User's Manual Part 1

ManualsBrandsZhejiang Flashforge 3D Technology ManualsComputers & AccessoriesPOLAR 3D PRINTER

Polar 3D Implementation Guide

Maximizing the Polar 3D Environment

Kristin Hubner

April, 2017

Summary of content (151 pages)

PAGE 1
Polar 3D Implementation Guide Maximizing the Polar 3D Environment Kristin Hubner April, 2017
PAGE 3
Contents List of Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Get 1.1 1.2 1.3 connected to the Polar Cloud . . . . . . . . . . . . Connecting the printer to the Polar Cloud via WiFi . . Connecting the printer to the Polar Cloud via Ethernet Network issues and solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.1 Static IP address for printer . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.2 MAC address for the printer . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.3 Open HTTP ports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3.
PAGE 4
CONTENTS ii 4.2.1 Uploading and downloading objects . . . . . . . . . . . 65 4.2.2 Sharing objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 4.2.3 Searching for objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 4.2.4 Object description, print recommendations, photos . . 80 4.2.5 Deleting an object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 4.2.6 Object LIKEs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82 4.3 Creating objects using CAD software within the Polar Cloud . 84 4.
PAGE 5
CONTENTS iii 4.10.1 Navigating the printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169 4.10.2 Navigating the objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 4.10.3 Navigating the groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 5 The printer local web interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 5.1 Navigating through the printer local web interface . . . . . . . 180 6 CAD software – create your own objects . . . . . . . . . . . . 187 7 STEAMtrax curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.
PAGE 6
CONTENTS 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 10.6 iv Lubrication . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clean filament drive gear . . . . . . Replace the nozzle on the extruder Replace a corrupted SD card . . . . Printer calibration . . . . . . . . . 11 Troubleshooting . . . . . . 11.1 Printer LED lights . . . 11.2 Clogged or leaky nozzle . 11.3 Flaws in printed objects 11.4 Camera color balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PAGE 7
List of Figures 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 . . . 2 6 7 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 Printer in shipping box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Back of printer: serial number and spool holder arm . . . . . Mac prompt for printer hotspot WiFi password . . . . . . . Use the printer’s WiFi hotspot to connect to the printer’s web interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Select local WiFi network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PAGE 8
LIST OF FIGURES vi 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 PUBLIC OBJECTS listing of William Steele’s CALIBRATIONKEY . CALIBRATIONKEY object detail screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3D PRINT screen (build plate screen) for CALIBRATIONKEY object Build plate screen: MOVE object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Build plate screen: MOVE to center CALIBRATIONKEY . . . . . . Builld plate screen: SCALE object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Polar Cloud check the print temperature . . . . . . . . . . . .
PAGE 9
LIST OF FIGURES 4.30 4.29 4.31 4.32 4.33 4.34 4.35 4.36 4.37 4.38 4.39 4.40 4.41 4.42 4.43 4.44 4.45 4.46 4.47 4.48 4.49 4.50 4.51 4.52 4.53 4.54 4.55 4.56 4.57 4.58 4.59 4.60 4.61 4.62 4.63 4.64 4.65 4.66 Polar Cloud LIKE heart is red for personally liked object . . . Polar Cloud OWL STATUS object’s LIKES . . . . . . . . . . . . Polar Cloud BlocksCAD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Polar Cloud top menu GROUPS tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Polar Cloud GROUPS screen . . . . . . . . . . . . .
PAGE 10
LIST OF FIGURES 4.67 4.68 4.69 4.70 4.71 4.72 4.73 4.74 4.75 4.76 4.77 4.78 4.79 4.80 4.81 4.82 4.83 4.84 4.85 Polar Cloud printer dashboard with multiple jobs queued . . . Polar Cloud print queue job edit menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . Polar Cloud printer HISTORY screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printer history of an object . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printer history of an object: SNAPSHOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . Printer history of an object: TIME LAPSE video . . . . . . . . .
PAGE 11
LIST OF FIGURES ix 4.101Polar Cloud invitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.102Polar Cloud ACCEPT a group invitation . . . . . . . . 4.103Polar Cloud confirmation of joining a group . . . . . 4.104Polar Cloud SUMMARY display of group upon accepting tion to join . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.105Polar Cloud: invitation to manage a printer . . . . . 4.106Polar Cloud confirmation of printer access . . . . . . 4.107Polar Cloud object detail, by Van Morris . . . . . . . 4.
PAGE 12
LIST OF FIGURES x C.1 Printer local web interface network status . . . . . . . . . . . 249 C.2 Printer local web interface Project Details screen . . . . . .
PAGE 13
Chapter 1 Get connected to the Polar Cloud When you open up your printer shipping box, you will see contents such as shown in Figure 1.1: the printer frame (with print head mounted), a spool of (blue) PLA filament, a power adapter and cord, a can of Aqua Net hair spray, a build plate, and a sample object test-printed on this printer at the factory (namely, a yellow boat). There are two ways to setup your Polar3D printer to connect through a local network to the Polar Cloud: 1.
PAGE 14
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 2 printer can instead be controlled directly from your device for printing: see Appendix C. Figure 1.
PAGE 15
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 1.
PAGE 16
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 4 via WiFi: 1. Unpack the build plate; it is a mirrored glass disk, that will arrive detached from the printer, shipped in its own slot in the foam padding material. Apply a generous quantity of Aqua Net Extra Hold hair spray (included in the shipping box with your Polar3D printer) to the build plate of your new printer. You should apply a smooth and heavy coat, so that the surface looks milky; for a video demonstration, see: https:/www.instagram.
PAGE 17
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 5 plate, you are ready to install the build plate on the printer build plate shuttle. The bottom center of the build plate has a gear affixed. Place the build plate so that the center of the gear seats over the bearing on the build plate shuttle, and the gear teeth engage with the geared axle of the printer build plate shuttle. Hint: pull the build plate shuttle out towards the front of the printer to give yourself more access.
PAGE 18
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 6 5. From your device (computer, tablet, or phone), select its WiFi network controls. From the list of WiFi networks your device displays, select the network named after your printer’s serial number, as found on the back of the printer (see Figure 1.2); for example, “P3D02259-WIFI”. You will be prompted for a password: that password is the 8-character serial number consisting of P3D and five digits, in this example “P3D02259”; (Figure 1.
