POLAR 3D PRINTER user manual part 1

 

Polar 3D Implementation Guide Maximizing the Polar 3D Environment Kristin Hubner April, 2017 Copyright 2017, Kristin Hubner. MakerBot and The Replicator are trademarks of MakerBot Industries, LLC. Simplify3D is a trademark of Simplify3D LLC. Contents List of Figures . v 1 1 Get connected to the Polar Cloud . 1.1 Connecting the printer to the Polar Cloud via WiFi . 3 1.2 Connecting the printer to the Polar Cloud via Ethernet cable . 19 1.3 Network issues and solutions . 20 1.3.1 Static IP address for printer . 21 1.3.2 MAC address for the printer . 23 1.3.3 Open HTTP ports

. 24 Solving network connectivity problems . 25 1.3.4 2 Start printing . 27 2.1 Load lament . 28

. 32 2.2 An object to print 2.2.1 Find an object in the Polar Cloud . 33 2.2.2 Experiment with adjusting object placement and print settings

. 37 2.3 Start the print job . 43 2.4 Monitor the printing . 44 3 Understanding the Polar 3D 2.0 Environment

. 46 3.1 The process of 3D design and printing . 48 4.1 Polar Cloud account 4 The Polar Cloud . 51

. 52 4.1.1 Creating your Polar Cloud account . 53 4.1.2 Polar Cloud account settings . 56 4.1.3 Polar Cloud account dashboard . 60 4.2 Objects in the Polar Cloud . 61 i CONTENTS ii 4.2.1 Uploading and downloading objects . 65 Sharing objects . 71 4.2.2 Searching for objects . 77 4.2.3 4.2.4 Object description, print recommendations, photos

. 80

. 82 4.2.5 Deleting an object 4.2.6 Object LIKEs

. 82 4.3 Creating objects using CAD software within the Polar Cloud . 84 4.4 Groups in the Polar Cloud . 85 4.4.1 Creating a group . 86 4.4.2 Group settings

. 88 Inviting Polar Cloud members to join a group . 92 4.4.3 4.4.4 Requesting to join a group . 98 Sharing objects within a group . 98 4.4.5 Sharing printers within a group . 102 4.4.6 4.4.7 Searching for a group . 106 4.5 Managing and sharing printers . 109 4.5.1 Adding a printer to your Polar Cloud account . 111 4.5.2 Changing printer ownership . 112 4.5.3 Printer settings: name, description, and location of printer . 115 4.5.4 Searching for a printer . 118 4.5.5 Allowing access to a printer

. 118 4.5.6 Managing the printer queue . 121 4.5.7 Printer job history . 126 4.5.8 Updating the printer . 129 4.5.9 Printer local web interface accessed from the Polar Cloud131 4.6 Printing through the Polar Cloud . 132 4.6.1 The build plate screen (3D PRINT), and adjusting your print . 135 4.6.2 Submit your print job to a printer and begin printing . 141 4.6.3 Printer dashboard control buttons . 142 4.6.4 Print queues in the Polar Cloud . 146 4.6.5 Real-time video or updated snapshots of jobs in-progress158 4.7 Notications in the Polar Cloud . 159 4.7.1 Responding to an invitation notication . 161 4.8 Viewing other Polar Cloud members

. 165 4.9 Collaborating through the Polar Cloud . 167 4.10 Navigating through the Polar Cloud user interface . 168 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 7.1 STEAMtrax Star Portal 7 STEAMtrax curriculum . 190

. 191 STEAMtrax Star Portal teacher dashboard . 192 STEAMtrax module teacher view . 194 STEAMtrax Star Portal student dashboard . 198 STEAMtrax module student view . 199 7.2 STEAMtrax user import . 200 7.3 STEAMtrax user password management

. 201 7.1.1 7.1.2 7.1.3 7.1.4 8 Operational tips . 206 8.1 Positioning objects . 206 8.1.1 Position objects towards the edge of the build plate . 207 8.1.2 Print multiple small objects at once . 207 8.1.3 Avoid straight-line extrusion runs through the center 8.2 Adhesion and adhesion problems of the build plate . 208

. 209 8.2.1 Making the build plate sticky . 210 8.2.2 First layer height calibration . 211 8.2.3 First layer print speed and thickness

. 212 8.2.4 Temperature and adhesion . 212 8.2.5 Brims, rafts, and skirts . 213 8.3 Removing objects from the build plate . 218 8.4 Filament . 219 8.4.1 Types of lament . 220

. 223 8.4.2 Loading and unloading (and changing) lament 9 Updating the printer . 226 10 Printer maintenance . 230 10.1 Cleaning your build plate . 230 CONTENTS iv 10.2 Lubrication . 231 10.3 Clean lament drive gear . 231 10.4 Replace the nozzle on the extruder

. 232 10.5 Replace a corrupted SD card . 232 10.6 Printer calibration . 233 11 Troubleshooting . 237 11.1 Printer LED lights

. 237 11.2 Clogged or leaky nozzle . 239 11.3 Flaws in printed objects

. 239 11.4 Camera color balance . 242 Appendices . 244 A Polar3D printer specication sheet

. 244 B Polar3D printer diagram . 245 C Connecting the printer directly to your device . 246 C.1 Wireless direct connection and printing . 247 C.1.1 Wireless direct connection . 248 C.1.2 Wireless direct printing . 250 C.2 Cable direct connection and printing . 254 C.2.1 Cable direct connection . 256 C.2.2 Cable direct printing . 267 Glossary . 269 Index . 282 List of Figures 1.1 Printer in shipping box . 1.2 Back of printer: serial number and spool holder arm . 1.3 Mac prompt for printer hotspot WiFi password . 1.4 Use the printers WiFi hotspot to connect to the printers web 2 6 7 8 interface . 9 1.5 Select local WiFi network . 1.6 Enter local WiFi password . 9 1.7 Local Wi congured as network . 10 1.8 Printer Configured Network conguration completed . 10 1.9 Restart the printer for local network connection attempt . 11 1.10 First time login to Polar Cloud . 13 1.11 First time classroom permissions screen . 14 1.12 Polar Cloud home page . 14 1.13 Polar Cloud expand top menu and click PRINTERS . 15 1.14 Polar Cloud printers THUMBNAILS VIEW, ADD printer button . 15 1.15 Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER: enter make and serial number . 16 1.16 Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER make submenu . 16 1.17 Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER security color check . 17 1.18 Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER congratulations . 18 1.19 Polar Cloud added printer listed in THUMBNAILS VIEW . 19 1.20 WiFi static IP address . 22 1.21 Ethernet static IP address . 23 2.1 Load lament onto the Polar3D printer . 28 2.2 Snip end of lament

. 29 2.3 Manual Printer Controls screen: set the temperature . 31 2.4 Polar Cloud top menu OBJECTS tab . 32 2.5 Polar Cloud PUBLIC OBJECTS screen . 33 2.6 Searching for calibration on the PUBLIC OBJECTS screen . 34 v LIST OF FIGURES vi 2.7 PUBLIC OBJECTS listing of William Steeles CALIBRATIONKEY . 34 2.8 CALIBRATIONKEY object detail screen . 35 2.9 3D PRINT screen (build plate screen) for CALIBRATIONKEY object 36 2.10 Build plate screen: MOVE object

. 38 2.11 Build plate screen: MOVE to center CALIBRATIONKEY . 39 2.12 Builld plate screen: SCALE object

. 40 2.13 Polar Cloud check the print temperature . 42 2.14 Printer dashboard: job submitted to the print queue

. 44 4.1 Polar Cloud account management drop down menu . 53 4.2 Polar Cloud login screen . 54 4.3 Polar Cloud account access screen . 55 4.4 Polar Cloud home page . 55 4.5 Polar Cloud account settings . 57 4.6 Polar Cloud account POSITION . 58 4.7 Polar Cloud account ACTIVITY screen . 60 4.8 Polar Cloud top menu OBJECTS tab . 62 4.9 Polar Cloud PUBLIC OBJECTS screen . 63 4.10 Polar Cloud sample object detail screen . 64 4.11 Polar Cloud MY PRIVATE OBJECTS screen . 66 4.12 Polar Cloud object upload screen . 66 4.13 Polar Cloud object upload object selected . 68 4.14 Polar Cloud object upload progress . 69 4.15 Polar Cloud uploaded object build plate screen . 69 4.16 Polar Cloud MY PRIVATE OBJECTS screen after upload . 70 4.17 Polar Cloud object SHARE button Share with Members option 71 4.18 Polar Cloud object SHARE WITH MEMBERS screen . 72 4.19 Polar Cloud object Share with Everyone . 72 4.20 Polar Cloud conrm Share with Everyone action . 73 4.21 Polar Cloud object Share with Groups . 74 4.22 Polar Cloud SHARE WITH GROUPS screen . 75 4.23 Polar Cloud SHARE WITH GROUPS screen with FRIENDS group selected . 76 4.24 Polar Cloud PUBLIC OBJECTS screen . 78 4.25 Polar Cloud search for a box object . 79 4.26 Polar Cloud example FRIENDS groups OBJECTS screen . 79 4.27 Polar Cloud object EDIT screen . 81 4.28 Polar Cloud OWL STATUE object detail screen . 83 LIST OF FIGURES vii 4.30 Polar Cloud LIKE heart is red for personally liked object

