400x400 and works perfectly. I did have to change what you had 72.5 and l55.5 I changed it to like 92 and 180 something. I’m still working on the numbers to get it closer. It’s working.

Glad you are getting it all figured out