Simplify3D User Forum

Has anyone tried to do this? Suggestions appreciated:

Currently I have my Printrbot Metal Plus attached via USB to my Mac Pro and sitting on a desk next to my main desk. It's convenient, but noisy.

I have an old Mac Mini and old screen, so I thought about moving the Printrbot into my workshop (maybe I should call it my "MakerSpace"?) and setting up the old Mac Mini and using it as a 3d printserver. Since S3D has a 2 computer license, this could be pretty slick.

Worst case scenario is that I just set up the above situation and save the factory file to my cloud space and load it on the Mini and watch the first couple of layers after I manually start the print. Best case would be that I could send it all from the desktop to the Mini and let the mini take over from there. Maybe a master/slave setup?

I'm thinking I'll set up my dropcam to view printing progress.

Any thoughts?

WinterEC wrote:Has anyone tried to do this? Suggestions appreciated:

Currently I have my Printrbot Metal Plus attached via USB to my Mac Pro and sitting on a desk next to my main desk. It's convenient, but noisy.

I have an old Mac Mini and old screen, so I thought about moving the Printrbot into my workshop (maybe I should call it my "MakerSpace"?) and setting up the old Mac Mini and using it as a 3d printserver. Since S3D has a 2 computer license, this could be pretty slick.

Worst case scenario is that I just set up the above situation and save the factory file to my cloud space and load it on the Mini and watch the first couple of layers after I manually start the print. Best case would be that I could send it all from the desktop to the Mini and let the mini take over from there. Maybe a master/slave setup?

I'm thinking I'll set up my dropcam to view printing progress.

Any thoughts?

You may want to look into setting up a Raspberry Pi with OctoPrint. That is pretty popular.

->KeyboardWarrior out

you can set up the "slave" computer as an IP cam or something similar so you can get a continuous video stream and then run a vnc server or other remote desktop client on the slave and you will be bale to control it remotely from anywhere

+1 for octopi. I have that and a d-link webcam and works great. Simplify3D does all the slicing. Octopi preheats the printer, sends in the gcode to print and creates a nifty timelapse video of it to boot.

giantpune wrote:+1 for octopi. I have that and a d-link webcam and works great. Simplify3D does all the slicing. Octopi preheats the printer, sends in the gcode to print and creates a nifty timelapse video of it to boot.

That sounds pretty sweet. That might be what I end up doing.

Hate to waste the Mac Mini, though.

One caveat for Octoprint - when it works, it's amazing and incredibly convenient. However, newer versions have become more and more feature-heavy, and as such are becoming more unstable and limited in applicability - the number of printers that don't work or kinda work is increasing. I used it for 3 years without issue. In the last year I've had more and more problems with it to the point where I'm exploring alternatives.