. 83 4.29 Polar Cloud OWL STATUS objects LIKES . 84 4.31 Polar Cloud BlocksCAD . 85 4.32 Polar Cloud top menu GROUPS tab . 85 4.33 Polar Cloud GROUPS screen . 86 4.34 Polar Cloud group create screen . 87 4.35 Polar Cloud MY GROUPS screen . 88 4.36 Polar Cloud searching PUBLIC GROUPS . 89 4.37 Polar Cloud sample FRIENDS groups SETTINGS screen . 90 4.38 Polar Cloud example FRIENDS group SUMMARY screen . 93 4.39 Polar Cloud example FRIENDS group MEMBERS screen . 94 4.40 Polar Cloud group member invitation . 95 4.41 Polar Cloud group member invitation . 96 4.42 Polar Cloud group member invitation pending . 97 4.43 Sharing an object with a group . 99 4.44 List of objects to consider sharing with a group . 100 4.45 Selecting which objects to share with a group . 101 4.46 The shared OBJECTS in the example FRIENDS group . 102 4.47 Sharing a printer with a group . 103 4.48 List of printers to consider sharing with a group . 103 4.49 Selecting which printers to share with a group . 104 4.50 The FRIENDS groups shared printers

. 104 4.51 Allowing CONTROL PRINTERS access to FRIENDS group . 105 4.52 Polar Cloud SEARCH for library groups

. 107 4.53 Polar Cloud: request to JOIN a group . 108 4.54 Polar Cloud top menu PRINTERS tab . 109 4.55 Polar Cloud PRINTERS screen in THUMBNAILS VIEW . 110 4.56 Polar Cloud sample printer dashboard screen . 110 4.57 Polar Cloud printer CHANGE OWNER button . 113 4.58 Polar Cloud printer PROMOTE PRINTER MEMBERS pop-up screen 113 4.59 Polar Cloud printer MANAGE tab . 115 4.60 Polar Cloud printer manage screen . 116 4.61 Polar Cloud printer SETTINGS screen . 116 4.62 Polar Cloud printer description and location elds . 117 4.63 Polar Cloud printer MEMBERS screen . 119 4.64 Polar Cloud printer INVITE MEMBERS screen . 120 4.65 Polar Cloud printer queue with two jobs queued . 121 4.66 Polar Cloud printer dashboard with two jobs queued . 122 LIST OF FIGURES viii 4.67 Polar Cloud printer dashboard with multiple jobs queued . 123 4.68 Polar Cloud print queue job edit menu . 124 4.69 Polar Cloud printer HISTORY screen . 126 4.70 Printer history of an object

. 127 4.71 Printer history of an object: SNAPSHOT . 128 4.72 Printer history of an object: TIME LAPSE video . 128 4.73 Polar Cloud printer dashboard UPDATE button . 129 4.74 Polar Cloud printer management screen UPDATE button . 130 4.75 Polar Cloud UPDATE PRINTER conrmation screen . 130 4.76 Polar Cloud printer Status:

UPDATING PRINTER . 131 4.77 Polar Cloud build plate screen while object is loading . 134 4.78 Polar Cloud build plate (3D PRINT) screen . 135 4.79 Polar Cloud build plate MOVE of object

. 137 4.80 Polar Cloud build plate PRINT SETTINGS . 138 4.81 Polar Cloud build plate UI SETTINGS . 140 4.82 Polar Cloud build plate screen: progress loading job to printer 142 4.83 Printer dashboard: job submitted and START button active . 143 4.84 Printer dashboard: control buttons active during job print

. 144 4.85 Polar Cloud printer dashboard ADJUST EXTRUDER TEMPERATURE screen . 145 4.86 Printer dashboard: printer owners view of job queue . 147 4.87 Printer dashboard: printer owners job modication menu . 148 4.88 Printer dashboard: a member queued job waiting while an-

other members job prints

. 149 4.89 Printer dashboard: member options for editting their own queued job . 150 4.90 Two jobs in the print queue . 151 4.91 Edit a job in the print queue . 152 4.92 Build plate screen: load another object from queue

. 153 4.93 Polar Cloud LOAD OBJECTS FROM QUEUE screen . 153 4.94 Selecting which objects to load from the print queue . 154 4.95 Build plate: additional queued object loaded . 155 4.96 Build plate: choose whether merged job replaces original job or becomes a new job . 156 4.97 Merged job present in print queue . 157 4.98 Remove redundant jobs from the print queue . 157 4.99 Polar Cloud notications . 160 4.100Polar Cloud notications: three pending . 160 LIST OF FIGURES ix 4.101Polar Cloud invitations . 161 4.102Polar Cloud ACCEPT a group invitation . 162 4.103Polar Cloud conrmation of joining a group . 163 4.104Polar Cloud SUMMARY display of group upon accepting invita-

tion to join . 163

. 164 4.105Polar Cloud: invitation to manage a printer 4.106Polar Cloud conrmation of printer access

. 164 4.107Polar Cloud object detail, by Van Morris . 165 4.108Polar Cloud member Van Morris

. 166 4.109Polar Cloud top menu . 169 4.110Polar Cloud PRINTERS list view screen . 170 4.111Polar Cloud printer DASHBOARD screen . 171 4.112Polar Cloud printer management screen . 172 5.1 Polar Cloud printer dashboard shows LOCAL UI tab . 178 5.2 Printer local web interface as viewed from Polar Cloud . 179 5.3 Printer local web interface Print File (Project Details) screen . 181 5.4 Printer local web interface Controls screen . 182 5.5 Printer local web interface Calibration screen . 182 5.6 Printer local web interface Camera screen . 183 5.7 Printer local web interface Network screen . 184 5.8 Printer local web interface Update screen . 186 5.9 Printer local web interface Restart screen . 186 8.1 Polar Cloud build plate PRINT SETTINGS . 215 8.2 Polar Cloud build plate Support . 216 8.3 Polar Cloud build plate Platform Adhesion Type . 217 8.4 Polar Cloud build plate Skirt Settings . 218 8.5 Loading lament onto the Polar3D printer . 223 9.1 Polar Cloud printer dashboard UPDATE button . 226 9.2 Polar Cloud printer management screen UPDATE button . 227 9.3 Printer local web interface shows Update tab . 227 9.4 Printer update description and conrmation screen . 228 11.1 Printer camera color balance gets strange . 242 B.1 Polar3D printer diagram . 245 LIST OF FIGURES x C.1 Printer local web interface network status

. 249 C.2 Printer local web interface Project Details screen . 251 Chapter 1 Get connected to the Polar Cloud When you open up your printer shipping box, you will see con-

tents such as shown in Figure 1.1: the printer frame (with print head mounted), a spool of (blue) PLA lament, a power adapter and cord, a can of Aqua Net hair spray, a build plate, and a sam-

ple 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. Wireless (WiFi): see Section 1.1. 2. Ethernet cable: see Section 1.2 Setting up your Polar3D printer as a network printer con-

nected to the Polar Cloud is strongly recommended, as it per-

mits full access to the power of the Polar Cloud interface and features. However, for times when you dont have an Inter-

net connection (or even access to a local network), the Polar3D 1 CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 2 printer can instead be controlled directly from your device for printing: see Appendix C. Figure 1.1: Printer in shipping box CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 3 1.1 Connecting the printer to the Polar Cloud via WiFi Overview of getting your printer connected to the Polar Cloud via WiFi:

Details on getting your printer connected to the Polar Cloud 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 ma-

terial. 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.com/p/BJBaWwrjCwF/

This will put a slightly sticky, but water soluble, layer on the build plate, giving better adhesion when objects are print-

ing. 2. The printer arrives in its shipping box with the print head completely lowered, and the build plate

(which is made of mirrored glass) not installed on the printer build plate shuttle. You will need to raise the print head in order to have room to place the build plate on the printer build plate shuttle. Twist the threaded Z rod clockwise to raise the print head. Raising the print head one to two inches will give you room to install the build plate. After you have unwrapped the build plate and prepared its surface by applying a coat of hair spray (see above), and raised the print head to make room for installing the build 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 axed. 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. Tip the build plate slightly and engage the gear on its bottom with the drive gear on the shuttle; then push the build plate down onto the shuttle so that it seats onto the center bearing of the shuttle. 3. Insert the power cord into the adapter, and the adapter plug into your Polar3D printer. Note:

Do not force the adapter plug; it will not be ush with the printer. Plug in to a power outlet. 4. When the printer has nished powering up, the POLAR3D LED lights along the side of the printer will be entirely blue. 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 printers 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 se-

rial number consisting of P3D and ve digits, in this example P3D02259; (Figure 1.3 shows an example of entering this password on a Mac computer). Figure 1.2: Back of printer: serial number and spool holder arm 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 printers web interface, as in Figure 1.4. At this stage, in the printer web interface, note that there is no blue highlighted network shown un-

der Configured Network, meaning that the printer is not (yet) connected to any local WiFi and through that to the Internet, but rather is in HotSpot mode. (Aside:

The Polar3D WiFi listed, which your printer is not on, is the Polar 3D corporate WiFi.) Once you connect to your sites lo-

cal WiFi network, then instead under Configured Network you will see your local WiFi highlighted in blue (seen later in Figure 1.7). CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 8 Figure 1.4: Use the printers WiFi hotspot to connect to the printers 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.