PAGE 19
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 7 Figure 1.3: Mac prompt for printer hotspot WiFi password 6. In your browser (Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.), enter 192.168.0.1 into the navigation bar. You are now connected to the printer and should see the printer’s web interface, as in Figure 1.4.
PAGE 20
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 8 Figure 1.4: Use the printer’s WiFi hotspot to connect to the printer’s web interface 7. Click the “Add WiFi” tab and choose the WiFi network to which you would like to connect the printer; see Figure 1.5. You will need to tell your printer the name of the local WiFi network you wish to use, and (likely also) its password; see Figure 1.6.
PAGE 21
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 9 access is not supported.) Once you have configured the printer to know about your local WiFi network, go back to the “Existing WiFi” screen; as shown in Figure 1.7, your local network should now be listed, highlighted in blue, under Configured Network. Figure 1.5: Select local WiFi network Figure 1.
PAGE 22
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 10 Figure 1.7: Local Wifi configured as network Figure 1.
PAGE 23
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 11 the “Polar3D” WiFi network from the Configured Network list by clicking on the X mark right of it; see Figure 1.7. (Removing the “Polar3D” network will prevent your printer from attempting to connect to that network after power cycles; you want your printer to attempt to connect first to your local network when it powers on.) After removing Polar3D WiFi network, your Configured Network screen should look similar to Figure 1.8.
PAGE 24
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 12 through it to the Polar Cloud; upon success, the LED lights on the side of the printer will go through a progression of colors ending as blue over white: POLAR3D . If the connection attempt does not succeed, check that you properly entered the local WiFi password (see Figure 1.6), and attempt connection again.
PAGE 25
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 13 is very easy to create: go to www.gmail.com.) The Polar 3D support article Linking Your Current Email Address to a Google, Microsoft, or Facebook Account has additional details. Go to polar3d.com on your device (computer, tablet, or phone); see Figure 1.10. Figure 1.10: First time login to Polar Cloud Click on the account that you’re going to use for Polar Cloud access (Google, Facebook, or Microsoft Live). That will create your Polar Cloud account.
PAGE 26
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 14 Figure 1.11: First time classroom permissions screen Once you’re signed in, your home page should appear, looking similar to Figure 1.12. Figure 1.
PAGE 27
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 15 10. Now, with the printer turned on and connected to the Polar Cloud, and with you logged in to your Polar Cloud account: (i) From the Polar Cloud main menu, expand the menu lines at the upper left, click the “PRINTERS” tab, as shown in Figure 1.13, and then click the “ADD” (“+”) button (towards the upper right), shown in Figure 1.14. scale=0.35 was good in pdf Figure 1.13: Polar Cloud expand top menu and click PRINTERS Figure 1.
PAGE 28
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 16 this is a Polar3D printer, also enter the printer’s serial number (the same “P3D” and five digits that you entered in step 5), as shown in Figure 1.15. Figure 1.
PAGE 29
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 17 (Note that later, using the Polar Cloud printer management interface, you will also be able to change the printer’s name and enter a longer text description and location for the printer, should you wish: perhaps describing the printer’s location, its primary intended purpose, the class for whose use it is intended, etc.; see Section 4.5.3.) (iii) If the Polar Cloud located the printer with the serial number you entered, a message will appear, see Figure 1.
PAGE 30
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 18 lights are showing for the corresponding letters, for “PO”, “AR”, and for “3D”, as in the example PORAR3D shown in Figure 1.17, and click “ADD”. Note that you have a limited amount of time (several minutes) to enter these colors; if you do not enter the colors properly, you will be “locked out” of adding the printer for a short time.
PAGE 31
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 19 Figure 1.19: Polar Cloud added printer listed in THUMBNAILS VIEW 11. The printer is now connected and ready to print! See Chapter 2 for an example of performing a first print through the Polar Cloud! 1.2 Connecting the printer to the Polar Cloud via Ethernet cable Connecting the printer to your network via an Ethernet cable is similar in functionality, from a Polar Cloud perspective, as a wireless connection.
PAGE 32
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 20 Perform steps 1 through 4 from Section 1.1. But instead of steps 5 through 8 from Section 1.1, simply plug in the Ethernet cable to both the printer, and to an Ethernet jack for your local network. If the POLAR3D LED lights on the printer become blue over white, it indicates that your printer has successfully connected to the Polar Cloud! However, if the printer could not successfully connect to the Polar Cloud, see Section 1.
PAGE 33
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 21 In order for your 3D printer to successfully connect to the Polar Cloud, outgoing HTTP ports 80 and 443 must be open to your printer. If your local network does not allow the printer to access those outgoing ports, then the printer’s attempts to connect to the Polar Cloud will not fully succeed. In this case, you will need your IT or network administrator to allow your printer to access those outgoing ports; see Section 1.3.3.
PAGE 34
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 22 Figure 1.20: WiFi static IP address Enter specific values for: 1. IP Address 2. Network Mask 3. Gateway 4. DNS servers (space separated if your site has more than one) If you are used to adding network devices to your network, you’re probably familiar with the sorts of values to enter. Otherwise, ask your IT or network administrator for details on what values to enter.
PAGE 35
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 23 Figure 1.21: Ethernet static IP address Once you have finished entering appropriate values for your site, click the “Add Network” button (WiFi – see Figure 1.20) or “Save Settings” button (Ethernet – see Figure 1.21). Then click the “RESTART” tab on the left navigation pane to have the printer attempt to use your newly configured local network information to connect to your local network, and then through it to the Polar Cloud. 1.3.
PAGE 36
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 24 add your 3D printer’s MAC address to the list of hardware on the network – similarly to how they would add a laser printer. Make a note of the MAC address of your printer, as your network administrator will likely need it! The MAC address is printed on the backside of the “GETTING STARTED” sheet shipped with your Polar3D printer. The MAC address may also be found displayed by the printer local web interface: after connecting to 192.168.0.
