I use Simplify3D on two laptops. One sits at my nice desk, a pleasant design station. The other sits with the printer in a small, awkward utility room. I would like to do all my real work, including preparing and saving the x3g file, on the first computer. And then use Simplify3D on the second computer to print, via USB, the x3g file I already prepared. The two computers are networked, so I have quick access to the same file from either computer.
But if Simplify3D has a way to do this, I couldn't find it. I tried the Preview G-code File command, and everything looked right in the preview window... then I told it to print, and in fact it printed the G-code left over from my previously loaded STL file from two weeks before! Is there a way?
Or should I be using some simple little utility apart from Simplify3D to do this?
Thanks,
Ken
Re: Print an existing X3G file
Can't you just go to Tools > Machine Control Panel, connect to your printer, and then click the "Print" button? It will let you select the .x3g file you want to print.
Re: Print an existing X3G file
I have a similar setup; my printer is located in the laundry room away from my workstation. The solution is found is to use Simplify3dD on the workstation to do the slicing and generate the gcode/x3g. Then it is scripted to upload the x3g file to a flashair wireless SD card inside the printer. And I have a raspberry pi running octoprint. It serves up a web page that I use to tell the printer to preheat and then print from the SD card.
The other options I tried were to install Simplify3D on a laptop connected to the printer, and then VNC (remote desktop) into that laptop and click the print button. The big downside to this is that Simplify3D only lets you install on 2 computers at a time. And then you have to save a .factory file and push to the remote laptop, open it up in the VNC session, and you can generate the gcode/x3g on the remote machine and print from that.
In the end, the extra $70 for the octopi and flashair card were worth it to me for how much they simplified the process and freeing up a license for Simplify3D to be used on a different computer.
The other options I tried were to install Simplify3D on a laptop connected to the printer, and then VNC (remote desktop) into that laptop and click the print button. The big downside to this is that Simplify3D only lets you install on 2 computers at a time. And then you have to save a .factory file and push to the remote laptop, open it up in the VNC session, and you can generate the gcode/x3g on the remote machine and print from that.
In the end, the extra $70 for the octopi and flashair card were worth it to me for how much they simplified the process and freeing up a license for Simplify3D to be used on a different computer.