(At some sites, local networking may require some additional conguration work here: if you know that your site uses static IP addresses or requires conguration assistance by the network administrator to allow your printers MAC address onto the local network or allow your printer access to outgoing HTTP ports, this is the time to perform such steps:

see Section 1.3. Also, please note that captive portal network CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 9 access is not supported.) Once you have congured 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 1.6: Enter local WiFi password CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 10 Figure 1.7: Local Wi congured as network Figure 1.8: Printer Configured Network conguration completed While not strictly necessary, we recommend that you remove 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 attempt-

ing to connect to that network after power cycles; you want your printer to attempt to connect rst to your local network when it powers on.) After removing Polar3D WiFi network, your Configured Network screen should look similar to Figure 1.8. You have now congured your 3D printer with a network prole for your local network. But incorrect values, such as for the local network password (see Figure 1.6), wont be detected until your printer attempts to actually connect... Figure 1.9: Restart the printer for local network connection attempt Once your printer is congured to know how to connect to the local network (and if necessary, the local network has been con-

gured by your network administrator to permit your printer to connect), click the Restart tab on the left navigation pane, and then click the Confirm button, see Figure 1.9, to have your printer attempt to connect to the local network, and 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. If the connection attempt still does not succeed, then at your site local networking may require some additional conguration work, such as conguring static IP ad-

dress information rather than use of DHCP, and possibly as-

sistance from your local IT administrator to permit your 3D printer onto the local network and permit it access to outgoing HTTP ports: see Section 1.3. 8. Once the printer is connected through your local network to the Polar Cloud, its POLAR3D LED lights will be blue over white. You may now close the browser window that had been used to connect to the printers local web interface (the browser window connected to 192.168.0.1, opened in step 6). 9. Creating a Polar Cloud account is a rst step in establishing your Polar 3D environment, as the Polar Cloud is the central hub and command center of the environment. For Polar Cloud, you will need a Google account, a Facebook account, or a Microsoft Live account. If you do not already have any such account, you will need to make one. (For instance, a Google account CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 13 is very easy to create: go to www.gmail.com.) The Polar 3D sup-

port 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 youre going to use for Polar Cloud access (Google, Facebook, or Microsoft Live). That will create your Polar Cloud account. If this is your rst time signing into the Polar Cloud, you will next see a screen asking for permission to access Polar Cloud sharing and classroom features:

CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 14 Figure 1.11: First time classroom permissions screen Once youre signed in, your home page should appear, looking similar to Figure 1.12. Figure 1.12: Polar Cloud home page CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 15 10. Now, with the printer turned on and con-

nected 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 1.14: Polar Cloud printers THUMBNAILS VIEW, ADD printer button

(ii) On the ADD A PRINTER screen shown in Figure 1.15, at Printer Make, select Polar3D if this is a Polar3D printer. If CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 16 this is a Polar3D printer, also enter the printers serial number

(the same P3D and ve digits that you entered in step 5), as shown in Figure 1.15. Figure 1.15: Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER: enter make and serial number The Polar Cloud is printer-independent, being designed to operate with other desktop 3D printers as well as Polar3D print-

ers; so if this is not a Polar3D menu, there is a drop down menu under Make for entering alternate types of printer makes, as shown in Figure 1.16. Figure 1.16: Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER make submenu 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 printers name and enter a longer text description and location for the printer, should you wish: perhaps describing the printers 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 1.17, saying Printer was found. Please select the colors to register the printer.

(If you do not see this message nor see the screen shown in Figure 1.17, return to step (ii) and make sure that the printer is plugged in and connected to the Internet with POLAR3D LED lights blue over white; then check that you correctly input the printers serial number.) Figure 1.17: Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER security color check The color of the LED lights spelling out POLAR3D along the side of the printer will now form a security check: at each of the three drop down menus, enter the color that your printers 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 min-

utes) to enter these colors; if you do not enter the colors prop-

erly, you will be locked out of adding the printer for a short time. If you entered the colors successfully, you will get a conr-

mation that your printer was successfully added, as shown in Figure 1.18. Figure 1.18: Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER congratulations Click OK to dismiss this conrmation and move to the printer listing screen (THUMBNAILS VIEW), as shown in Figure 1.19. 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 rst 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. The only dierence is in the portability of the printer, as with an Ethernet cable connection, the printer will be physically connected to the network. 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 1.3: you may need to enter a static IP address for your printer, or ask your IT or network administrator to open up local network access to your printer. Once the LED lights on the printer show as POLAR3D (blue over white), then perform steps 9 and 10 from Section 1.1; that is, log in to your Polar Cloud account, and add the printer to your Polar Cloud account. 1.3 Network issues and solutions Note that captive portal network access is not supported. If your site does not use DHCP and instead assigns static IP addresses to network devices (such as your 3D printer), you will need to congure your 3D printer to know its static IP information; see Section 1.3.1. If your site uses advanced networking requiring authentica-

tion of a MAC address, then your IT or network administrator will need to add your 3D printers MAC address to the list of hardware on the network in order for your printer to successfully connect to the local network; see Section 1.3.2. 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 printers 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. For a general overview of network connectivity diagnosis and solutions, see Section 1.3.4. 1.3.1 Static IP address for printer Many networks automatically assign IP addresses (via DHCP) to network devices such as your 3D printer, but if your local net-

work does not have a DHCP server, then you will need to man-

ually congure your printer with a static IP address. If your lo-

cal network requires a static IP address, then after connecting to 192.168.0.1 (and if necessary clicking the NETWORK tab to get to a screen such as Figure 1.4), either click on Add WiFi and then select a WiFi network name from the drop down menu (if you are conguring a WiFi connection), or click on Ethernet

(if you are conguring an Ethernet connection). Instead of leaving the DHCP button highlighted, click the Static Address button. This will bring up a display such as shown in Figure 1.20 (WiFi) or Figure 1.21 (Ethernet). CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 22 Figure 1.20: WiFi static IP address Enter specic 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, youre probably familiar with the sorts of values to enter. Oth-

erwise, ask your IT or network administrator for details on what values to enter. CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 23 Figure 1.21: Ethernet static IP address Once you have nished 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 congured local network information to connect to your local network, and then through it to the Polar Cloud. 1.3.2 MAC address for the printer Some advanced networks require dierent types of authentica-

tion. In this case, your IT or network administrator will need to CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 24 add your 3D printers 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 192.168.0.1, look under the header Network Information for the value in the Current MAC eld; see for instance Figure 1.8.

(Indeed, the printer local web interface shows the MAC address in multiple places; see also for example Figure 1.20 or Figure 1.21.) Note that if you have left your Polar3D printer congured to potentially use multiple WiFi networks, then the MAC address displayed may dier in its nal digit from the value printed on the GETTING STARTED sheet. 1.3.3 Open HTTP ports Outgoing HTTP ports 80 and 443 must be open to the printer. If your local network does not allow the printer to access those outgoing ports, then the printers attempts to connect to the Polar Cloud will not fully succeed. In terms of LED lights, the symptom you will see when the rest of conguration was successful but now the printer cant access the outgoing HTTP ports is that the LED lights will be blue over yellow: POLAR3D . Make a note of your printers IP address (if you are using a 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 printers 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. POLAR3D ! POLAR3D ! POLAR3D (the LED lights cycled from entirely blue, to blue over red, before returning to entirely blue): the printer searched for the specied local network, but could not successfully connect.

(a) For WiFi connection, rst go back to the network pro-

le conguration (step 7 in Section 1.1; see in partic-

ular Figure 1.6), and check that you entered the local network password correctly!

(b) If using a static IP address, check that all those net-

working parameters were correctly entered; see Section 1.3.1.

(c) On an advanced network, check with your network ad-

ministrator that he or she has used your printers MAC address to permit it access; see Section 1.3.2. 2. POLAR3D ! POLAR3D ! POLAR3D (the LED lights cycled from entirely blue, to blue over red, before ending as blue over yellow): the printer successfully connected to 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) Conrm 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.

