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Edited: May 25

My K1 Max Setup and Guide (outdated)

I spent over 4 weeks chasing my tail and going down a dozen rabbit holes trying to figure out why I couldn't get the 3D Chameleon working with my K1 Max. I don't want everyone to have to go through that so I'm hoping this post can serve as a source of extra info, specific to the K1 Max (most is applicable to K1). I had the problem where the filament would get chewed up at the Chameleon drive gear and would not unload. I thought my tip shaping was bad so I went that route. I played with the code and tried different temperatures and distances. nothing worked. Then I used almost every tension slider variation and reprinted the A,B, and C parts a few times. Still no luck. So I reached out to Bill via email and we spent a couple days working through the possible issues. In the end it turned out that my cam on the selector motor of the Chameleon was damaged, likely while I was testing I think. Replacing this fixed all my problems and I now I am printing reliably! The notch on the top of it was not going to 0, 90, 180, and 270 degrees before, which was causing the issue. Be sure to rule out any hardware issues if you are having trouble. The drive gear also needs to be perfectly aligned with the filament paths. Ensure this is the case on yours! I heavily modified the tip shaping g-code to be a lot faster. It only cools down to 180 and uses the side aux fan for quicker cooling. Color changes take between 1:30 and 1:45, vs 2:40 with the original tip-shaping. This shaves hours off print times when you add up hundreds of color changes. I also noticed that with Prusa Slicer the pressure advance is turned down to 0 every time it purges at the tower. To get around this I set my pressure advance in the end of the Tool Change g-code. You will see it highlighted below so you can enter your PA value.

My Setup & Print Pics

My Setup Guide

Printed Part Files

Start G-Code

Tool Change G-Code

End G-Code

56 comments

56 Comments

faithcts

Jun 01

Please does anyone have the STL to install the switch sensor on the creality k1 Max?

Bill

Jun 01

Replying to

The K1 Max mounts and PrusaSlicer profiles are in the Printables page for the K1. Check the files section. There is also a PDF with step by step instructions guide to install it. https://www.printables.com/model/653583-3dchameleon-mk3-installation-for-the-creality-k1-a

Bill

Lewis SmithJeffrey

May 25

I don't have the cutting tool so struggling to use this code

Bill

May 25

Replying to

You don't need the 3DClippy for it to work. It's designed to work either way. Which part are you getting stuck on?

Bill

Lewis SmithJeffrey

May 25

I have the mark 4 and have installed on the k1 max. Can I just copy and paste these g codes into creality print 5.1 or prusa slicer. I have slight trimmer one pipe from 3dchamaleon to the splitter as was excessively long bit watched a video where the mark 4 measures the distance by slight resistance when passing through the splitter. Would this affect anything?

Alan

May 25

Replying to

This is old code and info, I have since completely changed it. I dont tip shap but rather push out the molten filament.

Lewis SmithJeffrey

May 25

Replying to

Sounds good any chance you can send me the g codes I can enter in to either creality print 5.1 or prusa and will happily buy a coffee or any offer method of payment can be arranged.

Thanks

Lewis

Bryan James

May 20

Are you running Mk4 yet? If so can I get your start, tool change, and end g-code for the timings of the g4?

Dan

Apr 28

Hi I’m trying to set up my new 3dchameleon using your code but having changed the required parts I’m getting “coordinate timeout” message when I’m part way through loading the filament. Did you experience this at all ? And if so how did you resolve this please? Cheers Dan

Alan

Apr 28

Replying to

Hmm can't say I've gotten that error. I have since overhauled my code I need to update this post.

Dan

Apr 28

Replying to

Oh ok no worries thanks for getting back so quickly. I’m wondering if my 18 seconds (P18000) is too far/ too long and the printer thinks there’s an issue or something. My K1 is on stock firmware and not rooted don’t know if that makes a difference.

Matthew Berggren

Mar 26

This is some good stuff here. I do have one question though. I've seen a lot of people of the k1 by pass the filament run out sensor. Personally, I like have the sensor. Did you keep yours in the system? If so, did you have to change any settings?

Alan

Mar 26

Replying to

I removed mine and disabled it in my printer.cfg

For me it was not reliable when loading the next filament

Matthew Berggren

Mar 26

Replying to

Ok thank you for the clarification.

Matthew Berggren

Mar 26

Replying to

That's what I figured. Thank you.

liguorien

Mar 24

Purchased the Chameleon last month with the idea to hook it to one of my V400. But got to intimitated from the virtual switch needed... So Just got a K1 Max instead :) Just hooked up to the Chameleon following your guide. Thanks :)

I Still haven't printed with it yet. But my switch coordonates are in the Gcodes in prusaslicer ( will move to Orca when all is good in Prusa) and my load time from the Y to the extruder is 25 sec. I'm confused with the P and E in your guide.