PAGE 37
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 25 static IP address) and its MAC address and contact your IT or network administrator to ask them to open up access for your printer. 1.3.4 Solving network connectivity problems If your printer’s LED lights are not showing as POLAR3D (blue over white), then the printer is not connected to the Polar Cloud. If the LED lights cycled: 1.
PAGE 38
CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 26 your local network, but has not been able to connect over the Internet to the Polar Cloud. (a) Confirm with your network administrator that the printer is being allowed access to outgoing HTTP ports 80 and 443; if your local network normally blocks access to those ports, the network administrator will need to open up access for the printer.
PAGE 39
Chapter 2 Start printing Once you have your printer connected to the Polar Cloud (see Chapter 1), you can start your first print through the Polar Cloud!1 For your first print, you’ll want to load filament (Section 2.1), get an object (Section 2.2), and then start a print job (Section 2.3); you can monitor the printing of your object through the Polar Cloud, including via real-time video (Section 2.4) of the printer as it prints your object.
PAGE 40
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 2.1 28 Load filament Figure 2.1: Load filament onto the Polar3D printer 1. Swing out the spool holder arm from the back (see Figure 1.2) of the Polar3D printer. 2. Unwrap the spool of filament and place it onto the spool holder; see Figure 2.1. 3. Find the end of the string of filament. 4.
PAGE 41
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 29 end to feed into the printer (especially if the end is kinked, or melted, or blobby); see Figure 2.2. Figure 2.2: Snip end of filament 5. Feed the filament through the filament guide (the hole at the top of the Polar3D printer); see Figure 2.1. 6. Stick the end of the filament into the filament feed hole at the top of the print head.
PAGE 42
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 30 gear inside the print head, and then down past that into the throat of the extruder. The Polar 3D support site has a clip of this process: Polar 3D support document “Loading and Unloading Filament” 7. Check that the filament is properly inserted and engaged with the filament drive gear as follows: (a) From your device (phone, tablet, computer), connect to the printer’s local IP address to access the printer’s local web interface.
PAGE 43
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 31 Figure 2.3: Manual Printer Controls screen: set the temperature where you set the desired temperature, on that same screen click the “Extrude 1mm” button several times, to extrude a few millimeters of filament.
PAGE 44
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 32 Figure 2.4: Polar Cloud top menu OBJECTS tab 2.2 An object to print To print using the Polar Cloud, you need an object (one or more .stl files) in the Polar Cloud; you may: 1. Search for and find in the Polar Cloud an object shared by someone else, 2. Upload an existing object (from outside the Polar Cloud) into the Polar Cloud, 3. Create a new object yourself, using CAD software, 4.
PAGE 45
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 2.2.1 33 Find an object in the Polar Cloud From the Polar Cloud main screen, expand the top left menu and click on “OBJECTS”; see Figure 2.4. Then click on “PUBLIC OBJECTS”; this will bring up a screen such as shown in Figure 2.5. Scrolling to the bottom of the screen and clicking “SEE MORE” will load additional objects. You may click on an object to select it. Figure 2.5: Polar Cloud PUBLIC OBJECTS screen Note that you may also search these objects by clicking on “SEARCH”.
PAGE 46
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 34 Figure 2.6: Searching for “calibration” on the PUBLIC OBJECTS screen Let’s scroll down and find William Steel’s original calibration key, as shown in Figure 2.7. Figure 2.
PAGE 47
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 35 Figure 2.8: CALIBRATIONKEY object detail screen Clicking on that object’s icon image takes you to the object’s detail screen, as shown in Figure 2.8.
PAGE 48
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 36 Figure 2.9: 3D PRINT screen (build plate screen) for CALIBRATIONKEY object complex objects, objects with multiple or large .stl files, the process of loading the object’s image to the screen may take a minute or so; you will see a blue swirling loading icon towards the bottom right of the screen.) Then clicking on the “3D PRINT” button will take you to the build plate screen, as shown in Figure 2.9.
PAGE 49
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 37 or so with a blue swirling loading icon towards the lower right of the screen) to the printer dashboard screen; see Figure 2.14. 2.2.2 Experiment with adjusting object placement and print settings Once you choose an object to print and click the “3D PRINT” button on the object’s display screen (see Figure 2.8), you will be at a screen such as shown in Figure 2.9, where you have the opportunity to adjust your object, and adjust printer settings, if you wish.
PAGE 50
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 38 Click on the object image on the build plate screen, or click on the object name on the right underneath “PLACEMENT. Clicking either place will bring up a set of colored axes (red Xaxis, green Y-axis, blue Z-axis) superimposed on the object image, and three tabs will appear in the right window under “PLACEMENT”: “MOVE (W)”, “SCALE (E)”, and “ROTATE (R)”.
PAGE 51
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 39 dow, and then drag the object to a desired position. 2. Move the slider position on desired axes in the right-hand window. 3. Enter a numeric value for how much to move along the desired axis in the right-hand window; such a numeric value can be entered at the far right of the right hand window level with the axis name. Figure 2.
PAGE 52
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 40 ter of the build plate. Figure 2.11 shows the CALIBRATIONKEY moved to be centered on the build plate. 2.2.2.2 Experiment with changing the size of the object At the object build plate screen, see Figure 2.9, check that “PLACEMENT” is highlighted (in blue), meaning that placement is the active mode; if necessary, click on “PLACEMENT” to select it. Figure 2.12: Builld plate screen: SCALE object Click on the screen where the object image is shown on the build plate.
PAGE 53
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 41 image, and three tabs will appear in the right window under “PLACEMENT”: “MOVE (W)”, “SCALE (E)”, and “ROTATE (R)”. Click on “SCALE” ( or type “E”) to select it (when selected, it will show as blue); see Figure 2.12. You may choose to scale the object’s overall size uniformly along all axes, or scale the object di↵erently along di↵erent axes: see the “Scale of axes uniformly” checkbox below the “SCALE” tab.
PAGE 54
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 2.2.2.4 42 Check temperature At the object build plate screen, see Figure 2.9, clicking “PRINT SETTINGS” in the right-hand window will bring up three tabs: “BASIC”, “ADVANCED”, and “G-CODE”. The temperature which the printer is set to use for printing is displayed under the “BASIC” display, as shown in Figure 2.13. Figure 2.13: Polar Cloud check the print temperature The proper temperature for the PLA filament provided by Polar 3D is 185°C.