(b) Check whether your site is having general Internet con-

nectivity problems the printer cant connect to the Polar Cloud unless your Internet connection is operat-

ing!

Chapter 2 Start printing Once you have your printer connected to the Polar Cloud (see Chapter 1), you can start your rst print through the Polar Cloud!1 For your rst print, youll want to load lament (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. 1If you want to print without connecting through the Internet to the Polar Cloud, see Appendix C which explains how to get started printing when directly connected to the printer. 27 CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 28 2.1 Load lament Figure 2.1: Load lament 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 lament and place it onto the spool holder; see Figure 2.1. 3. Find the end of the string of lament. 4. Snip o the end of the lament perhaps an inch or two with a pair of scissors or wire clippers to get a good, clean 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 lament 5. Feed the lament through the lament guide (the hole at the top of the Polar3D printer); see Figure 2.1. 6. Stick the end of the lament into the lament feed hole at the top of the print head. The feel of this takes a bit of getting used to: when sticking the lament into the feed, you must push past some initial resistance: you must push the lament in far enough to engage with the lament drive 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 Fila-

ment 7. Check that the lament is properly inserted and engaged with the lament drive gear as follows:

(a) From your device (phone, tablet, computer), connect to the printers local IP address to access the printers local web interface.

(If your local network permits access from the Internet back to your printers local IP address, you may instead conveniently access the printer local web interface and perform such settings while within the Polar Cloud. From the Polar Cloud main menu, expand the left-hand menu and click on PRINTERS, then click on the image of the printer you are loading with lament; this will take you to the printers dashboard screen; see Figure 4.56. At that screen, click on the LOCAL UI tab (gear icon) at the upper right, to navigate to the printers local web in-

terface.) At the printer local web interface, see Figure 5.7, click on the Controls tab from the vertical menu on the right. At the Manual Printer Controls screen, en-

ter a temperature of 180C and click the SET button;

see Figure 2.3.

(b) Once the extruder has warmed up, which you can see on the Manual Printer Controls screen just underneath 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 lament.

(c) Note that if the printer already had a bit of lament in the extruder and the Polar3D printers get a test print performed at the factory so even a brand-new printer may have a bit of lament in the extruder you may see molten plastic leaking out as the printer heats up, even before you tell it to extrude lament. But you want to see the printer feeding in and extruding your lament the lament you just loaded. Seeing a string of your lament get extruded as now molten plastic conrms that your lament is properly loaded, and youre ready to print!

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 les) in the Polar Cloud; you may:

1. Search for and nd 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. Print any object already in your Polar Cloud collection

(though if youre a new Polar Cloud member, you prob-

ably wont have any such objects yet). A quick way to get started is to nd an object in the Polar Cloud, as will be demonstrated in Section 2.2.1. CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 33 2.2.1 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. For instance, if you dont see any object that particu-

larly appeals to you as your rst print, you might try searching for calibration (to nd objects intended for checking cal-

ibration) and try one of those objects as your rst print; see Figure 2.6. CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 34 Figure 2.6: Searching for calibration on the PUBLIC OBJECTS screen Lets scroll down and nd William Steels original calibration key, as shown in Figure 2.7. Figure 2.7: PUBLIC OBJECTS listing of William Steeles CALIBRATIONKEY CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 35 Figure 2.8: CALIBRATIONKEY object detail screen Clicking on that objects icon image takes you to the objects detail screen, as shown in Figure 2.8. (Note that for especially 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 les, the process of loading the objects 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. At the 3D PRINT screen, also referred to as the build plate screen, you may optionally make numerous adjustments to the object; see Section 2.2.2. Once you are content with the planned object, click the PRINT button (at screens upper right) to submit the print job to the printer; this will automatically take you (after possibly a minute 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 objects 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. There are many ways to adjust your object, as well as adjust printer settings, before printing. (The variety of possible adjust-

ments are discussed in detail in Section 4.6.1.) For now, you may merely want to experiment with, and check, the following:

1. Move the position of the object on the build plate. 2. Change the size of the object, making it bigger or smaller. 3. Rotate your view of the object. 4. Check that your extruder temperature is set sensibly for the lament that you are using; for the PLA lament supplied by Polar 3D, the proper temperature is 185C. 2.2.2.1 Experiment with moving the object on the build plate 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. 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. Click-

ing either place will bring up a set of colored axes (red X-

axis, 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). Check that MOVE is highlighted (in blue), meaning that it is selected; clicking on MOVE, or typing W, will select it; see Figure 2.10. Figure 2.10: Build plate screen: MOVE object To move the objects desired placement on the build plate, you may do whichever is most convenient:

1. Click on the axis arrow in the left-hand, object view win-

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 2.11: Build plate screen: MOVE to center CALIBRATIONKEY While in general objects are best printed oset from the cen-

ter of the build plate (thereby avoiding blemishes from any sub-

optimal calibration at the build plate center see Section 8.1.1), the CALIBRATIONKEY object, as it intended to test and display any calibration issues, is best printed with its center at the cen-

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. This will bring up a set of colored axes (red X-

axis, green Y-axis, blue Z-axis) superimposed on the object 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 objects overall size uniformly along all axes, or scale the object dierently along dierent axes: see the Scale of axes uniformly checkbox below the SCALE tab. To adjust the objects size, you may either move the slider position on an axis in the right-hand window, or you may click on an axis in the left-hand, object view window, and then drag to change the size along that axis as desired. 2.2.2.3 Experiment with rotating your view of the object At the object build plate screen, see Figure 2.9, the dial towards the upper left of the left-hand (object on build plate) screen in eect rotates the build plate it rotates your view of the object. The two small buttons underneath the dial allow you to zoom in and zoom out on your view of the object and build plate.

(Note that this rotation of your view of the build plate and the object on it is distinct from rotating the objects placement on the build plate that operation, rotating the placement of the object while keeping the build plate stationary, is instead controlled via the ROTATE (R) tab under PLACEMENT.) Try clicking on the left arrow and right arrow on the dial to rotate the build plate (and the object on it), and try clicking on the left button below the dial (to zoom in) and the right button below the dial (to zoom out). CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 42 2.2.2.4 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 lament provided by Polar 3D is 185C. (If you are using a dierent type of lament, see the lament manufacturers recommendation for what tem-

perature to use for it.) CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 43 2.3 Start the print job Are you ready to submit your object for printing? (Note that if you dont 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.) Once you are ready to submit a print job that is, once you have completed any adjustments you wished to make at the build plate (3D PRINT) screen overviewed in Section 2.2.2 (and discussed in detail in Section 4.6.1) then clicking the PRINT button towards the upper right of the 3D PRINT screen will submit your job to your selected printer. (Note that, especially with complicated object models, the loading of the .stl le to the printer may take some time it is normal for this stage to take a minute or two: a blue swirling loading icon will appear towards the lower right of the screen.) Once the submission has completed, you will be shown a printer dashboard screen such as Figure 2.14. 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). Note that after you have clicked START, the status line un-

derneath the printer name (towards the top left of the printer CHAPTER 2. START PRINTING 45 dashboard screen) will cycle (fairly rapidly) through: WAITING FOR RESPONSE, PREPARING PRINT, and then PRINTING. At 175C, 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 185C (the proper temperature for extruding Polar 3D PLA lament). At 185C, the printer will begin extruding melted lament and your print is in progress!

Once the object has nished printing, the status line un-

der the printer name (towards the top left of the screen) will cycle through: COMPLETING PRINT JOB, FINISHING PRINTING, and then READY TO PRINT (when it is ready for a new job). 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 nd use of Polar 3D 2.0 enhanced but familar! Older docu-

mentation 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 eective 3D printers, but also provides a collabo-

rative and exible inventor space that supports management of printing from anywhere in the world. The Polar 3D environment includes many features supporting and enhancing classroom use, and Polar 3D oers the innovative, NGSS-aligned STEAMtrax curriculum to aid in bringing the excitement and learning op-

portunities of 3D printing directly into the classroom. Polar Cloud The Polar Cloud is the central hub of the Polar 3D environment. It is a free, web-based platform for collabo-

ration, design, class assignments, and lab management. Polar Cloud groups allow teachers to group students by subject, and 46 CHAPTER 3. UNDERSTANDING THE POLAR 3D 2.0 ENVIRONMENT47 allows members to nd 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 les. The Polar Cloud also allows for remote printing: you can control your printer from the oce 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. The narrow foot-

print, simplicity of the hardware, quality print results, and ro-

bust, web-based printing control software are all tops on its list of positives. Polar Box (under development) This brings the remote printer management capabilities of the Polar 3D environment to any desktop 3D printer. STEAMtrax Curriculum is another component of maxi-

mizing the educational benet from classroom 3D printers, or a 3D printer lab. The STEAMtrax curriculum provides modules that are easy to align to NGSS or state standards, so whether youre a teacher new to 3D printing, or a long-time maker, STEAMtrax can aid you in incorporating 3D printing into your classroom for a rich and exciting learning experience for your students. 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 dene the objective: Identify a need, dene 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. Or a curriculum such as STEAM-

trax may present a student or group of students with a task;

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 dene and develop stages. Note also that education-

ally, promoting the practices of science and engineering promoting the cognitive, social, and physical practices of scientic inquiry and modeling, and engineering design and construction is a key component of the NGSS (Next Gen-

eration Science Standards). 2. Select an idea for something to build: Step 1 may have generated several potential solution ideas; choose an object or part to try creating. 3. Design 3D model: Generate a 3D model of the object using available CAD (Computer Aided Design) software such as OpenSCAD, BlocksCAD, or Tinkercad; (see Chapter 6 for additional CAD software options); use the CAD software to generate an industry-standard .stl le. Or nd, shared in the Polar Cloud, an already created .stl le. 4. Print: Load the generated .stl le(s) onto a 3D printer for printing. See Section 4.6 for details of using the Polar Cloud to submit a print job.

