Add a pause or filament change to G-code

1. Drop the sliced file: plain .gcode, Prusa .bgcode or a Bambu Studio or OrcaSlicer .gcode.3mf.
2. Move the layer slider to the last layer to print before the stop. For magnets, that is the last layer before the one that closes the hole over them: you should still see the hole open.
3. Choose a pause or a filament change and add it. Add as many stops as you need.
4. Check the printer, download the new file and print it as usual.

• A second colour without an AMS or MMU: raised letters on a sign, a two-colour keychain or name tag, stripes on a vase. Change the filament once at the height where the colour should change.
• Magnets, nuts and weights inside a print: design a hole a little bigger than the part (about 0.2 mm), pause after its last open layer, drop the part in, and the printer closes the roof over it.
• Coins, RFID tags, notes or anything hidden inside a model, the same way.

• Prusa (MK3, MK4, Mini, XL, Core One): pause is M601 and filament change is M600. The printer parks the head and tells you on its screen what to do next.
• Bambu Lab (A1, P1, X1, H2): M400 U1, the same pause Bambu Studio adds. To change filament without an AMS, unload and load it from the printer's screen while it waits.
• Marlin printers (most Creality, Anycubic, Elegoo and Sovol bed-slingers): M600 for a filament change, if the firmware has it turned on. The pause lifts the head 10 mm, moves it beside the print, waits for a click on the printer's knob or screen, then goes back exactly where it was.
• Klipper (Creality K1, Sovol SV08, Voron, Elegoo Neptune 4 and others): PAUSE. With the standard Mainsail or Fluidd setup, it parks the head; press Resume when you are done.
• Anything else: choose “Other” and type your own command, such as a macro name.

The stop goes in where the slicers put their own: after the nozzle has moved up to the next layer, so the layer below is finished. In the file it is marked with a comment, “Pause before layer 12, added by Nozzlefox”, which the G-code viewer shows when you check the result.

• Come back soon. A long wait lets the print cool and shrink, which can show as a line, and a cold bed can let it come loose.
• Keep anything you drop in below the top of the last layer, or the nozzle will hit it. A drop of glue holds magnets in place, and minds their direction.
• After a filament change, wipe the nozzle before resuming, so the old colour doesn't leave a blob on the new one.
• Bambu .gcode.3mf files come back as .gcode.3mf with their checksum updated, so the printer accepts them. Copy the file to the printer's microSD card, or open it in Bambu Studio and print from there.

Slicers can add pauses themselves before slicing. In PrusaSlicer, OrcaSlicer and Bambu Studio, open the preview and right-click the plus sign on the layer slider to add a pause or a colour change. In Cura, use Extensions, Post Processing, Modify G-Code, then the “Pause at height” script. This page is for files that are already sliced: a download, a file someone sent you, or one you don't want to slice again.