PAGE 55
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 2.3 43 Start the print job Are you ready to submit your object for printing? (Note that if you don’t like any adjustments you tried making in Section 2.2.2, you may go back to the list of objects, and simply select the object again to have it back in its original location, size, etc.: that is, return to Section 2.2.1 and repeat the initial steps of selecting an object.
PAGE 56
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 44 Figure 2.14: Printer dashboard: job submitted to the print queue Click the “START” button (towards the upper right of the printer dashboard screen) to begin the print. 2.4 Monitor the printing Having submitted your job and clicked “START” (see Section 2.3), the Polar Cloud printer dashboard screen (see Figure 2.14) will begin updating, showing you a camera view of the printer (on the left) and status data on the progress of the printer (on the right).
PAGE 57
CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 45 dashboard screen) will cycle (fairly rapidly) through: WAITING FOR RESPONSE, PREPARING PRINT, and then PRINTING. At 175°C, the printer will home (i.e., move the build plate and print head into proper position for the beginning of the print). Then the printer will continue to heat up to 185°C (the proper temperature for extruding Polar 3D PLA filament).
PAGE 58
Chapter 3 Understanding the Polar 3D 2.0 Environment Welcome to Polar 3D 2.0! If you have used Polar 3D 1.0, you will find use of Polar 3D 2.0 enhanced but familar! Older documentation on Polar 3D 1.0 can be found at: Polar 3D Support Documents The Polar 3D environment is not just about high quality, reliable, cost e↵ective 3D printers, but also provides a collaborative and flexible inventor space that supports management of printing from anywhere in the world.
PAGE 59
CHAPTER 3. UNDERSTANDING THE POLAR 3D 2.0 ENVIRONMENT47 allows members to find groups with mutual interests. Within the Polar Cloud, members collect and share objects to print using in-site CAD software to alter and adjust their .stl files. The Polar Cloud also allows for remote printing: you can control your printer from the office next door, a lab in another country, or 30,000 feet in the air. Polar3D Printer – The Polar3D printer is unique in ways which make it very desirable, not just novel.
PAGE 60
CHAPTER 3. UNDERSTANDING THE POLAR 3D 2.0 ENVIRONMENT48 3.1 The process of 3D design and printing The process of designing and printing an object includes many possible stages. 1. Identify and define the objective: Identify a need, define a problem, and generate and develop ideas for a solution. A personal goal, or group project, or engineering task may give rise to an objective.
PAGE 61
CHAPTER 3. UNDERSTANDING THE POLAR 3D 2.0 ENVIRONMENT49 see Chapter 7. Note that STEAMtrax materials include a breakdown of the engineering design process that goes into additional detail, in particular further breaking down the “define” and “develop” stages.
PAGE 62
CHAPTER 3. UNDERSTANDING THE POLAR 3D 2.0 ENVIRONMENT50 8. Present/communicate/share: Report back to your group or teacher, as appropriate. If you wish, you may share your model, photos of your object, and any comments in the Polar Cloud. 9. Extend and apply: Return to step 1 if your objective is a large enough task to require several components for its solution.
PAGE 63
Chapter 4 The Polar Cloud The Polar Cloud is the central hub, or “command and control center”, for the Polar 3D ecosystem. As a Polar Cloud member, you may conveniently view a history of your printing activity and communicate with other Polar Cloud members; see Section 4.1. The Polar Cloud provides a convenient and powerful platform for managing and storing 3D objects, and for collaborating with other Polar Cloud members.
PAGE 64
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 52 ing 3D printers; see Section 4.5. Polar3D printers arrive Polar Cloud enabled. But the Polar Cloud is printer neutral – other 3D printers can become part of the Polar Cloud! The Polar Cloud lets you submit, monitor, and manage your print jobs, regardless of your physical location; see Section 4.6. You can even watch real-time video of your print job in progress; see Section 4.6.5.
PAGE 65
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 53 Figure 4.1: Polar Cloud account management drop down menu Via this menu, you may perform various account tasks, including: 1. Change your account settings and customize your profile; see Section 4.1.2. 2. Track your account activity; see Section 4.1.3. 3. Log out; click the “Sign Out” tab. 4.1.
PAGE 66
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 54 Figure 4.2: Polar Cloud login screen 2. Got to polar3d.com on your device (computer, tablet, or phone) to get to the login screen shown in Figure 4.2. Click on the account that you’re going to use for Polar Cloud access (Google, Facebook, or Microsoft Live): that will create your Polar Cloud account! 3.
PAGE 67
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD Figure 4.3: Polar Cloud account access screen Figure 4.
PAGE 68
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 56 (Note that you can always return to this home page by clicking on the cloud icon towards the upper left of Polar Cloud screens.) If you have a brand new Polar3D printer, go to Chapter 1 to get started on setting up your new printer. If you are a new Polar Cloud member at a site that already has 3D printers ready to share, go to Section 4.5 to learn how to possibly use and share existing 3D printers in the Polar Cloud. 4.1.
PAGE 69
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 57 Figure 4.5: Polar Cloud account settings Your display name is the name that will be displayed throughout the Polar Cloud on objects you post, when you are a member of a group, if another Polar Cloud member is SEARCHing for you to share an object with you, etc.
PAGE 70
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 58 While the default “POSITION” value for newly created Polar Cloud accounts is STUDENT, if you are a teacher or administrator (or IT support person or other non-student), you will probably wish to set the “POSITION” field to properly represent your status; see Figure 4.6. Figure 4.
PAGE 71
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 59 when other Polar Cloud members search for you, or see you listed in a group, and displayed at full size when other Polar Cloud members view your member page. See the “PROFILE” tab. You may upload a photo to use as the banner background for your Polar Cloud account screens, displayed when you are viewing your own account screens or when other Polar Cloud members view your member page. See the “BANNER” tab.
PAGE 72
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 60 Figure 4.7: Polar Cloud account ACTIVITY screen 4.1.3 Polar Cloud account dashboard From the Polar Cloud account drop down menu (see Figure 4.1), clicking on your Polar Cloud account email (the second item in the drop down list) will take you to your account dashboard screen, with the “ACTIVITY” tab highlighted, displaying your recent account activity; see Figure 4.7.