(Or when you dont have network access to the Internet, see Appendix C.) 5. Solve any printing problems: See Chapter 8 and Chapter 11. 6. Test: Try using the object; test and evaluate it. 7. Rene: As needed, revise, improve, or rene the design;

then return to step 3 to generate an updated 3D model. 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. Or, during the process above, you may have come up with additional ideas you would like to further explore!

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 his-

tory 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. You may store 3D object les (as well as supplementary information such as photographs) in the Polar Cloud (Section 4.2), share objects with other Polar Cloud members (Section 4.2.2 and Section 4.2.3), and give and receive printing and usage tips and feedback on objects (Section 4.2.4 and Section 4.2.6). Polar Cloud groups provide a way to collaborate, sharing printers and objects, amongst a student class, maker space club, or library members, etc.; see Section 4.4. The Polar Cloud provides mechanisms for managing and shar-

51 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. The Polar Cloud provides a platform for various forms of collaborating and sharing 3D model work with others, whether with particular Polar Cloud members, or through classroom or club Polar Cloud groups. In particular, you may share objects

(such as .stl les), photos and printing tips about objects, give and receive feedback on objects, and share 3D printer use; see Section 4.9. The Polar Cloud has access to CAD software for creating your own 3D models; see Section 4.3. For an overview of navigating through the Polar Cloud user interface, see Section 4.10. 4.1 Polar Cloud account To perform Polar Cloud account1 tasks, click on your account name at the top right-hand side of the Polar Cloud bar at the top of Polar Cloud screens to access the drop down menu shown in Figure 4.1. 1If you do not yet have a Polar Cloud account, see Section 4.1.1 or Section 1.1, step 9. 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, in-

cluding:

1. Change your account settings and customize your prole;

see Section 4.1.2. 2. Track your account activity; see Section 4.1.3. 3. Log out; click the Sign Out tab. 4.1.1 Creating your Polar Cloud account Creating a Polar Cloud account is a rst step in establishing your Polar 3D environment, as the Polar Cloud is the central hub and command center of the environment. (Note that initial Polar Cloud account creation is also described in Section 1.1;

see step 9.) 1. For Polar Cloud, you will need a Google account, a Face-

book account, or a Microsoft Live account. If you do not already have any such account, you will need to make one.

(For instance, a Google account is very easy to create: go to www.gmail.com.) The Polar 3D support article Link-

ing Your Current Email Address to a Google, Microsoft, or Facebook Account has additional details. 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 youre going to use for Polar Cloud access (Google, Facebook, or Microsoft Live): that will create your Polar Cloud account!

3. The rst time you log in to the Polar Cloud (and possibly on occasion afterward, if the Polar Cloud has been updated with new sharing features), you may get asked whether you wish to permit the Polar Cloud to make use of certain shar-

ing/access and classroom features; an example such screen is shown in Figure 4.3. (Permitting such access is recom-

mended.) After you make your choice, youre done creating your account!

Once youre signed in, the Polar Cloud home page should appear, looking similar to that shown in Figure 4.4. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 55 Figure 4.3: Polar Cloud account access screen Figure 4.4: Polar Cloud home page CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 56

(Note that you can always return to this home page by click-

ing 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 al-

ready 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. 4.1.2 Polar Cloud account settings To modify settings for your Polar Cloud account, at the account drop down menu (see Figure 4.1) click on Settings to get to a screen such as shown in Figure 4.5. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 57 Figure 4.5: Polar Cloud account settings Your display name is the name that will be displayed through-

out 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. As such, put some thought into what you would like displayed: consider whether you wish to be easily identiable when other members search or view objects you posted, or whether you prefer a more obscure or symbolic name. Teachers may also wish to advise students on appro-

priate choice of display name. To set or modify your display name, click on the eld underneath DISPLAY NAME. 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 eld to properly represent your sta-

tus; see Figure 4.6. Figure 4.6: Polar Cloud account POSITION You may upload a prole picture of yourself, to be displayed in small ngernail size along with your account display name 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. Make sure to click the SAVE tab (toward the upper right of the account screen) after making any changes to your account settings. 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. Account activity may include operations such as adding a new printer, your own print jobs getting created and cancelled or completed, other users 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 accounts activity, including other Po-

lar 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. 4.2 Objects in the Polar Cloud Through the Polar Cloud, you may create your own objects, search for and nd objects created by others, and print objects. You may share object les (e.g., .stl les), descriptions and comments regarding object creation and use, recommendations for print settings to aid in successful printing, photos of printed objects, and videos of printing objects, with other Polar Cloud members. You may also download object les from the Polar Cloud, or upload into the Polar Cloud object les created outside the Polar Cloud. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 62 Figure 4.8: Polar Cloud top menu OBJECTS tab One of the Polar Cloud top menus 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. You will go directly to (see highlighted) whichever of MY PRIVATE OBJECTS, MY SHARED OBJECTS, or PUBLIC OBJECTS you most recently viewed with PUBLIC OBJECTS the default if this is your rst login to the Polar Cloud. Objects are listed in order from most recent to oldest. 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 pack-

ages available within the Polar Cloud itself to design an object and generate its .stl le(s); see Section 4.3. Or if you already have some .stl le(s) describing an object available from else-

where, you may upload the le(s) into the Polar Cloud using the UPLOAD tab. To print or otherwise manage an object already in your set of objects (under MY PRIVATE OBJECTS), click on the icon for the object itself. That will take you to a screen such as shown in Figure 4.10 where you may: 3D PRINT, DOWNLOAD, SHARE,

(or in the case of private objects, EDIT the text description of) your object. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 64 Figure 4.10: Polar Cloud sample object detail screen To print or otherwise access a shared (under MY SHARED OBJECTS) or public object (under PUBLIC OBJECTS), click on 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 Fig-

ure 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. From the objects detail screen, clicking 3D PRINT will take you to the build plate screen where you may adjust placement and print settings, and when ready click PRINT to actually submit the print job; see Section 4.6 and in particular Section 4.6.1. 4.2.1 Uploading and downloading objects You may upload objects into your Polar Cloud collection of ob-

jects. Such objects might be ones you yourself created using your choice of external CAD software (note that objects you create using CAD software while inside the Polar Cloud are al-

ready in your object collection in the Polar Cloud and do not need to be uploaded), or objects you found or purchased o the Internet. Any normal .stl le can be uploaded into the Polar Cloud. Note that when you upload an object into the Polar Cloud, the object is always uploaded to your private collection of ob-

jects, (as shown under MY PRIVATE OBJECTS), regardless of what context you may be in when you perform the upload. If you wish, subsequently you may choose to share your uploaded object with particular Polar Cloud members, or groups, or make 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 le from your device into your private collection of objects in the Polar Cloud, at the Polar Clouds top menu select OBJECTS, as shown in Figure 4.8. This will take you to the Polar Cloud objects screen, 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 rst time in the Polar Cloud, clicking OBJECTS will take you to the Polar Cloud PUBLIC OBJECTS screen such as shown in Figure 4.9.) Though for your upload, it does not matter which list of objects you are viewing, if you wish, you may go to the MY PRIVATE OBJECTS screen: at the Polar Clouds top menu select OBJECTS, then click MY PRIVATE OBJECTS (towards the left of the screen). If you do not yet have any private objects, you will see a screen such as shown in Figure 4.11. At the MY PRIVATE OBJECTS screen (or at the MY SHARED OBJECTS screen or the PUBLIC OBJECTS screen), click the UPLOAD button; see Figure 4.11. This will open up a window, as shown in Figure 4.12, where you may drag-and-drop a le, or click inside the window to search the les on your device. Once you have specied the le(s) you wish to upload, see Figure 4.13, click the UPLOAD button. The progress of the upload will be displayed; see Figure 4.14. Note that you do not need to pause your work while the up-

