Print two colors on one nozzle with a single pause
Printing your first two-color name, with no filament changer? You're in good shape. Tell the slicer to stop at one layer, trade spools when the printer waits, and it finishes in the new color. Any printer with a single nozzle can do this.
Updated . Every menu name below matches the latest version of its slicer.
The short version
- Slice, then switch to the preview.
- Drag the layer slider up to where the second color begins.
- Add a pause there (or a filament change), and slice again if asked.
- Load color one and start printing.
- At the stop, pull color one out, load color two, and purge until it looks clean.
- Pick the leftover purge off the nozzle and resume.
Pick your slicer
- Bambu StudioBambu Lab X1C, P1S, P1P, P2S, A1, A1 mini, H2S, or H2D with no AMS attached
- OrcaSlicerPrusa, Bambu Lab, Creality, Anycubic, Elegoo, Qidi, Voron, and plenty of other Klipper or Marlin machines
- PrusaSlicerPrusa CORE One, MK4S, MINI, the single-tool XL, and any other printer with a PrusaSlicer profile
- Creality PrintCreality Ender-3 V3 models, Hi, K1C, K1 Max, and K2 Plus, with no CFS
- Anycubic Slicer NextKobra S1 and Kobra 3 from Anycubic, without an ACE Pro
- Elegoo SlicerElegoo Centauri Carbon and Neptune 4 Max, 4 Plus, 4 Pro, and 4
- Qidi StudioQidi Q1 Pro, Q2, X-Max 3, and Plus4
- CuraEnder-3, Ender-5, Artillery Sidewinder, and other Marlin printers, or anything else you slice in Cura
Finding the right layer
Choose the first layer with nothing but the second color in it. The slicer slips the stop in just before it, so the layers underneath come out in color one, and that layer and everything above come out in color two.
The number next to each layer on the slider is the height of that layer's top surface. Say a base is 2.4 mm thick and you print at 0.2 mm: the base wraps up on layer 12 at 2.40 mm, so the pause belongs on layer 13 at 2.60 mm. Is your first layer thicker than the rest? Then go by height instead of counting: the pause belongs on whichever layer sits just above the color-change height.
Using Cura? Its Pause at height script is the exception and asks for the last layer of color one instead. The Cura walkthrough shows where to type it.
At the printer: a tidy swap
- Be nearby when the pause is due. The longer a print sits, the cooler it gets, and that can show up as a faint line or corners curling up.
- Make sure the nozzle is hot before you pull. Some printers, like the Qidi Q1 Pro and Creality K1C, drop the temperature or turn the hotend off while paused.
- Keep purging until no streak of the old color is left. Going from dark to light takes longer.
- Grab the purge string with tweezers before resuming, keeping away from the print.
- Stick to one material for both colors, PLA and PLA for example. The temperature was set for spool one.
- Keep the pause higher than layer three or so. Down low, a waiting print is most likely to peel up.
Which stop command does my printer use?
There are two flavors of stop, and the one you get depends on what your printer's firmware knows:
| Command | What happens | Who uses it |
|---|---|---|
| M600 | Parks, pulls the old filament out, asks for the next one, then loads and purges | Marlin printers with filament change turned on, plus Prusa, Anycubic Kobra 3, and Elegoo Neptune 4 |
| PAUSE | Parks and waits while you swap from the screen | Klipper machines like Voron, Qidi, and Creality's K1 and K2 |
| M400 U1 | Halts; swap with the screen's Unload and Load buttons | Bambu Lab |
| M601, M0, M25 | Stops and stays put until you press resume | Marlin (M0, M25), Anycubic (M601), Prusa (M601) |
If you slice in OrcaSlicer or one of its relatives, Add Pause just drops in whatever your printer profile has under Pause G-code. A blank box there means the printer prints right past it.
Questions people ask
- Is a multi-material unit required for a two-color name?
- No. A changer makes the swap automatic, but one pause does the same job by hand. Add it in the slicer, swap spools when it halts, then hit resume.
- Where exactly does the pause go?
- On the lowest layer that's entirely the second color. PrusaSlicer, Bambu Studio, OrcaSlicer, and their offshoots all stop just before the layer you pick. The odd one out is Pause at height in Cura: there you enter the final layer that's still in color one.
- The printer went right past my pause. What went wrong?
- Three usual suspects: a blank Pause G-code in the printer profile (OrcaSlicer especially), a command the firmware doesn't know (plenty of Klipper printers have no M600), or a plate that wasn't sliced again after the pause went in.
- What does M600 do that a plain pause does not?
- M600 parks the head, unloads, and talks you through loading the next color. Plain stop commands like PAUSE, M601, M0, and M25 just halt, so the unload and load happen through the printer menus. M600 is friendlier when your printer has it; a plain pause works on more printers.
- Can I print three colors this way?
- Yes. Put a pause at every layer where the color switches. The printer stops at each one and waits for you.
- Will anyone be able to see where I swapped colors?
- Rarely, as long as the purge string is gone before you resume and you get back to the printer promptly. Leave it paused for ages and the print cools, and you might see a faint seam or a lifted corner.