PAGE 73
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 61 of your printer(s) submitting jobs, you creating a new group, etc. The tabs and screens available under your account dashboard (members/me page) are: 1. “ACTIVITY – all your account’s activity, including other Polar Cloud member interactions (such as other members’ jobs on your printers). 2. “LIKED” – list of objects you have liked. 3. “QUEUED” – list of your own currently queued print jobs. 4. “HISTORY” – list of all your own print jobs. 4.
PAGE 74
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 62 Figure 4.8: Polar Cloud top menu OBJECTS tab One of the Polar Cloud top menu’s main tabs is “OBJECTS”; see Figure 4.8. Clicking on the “OBJECTS” tab will take you to the OBJECTS screen, such as shown in Figure 4.9, with tabs for “MY PRIVATE OBJECTS”, “MY SHARED OBJECTS”, and “PUBLIC OBJECTS”.
PAGE 75
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 63 Figure 4.9: Polar Cloud PUBLIC OBJECTS screen If you wish to “CREATE” an object, you may use CAD packages available within the Polar Cloud itself to design an object and generate its .stl file(s); see Section 4.3. Or if you already have some .stl file(s) describing an object available from elsewhere, you may upload the file(s) into the Polar Cloud using the “UPLOAD” tab.
PAGE 76
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 64 Figure 4.
PAGE 77
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 65 the icon for the object itself. For shared or public objects, you may: “3D PRINT”, “DOWNLOAD”, or “SHARE” the object; see Figure 4.24. To print or otherwise access an object shared with you due to your membership in a group, navigate to the group, select “OBJECTS”, and then click on the icon for the object itself; see Section 4.4.
PAGE 78
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 66 the object publicly available in the Polar Cloud. Figure 4.11: Polar Cloud MY PRIVATE OBJECTS screen Figure 4.12: Polar Cloud object upload screen To upload an existing object .stl file from your device into your private collection of objects in the Polar Cloud, at the Polar Cloud’s top menu select “OBJECTS”, as shown in Figure 4.8.
PAGE 79
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 67 highlighting whichever of “MY PRIVATE OBJECTS”, “MY SHARED OBJECTS”, or “PUBLIC OBJECTS” you most recently viewed. (If this is your very first time in the Polar Cloud, clicking “OBJECTS” will take you to the Polar Cloud PUBLIC OBJECTS screen such as shown in Figure 4.9.
PAGE 80
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 68 Figure 4.13: Polar Cloud object upload object selected Once the file(s) have finished uploading, you will automatically be taken to the object’s build plate screen (as if you’d selected the object and clicked “3D PRINT”), as illustrated in Figure 4.15.
PAGE 81
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 69 Figure 4.14: Polar Cloud object upload progress Figure 4.
PAGE 82
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 70 normal modifications of the object or its print settings (discussed in detail in Section 4.6.1), and then click the “PRINT” button when you are ready to print the object. After uploading, the object is now in your collection of objects, and will be included in your listing at the MY PRIVATE OBJECTS screen, as shown in Figure 4.16. Figure 4.16: Polar Cloud MY PRIVATE OBJECTS screen after upload To download, from a Polar Cloud object detail screen, such as shown in Figure 4.
PAGE 83
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 71 Figure 4.17: Polar Cloud object SHARE button Share with Members option 4.2.2 Sharing objects There are three types of sharing of objects: sharing an object only with specified members, making an object public (any Polar Cloud member may access it), or sharing an object with members of particular groups (only members in those groups may access it).
PAGE 84
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 72 Figure 4.18: Polar Cloud object SHARE WITH MEMBERS screen Figure 4.10, click the “SHARE” button, and then select “Share with Everyone”; see Figure 4.19. Figure 4.
PAGE 85
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 73 Since making an object public is an irrevocable action, you will be asked to confirm this action; see Figure 4.20. Once an object is shared publicly, note that it cannot then be shared to specific Polar Cloud members nor re-shared to everyone (as either would serve little purpose – any Polar Cloud member can access any public object regardless); however, public objects can be shared with groups, for convenience in drawing group members’ attention to an object. Figure 4.
PAGE 86
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 74 Figure 4.21: Polar Cloud object Share with Groups object detail page, analogous to the approaches discussed above for sharing an object with specific members or publicly. The second approach is to perform the sharing from the group’s own “OBJECTS” screen. The approaches have an equivalent e↵ect, and will be discussed respectively below. To share an object with a group from the object detail page, click the “SHARE” button and then select “Share with Groups”; see Figure 4.21.
PAGE 87
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD Figure 4.
PAGE 88
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 76 Figure 4.
PAGE 89
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 77 the “OBJECTS” tab for the group, and click “SHARE”; this will bring up a window in which you may search your own objects and select some to share. Select which objects by clicking the checkbox to the left of the desired object(s), and click “SHARE” in this object selection window. See Section 4.4.5 for an example of this process. Note that you may “UNSHARE” objects that you have shared with specific other Polar Cloud members.
PAGE 90
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 78 Figure 4.24: Polar Cloud PUBLIC OBJECTS screen For instance, searching for “box” will result in a more specific list of objects, as shown in Figure 4.25. To find objects shared within a group of which you are a member, select “GROUPS” from the Polar Cloud top menu (see Figure 4.32), click on a particular group to go to that group’s menu (see for instance Figure 4.38), click on the “OBJECTS” tab to take you to a screen such as shown in Figure 4.26.
PAGE 91
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD Figure 4.25: Polar Cloud search for a box object Figure 4.
PAGE 92
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 4.2.4 80 Object description, print recommendations, photos To add or change the description of an object, or add recommendations on printing it, click on the “EDIT” tab from the object detail page; see Figure 4.10. “EDIT” will take you to a screen such as shown in Figure 4.27, where you may enter or modify a description of the object, recommend print settings, upload additional .stl files or remove existing files, or upload (or remove) your own photos of a printed object.
PAGE 93
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 81 Figure 4.27: Polar Cloud object EDIT screen Once you are satisfied with your description or other details, click the “SAVE” button towards the top of the screen. (If you do not like your edits, you may click “RESET”.) Then click “DONE” to finish editting and return to the object page.