load occurs; clicking either the CLOSE button or the X mark at the upper right of the UPLOAD FILES screen shown in Figure 4.14 will close that window, but your upload will continue, and you will continue to see the progress icon in the lower right of whatever Polar Cloud screen you are at. Clicking on the upload progress icon from a dierent Polar Cloud screen will re-open the UPLOAD FILES progress window, should you wish to return to it. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 68 Figure 4.13: Polar Cloud object upload object selected Once the le(s) have nished uploading, you will automat-

ically be taken to the objects build plate screen (as if youd selected the object and clicked 3D PRINT), as illustrated in Figure 4.15. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 69 Figure 4.14: Polar Cloud object upload progress Figure 4.15: Polar Cloud uploaded object build plate screen From the objects build plate screen, you may perform all the CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 70 normal modications 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 ob-

jects, 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 4.10, you may click the DOWNLOAD button to save the object (.stl le(s)) to your device. (Note that you may download to your device any type of object in the Polar Cloud: private object, shared object, or public object.) Downloading can also be performed on objects accessible to you from within a print queue using the print queue job edit menu, or from printer history, or from your account history. 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 specied members, making an object public (any Polar Cloud member may access it), or sharing an object with mem-

bers of particular groups (only members in those groups may access it). To share an object with specied members, from the object detail page click the SHARE button and select Share with Members; see Figure 4.17. This will bring up a SHARE WITH MEMBERS search screen, where you may search for and add the Polar Cloud members with whom you wish to share your ob-

ject; see Figure 4.18. Note that the searching is by Polar Cloud account display name. To make an object of yours public, so that all others in the Polar Cloud may copy and use it, from the objects screen, see 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 4.19: Polar Cloud object Share with Everyone CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 73 Since making an object public is an irrevocable action, you will be asked to conrm this action; see Figure 4.20. Once an object is shared publicly, note that it cannot then be shared to specic 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 4.20: Polar Cloud conrm Share with Everyone action Note that sharing an object with everyone in the Polar Cloud, that is, making it a public object, means that your Polar Cloud display name is associated publicly with that object. In particu-

lar, if a student member shares an object publicly, that student

(and any biographical data they have included in their account biography) thereby becomes somewhat more publicly visible in the Polar Cloud. Teachers may wish to discuss this aspect of public posting of objects with their students. To share an object with specic groups, there are two ap-

proaches. The rst approach is to perform the sharing from the 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 specic members or publicly. The second approach is to perform the sharing from the groups own OBJECTS screen. The approaches have an equivalent eect, 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. This will bring up a SHARE WITH GROUPS screen, where you may select (or search) among the groups of which you are a member for groups with which you wish to share your object; see Figure 4.22. Once you have clicked the checkbox(es) of a group or groups with which to share the object, you must click the blue SHARE button (towards the bottom right of the SHARE WITH GROUPS screen) to share the object;

see Figure 4.23. To share an object of yours with a specic group from the groups own OBJECTS screen, navigate to that group, click CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 75 Figure 4.22: Polar Cloud SHARE WITH GROUPS screen CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 76 Figure 4.23: Polar Cloud SHARE WITH GROUPS screen with FRIENDS group selected 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 specic other Polar Cloud members. A group manager may UNSHARE from a group any object that any group member has shared with the group; however, to reduce the chance that a group member inadvertently UNSHAREs an object intended to be shared as part of a class assignment, ordinary group members can not UNSHARE any group objects, even ones they themselves shared with the group. (However, if a group member shared one of their own objects with a group, that member may DELETE the object, thereby eectively re-

moving it from the group.) You can neither UNSHARE nor DELETE any public ob-

ject. 4.2.3 Searching for objects To nd objects that others have shared publicly in the Polar Cloud, from the OBJECTS screen shown in Figure 4.9, click the PUBLIC OBJECTS tab to go to a screen of publicly shared objects, shown in Figure 4.24, and click on the SEARCH button

(or magnifying glass icon); then enter search terms for the sort of object you wish to nd. Object name and description are compared when searching. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 78 Figure 4.24: Polar Cloud PUBLIC OBJECTS screen For instance, searching for box will result in a more specic list of objects, as shown in Figure 4.25. To nd 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 groups 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. To nd objects shared personally with you, select OBJECTS from the Polar Cloud top menu, click the MY SHARED OBJECTS tab to go to a screen of objects shared individually with you, and click the SEARCH button (or magnifying glass icon); then enter search terms for the sort of object you wish to nd. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 79 Figure 4.25: Polar Cloud search for a box object Figure 4.26: Polar Cloud example FRIENDS groups OBJECTS screen CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 80 4.2.4 Object description, print recommendations, pho-

tos To add or change the description of an object, or add recommen-

dations 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 ad-

ditional .stl les or remove existing les, or upload (or remove) your own photos of a printed object. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 81 Figure 4.27: Polar Cloud object EDIT screen Once you are satised 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 nish editting and return to the object page. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 82 4.2.5 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 les are deeply awed, or which was quite unsat-

isfactory in other ways, you may wish to remove it from your Polar Cloud account, so that you dont unintentionally refer to it and perhaps start printing it again in future. To delete one of your objects, whether entirely private, shared with some specic other Polar Cloud members, or shared with a group, select it (from where it is listed under MY PRIVATE OBJECTS, or MY SHARED OBJECTS, or a groups OBJECTS) to get to the objects detail page, see Figure 4.10. Then click EDIT to get to the objects manage page; see Figure 4.27. Then click the red DELETE button towards the top. Objects that have been shared publicly can not be deleted. 4.2.6 Object LIKEs To LIKE an object, at the objects screen, see Figure 4.28, click on the heart icon towards the upper right. Note that the number of LIKEs an object has already received is tallied under the heart icon. You may not LIKE your own objects. 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 4.30: Polar Cloud LIKE heart is red for personally liked object CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 84 Figure 4.29: Polar Cloud OWL STATUS objects 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 les you generate into the Polar Cloud, that is fully supported too. See Chapter 6 for a list of some suggested CAD packages, and see Section 4.2.1 for a discussion of uploading object les, once you create them.) 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. Cre-

ating a group is typically the most convenient way to congure 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. 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 re-

cently viewed. 4.4.1 Creating a group To create your own group (whether that be a class group, a club group, or simply a group of like-minded makers), click the CREATE button shown in Figure 4.33, and ll in the elds de-

scribing the group on the group creation screen shown in Figure 4.34; click the CREATE tab (towards the lower right of the CREATE A GROUP pop-up screen) once you have lled in the elds. Note that if you intend to set your group to allow it to be visible and searchable within the Polar Cloud, see Section 4.4.2, then including informative text in the DESCRIPTION and CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 87 LOCATION elds will aid other Polar Cloud members in search-

ing 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 elds. Figure 4.34: Polar Cloud group create screen 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 mem-

bers of the group can see details about the group, or nd it by searching via the SEARCH button at the Polar Cloud GROUPS screen; see Figure 4.36. 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 groups SETTINGS screen; see Figure 4.37. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 90 Figure 4.37: Polar Cloud sample FRIENDS groups SETTINGS screen At the groups SETTINGS screen, click PUBLIC if you would like any Polar Cloud member to be able to join the group (with no approval required), view full group membership, and nd the group by searching via the SEARCH button at the Polar Cloud 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 groups join code or approval by you (the group owner), limit viewing of the full membership list of the group to the groups members

(outsiders able to see only the groups manager(s)), and have the groups existence and name ndable via SEARCH. For privacy reasons, typically school or class groups includ-

ing student members should not be set PUBLIC. However, if you wish the existence of your group to be visible while keep-

ing the membership list private, you may set the group to be MODERATED: with this setting, only your groups existence and your status as manager of the group will be visible within the Polar Cloud, and anyone wishing to join the group will either need the groups join code or have to make a request which will come to you. Another group setting that may be of interest is the CONTROL PRINTERS switch. When you rst create a group, by default group members do not have operation control of any group printers: that is, by default group members cannot see other members jobs queued to such a printer nor start nor stop jobs on the printer. If you wish all group members to have limited operation control over group printers see all queued jobs, and be able to start and stop jobs then move this switch to the on position; see Figure 4.51. Note that CONTROL PRINTERS access may be particularly suitable for classes or groups of experienced, reliable students