Since it takes 25 sec from Y to Extruder in my case, I guess my P would be 25000 ?

and what about the E ?

Thanks

liguorien

Mar 25

Replying to

Ok, I think I figured it out by looking at Alan's Tool Change profile.

I was entering my exact switch X & Y coordonates instead of sending the toolhead just in front of it during the tip shaping...

That's why it was pulsing for ever... :/ I stopped counting at 90 ;)

My bad :)

I guess that going though your gcode generator on the web site would have automagically done the trick.

But now I'm able to understand a bit better what all this gcode mombo jumbo means ;)

Thanks

Still haven't succeded yet, but i'll give it another go tomorrow :)

liguorien

Mar 25

Replying to

But now that I look at it, the gcode generator doesnt work for core XY printers yet ?

You can only put the switch on one axys.

right?

Wow look at me go !!

I understand stuff now ;)

LOL

Bill

Mar 25

Replying to

CoreXY is just a Cartesian printer... with fancy belts. You can put it on any axis. If you need to position it on one axis, you just need to add it to the holding location, which is by design. (We have one code base for all printers.)

Bill

Rusty King

Mar 22

Can I see a side picture of your rig Alan? I was making the spool mounts and trying to see what you did with the Sisyphus axels.

wjsteele

Mar 22

Replying to

But it is the fastest way!

Alan

Mar 25

Replying to

makes high temp materials not doable though :/

Alan

Mar 25

Replying to

SpoolHolder: https://www.printables.com/model/818897-stock-creality-k1-spool-holder Mount Bottom: https://www.printables.com/model/540699-creality-k1-max-side-load-spool-holder/comments Mount Top:https://www.printables.com/model/666725-k1-max-spool-side-mount-for-stock-spool be sure to mirror the mounts when printing for the left side

LetsPrint

Mar 03

Alan

Mar 03

Replying to

I agree but I think Bill might be a bit over-extended already supporting everyone's issues solo.

I'm going to look into making a wiki style page. Not an official guide, but at least one place for all info to go. A living document

LetsPrint

Mar 03

Replying to

I recommended a FB group

LetsPrint

Mar 04

Replying to

Do you have the macros setup to share by chance?

LetsPrint

Mar 03

Are you able to please upload your files to Printables? I can't download them from here.

Thank you!

LetsPrint

Mar 03

Replying to

I'd love to pick your brain a bit if you are on FB...

LetsPrint

Mar 03

Replying to

Thank you!

Alan

Mar 03

Replying to

I am, but only via my business page. You can message me there

https://www.facebook.com/FrogCaseUSA/

las_vegas

Mar 02

This is a great start at a comprehensive 3D Chameleon Guide! I would like it to be extended to cover details to encorporate onto many other printers as well as diagnosing proceedures. I really dislike trying to follow video tutorials. A printer guide with photos is so much easier to work with.

Alan

Mar 02

Replying to

I totally agree, we need documentation with pics and maybe even animated gifs.

Some of the wording in the instructions is kind of vague. Having images would be very helpful. For instance, it says to put the filament 1 inch before the y splitter. But it never says whether that is 1 inch from the entrance of the PTFE coupler or the part where the paths spilt....

A wiki style document would be best IMO. That way we could have sections for each popular printer and the caveats that go along with it.

Bill has expressed that he is kind of over extended on this whole project and can't do better documentation. I think a wiki could fix that because it would be information generated and edited by users and not just him

Edited

Matt Warren

Feb 28

I think I may be having the exact same issues also on a K1 Max. Maybe you can help me out. Chameleon seems to chew up filament but will still pull and unload mostly. I can NOT get the filament to feed through to the extruder though it goes all the way up to it but when it actually goes to print the chameleon doesn't pull anything.

Matt Warren

Feb 28

Replying to

As I'm looking at it again it doesn't seem like 0 is as close to the bearing as 3 (4 pulses)

Is this the problem that I'm looking for?

Bill

Feb 28

Replying to

Just to be clear, the test isn't valid without the screws in it. The unit will flex without them.

But, in both pictures, the bearing is pressing against the drive gear, so it looks fine to me. In his case, the cam broke, so if you look at the selector side, it wasn't aligning up with the cardinal positions correctly as it should... you'll need to include the cam in the picture to see for sure.

Bill

Alan

Feb 28

Replying to

From what I can tell that looks right.

Try this:

Manually use the switch to feed each filament but hold on to the filament with thumb and index to try to prevent it from feeding. If you feel the gear slipping that's bad. If it slips through your fingers that's good. This means it will feed into the extruder gears ok

Make sure all 4 are pulling hard. If not you might want to disassemble and ensure your drive gears are perfectly lined up with each filament path

Edited

Alan

Feb 28

I forgot to mention that you need to mirror the spool holders for the left side mounting. you will also need to drill holes in the left panel if you want the left side spool holders. I already had my secondary aux fan holes so it was no issue for me.