PAGE 94
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 4.2.5 82 Deleting an object In general, there is little need to delete objects from the Polar Cloud, and you may wish to retain them in your Polar Cloud account for future reference. However, if you have an object whose .stl files are deeply flawed, or which was quite unsatisfactory in other ways, you may wish to remove it from your Polar Cloud account, so that you don’t unintentionally refer to it and perhaps start printing it again in future.
PAGE 95
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 83 Figure 4.28: Polar Cloud OWL STATUE object detail screen When an object is listed on the OBJECTS screen, the number of LIKEs an object has received is displayed towards the lower left; see Figure 4.29. Once you personally have clicked to “LIKE” an object, the heart icon will then appear in red; see Figure 4.30. Figure 4.
PAGE 96
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 84 Figure 4.29: Polar Cloud OWL STATUS object’s LIKES 4.3 Creating objects using CAD software within the Polar Cloud The Polar Cloud itself provides access to some convenient CAD software. Under the main Polar Cloud screen, go to “OBJECTS”, then “YOUR OBJECTS”, and then “CREATE”. (Note that if you prefer to use external CAD software and then import the .stl files you generate into the Polar Cloud, that is fully supported too.
PAGE 97
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 85 Figure 4.31: Polar Cloud BlocksCAD 4.4 Groups in the Polar Cloud Polar Cloud groups provides a convenient means of sharing printer access, printer control, and objects with group members. Creating a group is typically the most convenient way to configure class, lab, school, library, or club access to a printer. Figure 4.32: Polar Cloud top menu GROUPS tab From the Polar Cloud main screen, expanding the left-hand menu lists “GROUPS” as one of the choices; see Figure 4.32.
PAGE 98
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 86 Clicking “GROUPS” will take you to the GROUPS screen, with tabs to list either “MY GROUPS” or “PUBLIC GROUPS”, as shown in Figure 4.33. Figure 4.33: Polar Cloud GROUPS screen Note that when you click “GROUPS”, you will see highlighted whichever of “MY GROUPS” or “PUBLIC GROUPS” you most recently viewed. 4.4.
PAGE 99
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 87 “LOCATION” fields will aid other Polar Cloud members in searching for your group – so especially if you are planning to change this group from the default “PRIVATE” setting to instead make it “MODERATED” or “PUBLIC”, consider adding informative text to these fields. Figure 4.
PAGE 100
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 88 Figure 4.35: Polar Cloud MY GROUPS screen Once you have created a group, it will show up under the “MY GROUPS” list; for example, Figure 4.35 shows a group “FRIENDS”. 4.4.2 Group settings When you create a group, by default it is PRIVATE: only members of the group can see details about the group, or find it by searching via the “SEARCH” button at the Polar Cloud GROUPS screen; see Figure 4.36.
PAGE 101
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 89 Figure 4.36: Polar Cloud searching PUBLIC GROUPS Clicking on the SETTINGS tab at the group screen, see Figure 4.38, will take you to the group’s SETTINGS screen; see Figure 4.37.
PAGE 102
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 90 Figure 4.
PAGE 103
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 91 GROUPS screen. Click “MODERATED” if you would like requests to “JOIN” the group to require either knowledge of the group’s join code or approval by you (the group owner), limit viewing of the full membership list of the group to the group’s members (outsiders able to see only the group’s manager(s)), and have the group’s existence and name findable via “SEARCH. For privacy reasons, typically school or class groups including student members should not be set “PUBLIC”.
PAGE 104
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 92 from within the Polar Cloud, privileges which may not be appropriate to delegate to students). For classroom or lab printers, whether or not you wish to configure a printer so that class group members may control the printer themselves may depend on the age and maturity of your students. For younger students, you may wish to retain all printer control yourself, whereas it may be convenient to allow printer control to an entire class of experienced or older students.
PAGE 105
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD Figure 4.
PAGE 106
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 94 Figure 4.39: Polar Cloud example FRIENDS group MEMBERS screen Then click on the “INVITE” button (towards the middle right of the group members screen, Figure 4.39). This will take you to an “INVITE MEMBERS” screen. Filling in the search field towards the top will show you only the Polar Cloud members who meet the search criteria – see Figure 4.40. Click on the checkbox to the left of the Polar Cloud member(s) who you wish to invite to join your group, as shown in Figure 4.
PAGE 107
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD Figure 4.
PAGE 108
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 96 Figure 4.41: Polar Cloud group member invitation The Polar Cloud member(s) you have invited will be sent an invitation notification to join your group. Such invited Polar Cloud members who have not yet accepted your invitation will show up as pending in your group’s member list, as shown in Figure 4.42.
PAGE 109
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 97 Figure 4.42: Polar Cloud group member invitation pending Rather than individually inviting Polar Cloud members to join your group, you may set the group to have “MODERATED” type, and then inform certain Polar Cloud members of the group join code. Those other Polar Cloud members may then join your group using the group join code, without you having to individually select them in the Polar Cloud.
PAGE 110
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 98 use that group join code to join. 4.4.4 Requesting to join a group A group’s “TYPE”, under the groups “SETTINGS” (see Section 4.4.2), controls how a group may be joined. For a PUBLIC group, clicking the “JOIN” button will add you immediately to the group. For a MODERATED group, a group join code is generated by the Polar Cloud, visible to the group owner on the group’s “SUMMARY” screen.
PAGE 111
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 99 cessible objects includes public objects, and any objects shared with them by another Polar Cloud member (“MY SHARED OBJECTS”). There are two approaches: (1) navigate to the object’s detail page, click “SHARE”, and then “Share with Groups” and select the desired group(s) – see Section 4.2.2 for a discussion; or (2) navigate to the group’s own “OBJECTS” page, click “SHARE”, and then select the desired object(s), as discussed below.
PAGE 112
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 100 click the checkbox to the left of the object(s) you wish to select; then the click on “SHARE” (bottom right, Figure 4.45) once you have selected which objects to share. Figure 4.
PAGE 113
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 101 Figure 4.45: Selecting which objects to share with a group The shared object will now appear under the group’s “OBJECTS” display, as shown in Figure 4.46.
