Head Cleaner

[spezzer]

Hi, I'm an avid 3D printer and on my 2nd machine (Finder) to date which has been so reliable compared to my first Reprap kit. There is one thing that would improve it and that would be a way of cleaning the dribble from the nozzle before printing. I had the idea it could just go to x=0,y=0 before each print and use a little printed bristle brush to take away the dribble (sorry theres probably a better description!). Ideally it would go to these coordinates, do a little circuit, and then commence with the print routine.Is there a way to inject something like this into the instructions? Cheers Spezzer Edit : I'm using Flashprint for slicing

[airscapes]

Get a brass wire brush like this https://www.ebay.com/itm/Steelman-3-...ss!19082!US!-1

When my printer homes before the print starts I scrub the nozzle with the brush which keeps it nice and clean. Or you can do it as a separate process if you need to.

[spezzer]

Hi - agreed the brass brush works quite well, but occasionally I forget then look at the print bed and have to decide if the muck is going to be a problem. Figured it would be good to automate.

[curious aardvark]

Well the short answer is: yes it's fairly easy to do with gcode.
The bad news is that I can't see any way of adding starting gcode to flashprint :-(

You'll need to use simplify3d, repetier or - god forbid - cura :-)

Or just do what i do and use your fingers to remove any gunk while the nozzle and bed come together :-)
Apparently though, hot nozzles can burn your fingers - not mine, not even close - but maybe yours. So it ain't my fault if you get burnt.
Don't you just hate living in a non-commonsense-litigious-soceity.

[spezzer]

haha thanks for that - and yes if I am quick (but wait for the sound of the x,y heading for the start point) I can pinch the excess of the nozzle! The problem is when it curls up onto the nozzle - then it get a bit scorchy on the fingers, thats when the brass wire brush comes out. So, I have found Flashprint pretty easy and faultless, would there any other advantages using another slicer - apart from being able to add the gcode. Now you mention it I used a slicer with the reprap that allowed me to add g-code - so might be worth a look. that kinda begs another question - how will the Flashprint .gx compare to g-code files? Too many questions now!!

[airscapes]

My printer came with tweezers for that..

[curious aardvark]

like I said the hot nozzles have no effect on my fingers.

Flashprint is an excellent slicer - I use it for my replicator clone as it gives much better results than s3d.
And they are the only 2 that generate x3g files without hassle.

But I don't think any other slicer will output whatever a .gx file is.
So you are probably tied into flashprint.

The only other way I can think of would be to change how it lays down the strip that's supposed to get rid of gunk before you start printing - there are definitely options on that.
If you could have it right at the front of the bed and affix a brush there somehow, that could work.
Also it might be possible to change the actual profiles for the printers - if they are stored as seperate files - they might be built into the code of the program, in which case it's the wipe option or asbestos fingers :-)