PAGE 114
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 102 Figure 4.46: The shared OBJECTS in the example FRIENDS group Note that if you wish to create a new object specifically for a group, or upload an object to a group, you will first need to create or upload that object to your own private collection of objects, and then share your object to the group. 4.4.6 Sharing printers within a group A group member who manages a printer may share access to that printer across the group. From the group’s menu – see Figure 4.
PAGE 115
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 103 the group (see Figure 4.48); click the checkbox to the left of the printer(s) you wish to share, and then click on “SHARE” (bottom right, Figure 4.49) when you have selected which printers to share. Figure 4.47: Sharing a printer with a group Figure 4.
PAGE 116
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 104 Figure 4.49: Selecting which printers to share with a group Once you have shared printer(s), they will show up under the “PRINTERS” display for the group, as shown in Figure 4.50. Figure 4.
PAGE 117
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 105 Figure 4.51: Allowing CONTROL PRINTERS access to FRIENDS group By default, access to a printer shared with a group does not include printer operation control access: group members will have to wait for the printer owner or a manager to “START” or “STOP” the print jobs.
PAGE 118
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 106 control printer operation, see the “CONTROL PRINTERS” switch under the group’s “SETTINGS” tab; Figure 4.51 shows allowing “CONTROL PRINTERS” access to members of the FRIENDS group. 4.4.7 Searching for a group There may be existing groups within the Polar Cloud that you would like to join. To find a group of possible interest, you may scroll through or “SEARCH” under the “PUBLIC GROUPS” screen; Figure 4.52 shows an example. As discussed in Section 4.4.
PAGE 119
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD Figure 4.
PAGE 120
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 108 Figure 4.53: Polar Cloud: request to JOIN a group If it is a group configured for “PUBLIC” access, you will automatically be added to the group.
PAGE 121
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 109 group owner will receive a notification of your request to join the group, and it will then be up to the group owner whether or not to approve your join request. 4.5 Managing and sharing printers Figure 4.54: Polar Cloud top menu PRINTERS tab One of the Polar Cloud top menu’s main sections is “PRINTERS”; see Figure 4.54.
PAGE 122
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 110 Figure 4.55: Polar Cloud PRINTERS screen in THUMBNAILS VIEW Clicking on the image of a printer will take you to the printer dashboard screen, as illustrated in Figure 4.56. Figure 4.
PAGE 123
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 4.5.1 111 Adding a printer to your Polar Cloud account Typically, a printer is first connected to the Polar Cloud by the printer’s owner when the printer is first acquired; see the detailed instructions in Chapter 1. And while Polar Cloud members might share management of a printer, that is typically achieved via the printer owner granting manager access to their printers; see Section 4.5.5.
PAGE 124
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 112 out the primary teacher’s ownership. If you wish to “wipe out” a prior printer owner’s ownership and printer history and print queues (such as when you have acquired a printer from a di↵erent school district or other organization) so that you can register yourself as the owner of the printer in the Polar Cloud, first connect to the printer’s local web interface and click the “Reset Printer on the Polar Cloud” tab.
PAGE 125
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 113 Figure 4.57: Polar Cloud printer CHANGE OWNER button Figure 4.
PAGE 126
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 114 wish to re-register the printer and e↵ectively ”start afresh” with the printer. The process for starting afresh with a printer, attaching a previously used printer at a di↵erent site, is essentially that of attaching a new printer, already discussed in Chapter 1: adding a printer to your Polar Cloud account.
PAGE 127
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 115 (discussed in detail in Section 1.1 but which is identical whether connecting via WiFi or Ethernet cable), to add the printer to your Polar Cloud account. With the printer turned on (and its LED lights appearing as POLAR3D , i.e., blue over white, then from the Polar Cloud main menu select “PRINTERS” and then on that screen click the “ADD” button (“+”); see Figure 4.55.
PAGE 128
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 116 Figure 4.60: Polar Cloud printer manage screen From the printer manage screen, Figure 4.60, click on “SETTINGS” to get to a screen such as shown in Figure 4.61. When your printer is first registered with the Polar Cloud, its NAME field is set to match its serial number. At the “SETTINGS” screen, you may change the printer name, as well as enter a text description of your printer and where it is located; see Figure 4.62. Figure 4.
PAGE 129
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 117 Figure 4.62: Polar Cloud printer description and location fields The printer NAME will be the name displayed when listing printers, e.g., displayed in the THUMBNAILS VIEW icon or in the drop-down printer list on the build plate screen. Thus many printer owners, if they change the NAME from its default serialnumber value, find it useful to incorporate the serial-number into the printer name: e.g., Physics-lab-P3D02259, or Media-Center-P3D02265 or the like.
PAGE 130
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 4.5.4 118 Searching for a printer Under either the “THUMBNAILS VIEW” or “LIST VIEW” of printers (see Figure 4.55 or Figure 4.110, respectively), the “SEARCH” tab allows searching for accessible-to-you printers, matching upon serial number, name, description, or location text (see Section 4.5.3), which may be useful if you have access to a large number of printers. 4.5.
PAGE 131
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 119 at the printer list view screen, see Figure 4.110, click the square button icon on the right-hand of the printer line in the list.) On the selected printer’s manage screen (see Figure 4.60), click on the “MEMBERS” tab to take you to the members screen for the printer, shown in Figure 4.63. Figure 4.63: Polar Cloud printer MEMBERS screen Then click on the “INVITE” button to bring up a screen, see Figure 4.
PAGE 132
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 120 Cloud notification inviting him or her to access or manage the printer; the Polar Cloud member may ACCEPT or DECLINE that invitation. The red “REMOVE” button, see Figure 4.64, allows you to remove members or managers from such access to the printer.
PAGE 133
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 4.5.6 121 Managing the printer queue From a printer MANAGE screen, see Figure 4.60, you can access the printer’s current queue of pending jobs (as well as the history of what jobs it has performed, as will be discussed in Section 4.5.7). Clicking the “QUEUE” tab shows a screen of any currently pending jobs in the printer’s queue; Figure 4.60 shows an empty queue. Figure 4.65, in contrast, shows a printer with two jobs queued.
PAGE 134
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 122 Figure 4.66: Polar Cloud printer dashboard with two jobs queued Since jobs are not started until the “START” button is clicked, note that the order in which jobs begin printing is not solely based on which job was submitted first. In the case of the print queue displayed in Figures 4.65 and 4.66, the job submitted later (the Tardis) has been started printing while the job submitted earlier remains waiting on the print queue.
PAGE 135
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 123 3. Modify a job in the queue, perhaps adding additional objects to the build plate. 4. Delete a job from the print queue. 5. Shu✏e the order of jobs in the print queue, moving a job to the head of the queue (if currently elsewhere) or to the tail of the queue (if currently at the head of the queue). 6. Download the .stl files or configuration (print settings) for a job. Figure 4.
PAGE 136
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 124 Figure 4.68: Polar Cloud print queue job edit menu group members with control access to a shared printer) can use the “START” control button on the printer dashboard to begin the actual execution of a queued job; once a job is printing, control buttons to “CHANGE FILAMENT”, “COLD PAUSE”, “PAUSE”, and “STOP” become active for the owner and managers (and group members with control access); see Figure 4.86.
PAGE 137
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 125 (b) Changing the PRINT SETTINGS for the object: BASIC, ADVANCED, or G-CODE. (c) Changing the UI SETTINGS for build plate controls. (d) Deleting an object from the build plate (which as there may be multiple objects on the build plate, submitted as single print job, is not necessarily the same thing as deleting the entire print job via the “Remove Job” tab discussed below). (e) Uploading an object on the build plate to the Polar Cloud.
PAGE 138
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 126 active for general members, nor may general members modify print queue jobs other than their own. 4.5.7 Printer job history From a printer MANAGE screen, see Figure 4.60, clicking the “HISTORY” tab shows the history of what print jobs the printer has performed; see Figure 4.69. Figure 4.69: Polar Cloud printer HISTORY screen Clicking on a particular object in the printer history will bring up a screen with information regarding that print job; see Figure 4.70.
PAGE 139
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 127 object(s) of the job – see Figure 4.71, and a “TIME LAPSE” video (sampled from still snapshots taken while the job was printing) showing the job running – see Figure 4.72. Figure 4.
PAGE 140
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD Figure 4.71: Printer history of an object: SNAPSHOT Figure 4.
PAGE 141
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 4.5.8 129 Updating the printer Occasionally, an update to the printer firmware will be available. When an update is available, you will see an active UPDATE button appear on both the printer dashboard screen, see Figure 4.73, and the printer management screen, see Figure 4.74. Clicking the “UPDATE” button from either location will bring up a confirmation screen, see Figure 4.75; click the “UPDATE PRINTER” button to perform the update. Figure 4.
PAGE 142
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 130 Figure 4.74: Polar Cloud printer management screen UPDATE button Figure 4.75: Polar Cloud UPDATE PRINTER confirmation screen Note that when you click the “UPDATE PRINTER” button to begin the update, the printer’s Status: will cycle through WAITING FOR RESPONSE, UPDATING PRINTER (see Figure 4.76 – this may take several minutes), and possibly OFFLINE (if the update requires the printer to restart), before getting back to READY TO PRINT.
PAGE 143
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD Figure 4.
PAGE 144
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 132 that only a printer owner or manager, or a member of a group configured to share operational control of the printer, may connect to the printer local web interface through the Polar Cloud. If your local network allows such access back from the Internet (which may or may not be the case), then you can access all of the printer’s local web interface while still in the Polar Cloud.
PAGE 145
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 133 1. You may print your own objects, and other objects shared or objects shared in groups in the Polar Cloud. 2. Your print request is automatically placed in a print job queue, reducing the need for manual coordination with other users of shared printers. 3. You may remotely manage your queued print jobs, and (for a printer you own or manage or share in a group), you may remotely trigger the initiation of the print job, or pause or stop the printing. 4.
PAGE 146
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 134 such as shown in Figure 4.10; selecting any type of shared object will take you to an analogous screen. From the object’s display screen, click on “3D PRINT”; this will take you to the build plate screen, where as the object’s .stl files are loading you may see a blue progress icon in the lower right corner, as shown in Figure 4.77; once the object is fully loaded, the build plate screen will become active, such as shown Figure 4.78. Figure 4.
PAGE 147
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 135 cally add the object to your collection – and when you upload or create an object, you will automatically be taken to the build plate screen, such as shown in Figure 4.78. Figure 4.78: Polar Cloud build plate (3D PRINT) screen 4.6.1 The build plate screen (3D PRINT), and adjusting your print There are a number of features of interest on the build plate 3D PRINT) screen; see Figure 4.78. 1.
PAGE 148
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 136 2. Towards the upper right is the “PRINT” button; press that button when your object is ready, and you wish to submit it for printing. Note that when you press “PRINT”, you will see a swirling loading icon towards the lower left of the screen as your job (with its underlying .stl files) is submitted to the printer , and then you will automatically go to the printer dashboard screen; see Section 4.6.5. 3.
PAGE 149
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 137 Their functions are: (a) Delete Selected Object – delete the selected object from the build plate. (The icon will only be colored red, meaning active, if one or more objects are actually selected from the list of objects.) (b) Upload Selected Objects to the Cloud – upload the selected object(s) to your private collection of objects. (c) Load Objects from the Cloud – load additional Polar Cloud objects to the build plate.
PAGE 150
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 138 index 7. Once an object has been selected by clicking on it (from the list on the right, underneath “PLACEMENT” and “PRINT SETTINGS”), the “PLACEMENT” tab becomes active. Three axes of movement will appear centered within the object on the build plate, and three choices of type of movement, “MOVE”, “SCALE”, or “ROTATE”, along with three slider scales corresponding to the axes, will appear on the right, under “PLACEMENT” and the object list.
PAGE 151
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 139 8. Once an object has been selected by clicking on it (in the list on the right, under “PLACEMENT” and “PRINT SETTINGS”), the “PRINT SETTINGS” tab also becomes active. Under “PRINT SETTINGS” are many settings, (corresponding to slicer settings) which may be used to adjust aspects of the print, such as the temperature, speed of printing, thickness of exterior walls on the object, whether to add a brim, raft, or skirt, etc.; see Figure 4.80.