(whereas printer manager access, in contrast, has further privi-

leges, such as the ability to invite or delete Polar Cloud member access to the printer, and access the printer local web interface CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 92 from within the Polar Cloud, privileges which may not be ap-

propriate to delegate to students). For classroom or lab printers, whether or not you wish to congure 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 expe-

rienced or older students. If you wish to permit printer control to only a few, selected students in a class, consider dening two groups of students, those with control access and those without, sharing use of the printer with both groups. 4.4.3 Inviting Polar Cloud members to join a group To invite individually other Polar Cloud members to join your group, click on the specic group from your list of groups, see Figure 4.35. Selecting a specic group will take you to a display screen for that group, as shown in Figure 4.38; at this screen you may perform various group management operations. To invite a fellow Polar Cloud member, or members, to join a group you have created, from the groups menu (such as shown in Figure 4.38), select MEMBERS, to take you to a screen such as shown in Figure 4.39. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 93 Figure 4.38: Polar Cloud example FRIENDS group SUMMARY screen 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 eld to-

wards 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 in-

vite to join your group, as shown in Figure 4.41, and then click INVITE (towards the bottom right of the INVITE MEMBERS screen, Figure 4.41). CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 95 Figure 4.40: Polar Cloud group member invitation 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 notication to join your group. Such invited Polar Cloud members who have not yet accepted your invitation will show up as pending in your groups member list, as shown in Figure 4.42. 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. For instance, a classroom teacher might inform all students in a class of the group join code for the class group, telling the students to go CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 98 use that group join code to join. 4.4.4 Requesting to join a group A groups 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 groups SUMMARY screen. The group owner may choose to pass this code along to Polar Cloud members whom the group owner wishes to allow to join the group: for instance, for a class group, a teacher might pass out the group join code to all the students in the class. When a Polar Cloud member clicks the JOIN button for a MODERATED group, the member has the opportunity to enter the group join code. Entering the group join code will add the member to the group. If a Polar Cloud member does not know the group join code (or does not enter it correctly), then the Polar Cloud members join request will result in a request no-

tication to the group owner for the group owner to accept or decline. 4.4.5 Sharing objects within a group The group manager or any members of the group may share within a group any objects to which they have access: such ac-

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 objects 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 groups own OBJECTS page, click SHARE, and then select the desired object(s), as discussed below. The eect is the same either way; selecting an object and then group(s) to share it with may be more convenient when you are sharing a single object with multiple groups, whereas from within a group selecting object(s) to share may be more convenient when you wish to share multiple objects to a single group. Figure 4.43: Sharing an object with a group To share an object using the groups own OBJECTS page, from the groups menu see Figure 4.38 click on OBJECTS to bring up a screen such as shown in Figure 4.43. Then click on SHARE (at center right) to bring up a list of objects which you may choose to share with the group as shown in Figure 4.44;

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 4.44: List of objects to consider sharing with a group 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 groups OBJECTS display, as shown in Figure 4.46. 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 specically for a group, or upload an object to a group, you will rst 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 groups menu see Figure 4.38 click on PRINTERS to bring up a screen such as shown in Figure 4.47. Then click on SHARE (at center right) to bring up a list of printers which you may choose to share with 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 4.48: List of printers to consider sharing with a group 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 4.50: The FRIENDS groups shared printers 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. To allow the members of a group to CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 106 control printer operation, see the CONTROL PRINTERS switch under the groups SETTINGS tab; Figure 4.51 shows allow-

ing 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 nd 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 4.4.2, you will only be able to see listed and nd via searching those groups dened as PUBLIC

(non-members can see full group details) or MODERATED (non-

members can only see an overview and the group manager(s), but may not see a list of group members). Clicking on a group will take you to the groups summary page. Typically, school or class groups will have been dened as PRIVATE (in which case you wont be able to see them at all not even that such a group exists), or as at most MODERATED

(in which case you can see the groups existence and a few details such as its manager(s), but not its list of members). To request to join a group, click on the JOIN button (at the upper right of the groups summary screen); see Figure 4.53. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 107 Figure 4.52: Polar Cloud SEARCH for library groups CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 108 Figure 4.53: Polar Cloud: request to JOIN a group If it is a group congured for PUBLIC access, you will au-

tomatically be added to the group. If it is a group congured for MODERATED access and you know the group join code, you will be added to the group; without the group join code, the CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 109 group owner will receive a notication 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 menus main sections is PRINTERS;

see Figure 4.54. Under that tab, you will see a list of accessible printers (displayed either via icons or via text descriptions), a SEARCH button (magnifying glass), and an ADD button (+); Fig-

ure 4.55 shows an example of what the list of printers display might look like with only one printer accessible to you. 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 4.56: Polar Cloud sample printer dashboard screen CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 111 4.5.1 Adding a printer to your Polar Cloud account Typically, a printer is rst connected to the Polar Cloud by the printers owner when the printer is rst 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 print-

ers; see Section 4.5.5. That is, printer management can be shared without altering printer ownership, and without alter-

ing the printer registration to a particular account in the Polar Cloud. If you have acquired a previously used printer, especially if it is a printer previously used at your site, see the discussion of changing printer ownership in Section 4.5.2; for some circum-

stances (in particular, if either the network conguration is still the same or you wish to retain the printers existing job history and job queues), it may be simpler and more satisfactory to re-assign printer ownership rather than going through the pro-

cess of adding the printer to your account as a new printer

(completely re-conguring the printers network prole and re-

registering the printer in the Polar Cloud). Note that if you attempt to add a printer to your account while it is still registered in the Polar Cloud as having a dierent Polar Cloud member as its owner, the eect will be that you are added as a manager of the printer, not as the printers owner, and the printers existing job history and print queue will be unaected. This is intentional behavior, as it allows for cases such as a substitute teacher managing the printer while the usual teacher is unavailable: the substitute teacher adds the printer and thereby becomes merely a new manager, rather than wiping CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 112 out the primary teachers ownership. If you wish to wipe out a prior printer owners ownership and printer history and print queues (such as when you have acquired a printer from a dierent school district or other orga-

nization) so that you can register yourself as the owner of the printer in the Polar Cloud, rst connect to the printers local web interface and click the Reset Printer on the Polar Cloud tab. Then go through the steps to add a printer to your account, as if it were a brand new printer, as discussed in Chapter 1. 4.5.2 Changing printer ownership Occasionally it may be necessary or useful to switch printer own-

ership, or to attach a printer originally connected by some other Polar Cloud member to your Polar Cloud account: for instance, if you are taking over or acquiring a previously used printer from another teacher. If you are merely switching ownership at the same site, with-

out changing connection details (network details), and without a desire to obsolete the existing printer queue and history of print jobs as for instance, when a new teacher is assigned to take over an existing class and printer the CHANGE OWNER but-

ton on the printers MEMBERS screen under the printer manage screen, see Figure 4.57, allows the old manager to conveniently reassign printer ownership to another Polar Cloud member; see Figure 4.58. Note that in this case the print queue and printer history will remain unchanged: any pending print jobs can con-

tinue without interruption, and the printer history will retain its list of jobs performed. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 113 Figure 4.57: Polar Cloud printer CHANGE OWNER button Figure 4.58: Polar Cloud printer PROMOTE PRINTER MEMBERS pop-up screen However, when a printer previously registered in the Polar Cloud is moved to an entirely dierent site or organization, or is being drastically re-purposed, then the printers new owner may CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 114 wish to re-register the printer and eectively start afresh with the printer. The process for starting afresh with a printer, at-

taching a previously used printer at a dierent site, is essentially that of attaching a new printer, already discussed in Chapter 1:

adding a printer to your Polar Cloud account. When a printer is moved to a new site, the prior owner may have chosen to delete their local network prole information from the printer via the Reset Networks button of the Network screen of the printer local web interface, and may have obsoleted their ownership of the printer in the Polar Cloud via that same screens Reset Printer on the Polar Cloud button. Per-

forming Reset Printer on the Polar Cloud in particular is recommended when changing ownership of a printer in high use as it means that any remaining print jobs queued to the printer remain visible to members, so that members can move such old jobs to another printer to which they have access it is less disruptive to the printers members. However, it is possible to take over a printer even without such steps, as when the for-

mer printer owner is no longer available to aid by performing such a clean handover step. If the printer was previously connected via some other local network (as when you have acquired a printer formerly used at a dierent site), you will need to start at the steps for conguring local network use. If, however, the printer was already in use in your 3D printer lab or classroom, so already properly congured to use your local network (and the prior owner didnt click Reset Networks thereby deleting the local network prole), and you merely need to take over as its owner, then you should start instead at step 10 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. Then continue on, entering the make and the serial number of the printer, and going through the colored light security check, etc., as discussed in Chapter 1. 4.5.3 Printer settings: name, description, and location of printer From the THUMBNAILS list of printers, hover over the printer of interest and click on its MANAGE tab, see Figure 4.59, to get to a view such as Figure 4.60. Figure 4.59: Polar Cloud printer MANAGE tab 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 rst registered with the Polar Cloud, its NAME eld 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 4.61: Polar Cloud printer SETTINGS screen CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 117 Figure 4.62: Polar Cloud printer description and location elds 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 serial-

number value, nd it useful to incorporate the serial-number into the printer name: e.g., Physics-lab-P3D02259, or Media-Center-P3D02265 or the like. Especially if your site owns multiple 3D printers accessible to many students or other Polar Cloud members, consider entering some information in the DESCRIPTION and LOCATION elds to aid in locating and identifying the purpose of this particular printer. In particular, note that when searching for a printer, see Section 4.5.4, the serial number, name, descrip-

tion, and location elds are all compared for a match. Click the SAVE button when you have nished entering your desired information; see Figure 4.62. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 118 4.5.4 Searching for a printer Under either the THUMBNAILS VIEW or LIST VIEW of print-

ers (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. 4.5.5 Allowing access to a printer Access to a printer through the Polar Cloud is controlled by the printers manager(s). Initially, the only manager of a printer is the printers owner the person who initially connected the printer to the Polar Cloud but the printer owner (and only the printer owner) can authorize additional Polar Cloud members to become managers.2 A manager may add Polar Cloud members to a list of mem-

bers allowed to use the printer, or may share a printer with a group. To authorize printer access for an additional Polar Cloud member or authorize an additional printer manager, select (click on) the specic printer from the list of printer(s) (see Figure 4.55), and then from the printers dashboard screen (see Figure 4.56), click on the MANAGE tab (see Figure 4.59) to take you to the manage page for the printer, shown in Figure 4.60. (An alternate way to get to the selected printers summary page:

2Note that Section 4.5.2 discusses how to change the printer owner, for cases where you want to reassign who is in charge of determining the printers managers; in particular, the printer owner may reassign ownership to another user of the printer. 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 printers 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 4.64, at which the printer owner or a printer manager can invite another Polar Cloud member to access the printer (ADD USER button), or the printer owner can invite another another Polar Cloud member to become a manager for the printer (ADD MANAGER button). The invited member will receive a Polar CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 120 Cloud notication 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 re-

move members or managers from such access to the printer. The SEARCH button may be used to search within those Polar Cloud members granted access to the printer; for printers with a large number of members allowed access, this may be more convenient than scrolling through the icons on the MEMBERS screen. Figure 4.64: Polar Cloud printer INVITE MEMBERS screen CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 121 4.5.6 Managing the printer queue From a printer MANAGE screen, see Figure 4.60, you can access the printers 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 cur-

rently pending jobs in the printers queue; Figure 4.60 shows an empty queue. Figure 4.65, in contrast, shows a printer with two jobs queued. Note that the print queue is also displayed on the printer dashboard; see Figure 4.66 which shows the printer dashboard view of those same two queued jobs. Figure 4.65: Polar Cloud printer queue with two jobs queued 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 rst. 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. As the owner or as a manager of a printer, (or if you are a member of a group granted CONTROL PRINTERS access to a shared printer) you have quite a bit of control over the jobs in the print queue. The owner or any manager (or any group member with control access) may:

1. Tell the printer to begin a job: click the START button. 2. PAUSE or STOP a currently printing job. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 123 3. Modify a job in the queue, perhaps adding additional ob-

jects to the build plate. 4. Delete a job from the print queue. 5. Shue 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 les or conguration (print settings) for a job. Figure 4.67: Polar Cloud printer dashboard with multiple jobs queued When at a printer dashboard screen such as shown in Figure 4.67, clicking on the three dots towards the upper right of the icon for a job will bring up a menu for performing job modica-

tions; see Figure 4.68. The printer owner and any other printer managers (or any 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, con-

trol 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. The printer owner and managers (and group members with control access) also have the full range of job modication menu options shown in Figure 4.68 available for all pending jobs in the queue:

1. Edit Job, which takes you back to the jobs build plate screen, where you may perform any of the usual modica-

tions, including:

(a) Changing the PLACEMENT of the object: MOVE, SCALE, or ROTATE. 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.

(f) Downloading an object from the build plate to your device.

(g) Merging (loading onto the build plate) the objects from other print jobs queued to the printer. 2. Prioritize Job, which switches the order of queued jobs. 3. Download STL, which downloads the object .stl le to your device. 4. Download Config, which downloads the slicer settings

(the jobs PRINT SETTINGS) to your device. 5. Remove Job, which of course removes the entire job from the queue. (In the case of a job which includes multiple ob-

jects, if you only wish to remove particular object(s) from the print job rather than removing the entire job, see in-

stead the Edit Job tab, discussed above.) In contrast, the printer dashboard control buttons are not 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. Besides DETAILS (the objects in that job, when it was queued and by whom, and when completed), other information about a print job includes a SNAPSHOT showing the completed 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 4.70: Printer history of an object CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 128 Figure 4.71: Printer history of an object: SNAPSHOT Figure 4.72: Printer history of an object: TIME LAPSE video CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 129 4.5.8 Updating the printer Occasionally, an update to the printer rmware will be avail-

able. When an update is available, you will see an active UPDATE button appear on both the printer dashboard screen, see Fig-

ure 4.73, and the printer management screen, see Figure 4.74. Clicking the UPDATE button from either location will bring up a conrmation screen, see Figure 4.75; click the UPDATE PRINTER button to perform the update. Figure 4.73: Polar Cloud printer dashboard UPDATE button CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 130 Figure 4.74: Polar Cloud printer management screen UPDATE button Figure 4.75: Polar Cloud UPDATE PRINTER conrmation screen Note that when you click the UPDATE PRINTER button to begin the update, the printers Status: will cycle through WAITING FOR RESPONSE, UPDATING PRINTER (see Figure 4.76 this may take several minutes), and possibly OFFLINE (if the update re-

quires the printer to restart), before getting back to READY TO PRINT. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 131 Figure 4.76: Polar Cloud printer Status:

UPDATING PRINTER Note that when the printer is performing an update, the LED lights along the left-hand side of the printer will go through a color change: the LED lights towards the bottom (3D) will turn green, POLAR3D , and then the green color will gradually move up until all the lights are green, POLAR3D , indicating that the update is complete, before the lights return to their normal colors (blue over white, POLAR3D , for a printer connected to the Polar Cloud).

(Note that it is also possible to perform an update directly to the printer, without going through the Polar Cloud; see Chapter 9 for details.) 4.5.9 Printer local web interface accessed from the Po-

lar Cloud Clicking on the LOCAL UI tab (or gear icon towards the upper right) of a specic printers screen (see Figure 4.56) will cause the Polar Cloud to attempt to open a connection itself to the printers local web interface, using what the Polar Cloud be-

lieves to be the printers IP address on your local network. Note CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 132 that only a printer owner or manager, or a member of a group congured to share operational control of the printer, may con-

nect 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 printers local web interface while still in the Polar Cloud.

(However, if your local network does not allow such Internet ac-

cess, then the Polar Cloud connection attempt to the printers local web interface will not succeed; in that case, you will only be able to access the printers local web interface by connecting directly to the printer while on your local network; see Chapter 5.) However, note that once you have initially connected your printer to the Polar Cloud (as discussed in Chapter 1), there is seldom much subsequent need or interest in accessing the printers local web interface; for printers managed through the Polar Cloud, use of the printer local web interface might oc-

cur only for occasional manual operations or for printer re-

conguration purposes. Sustained use of the printers local web interface occurs primarily when instead controlling the printer directly from a device connected via local WiFi (as discussed in Section C.1). See Chapter 5 for details on the features and use of the printers local web interface. 4.6 Printing through the Polar Cloud When you print through the Polar Cloud:

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. You may remotely view the progress and status of your print job. 5. You may remotely view real-time video of your print as it occurs. 6. The printer history of jobs is updated. 7. Your own account activity and history of what you have printed is updated. To print an object already in your Polar Cloud object collec-

tion (or a shared object or a public object in the Polar Cloud), from the Polar Clouds main menu, select OBJECTS (see Fig-

ure 4.8), then MY PRIVATE OBJECTS (see Figure 4.9) or you may select SHARED OBJECTS or PUBLIC OBJECTS and then click on the specic object that you wish to print. To print an object shared in a group of which you are a member, navigate to the group (see Section 4.4), and then select OBJECTS (see Figure 4.46), and then click on the specic object that you wish to print. Selecting one of your own objects will take you to a screen 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 objects display screen, click on 3D PRINT; this will take you to the build plate screen, where as the objects .stl les 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 4.77: Polar Cloud build plate screen while object is loading You may add objects to your Polar Cloud collection: up-

loading an object created elsewhere, or creating a new object through CAD software in the Polar Cloud, will both automati-

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. Towards the upper left is the 3D printer currently selected;

if multiple printers are accessible to you, you may select which one you want to print on via this drop-down menu. 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 les) is submitted to the printer , and then you will automatically go to the printer dashboard screen; see Section 4.6.5. 3. The object or objects are shown positioned on the build plate, towards the middle-left of the screen. 4. A dial for rotating your view of the object and build plate

(and a central double-down-arrow for restoring the object to at on the build plate), and + and - buttons for zooming the view in or out, is available on the left, above the view of the object itself. 5. On the right, underneath PLACEMENT , PRINT SETTINGS, and UI SETTINGS, is a list of one or more objects. Click on an object to activate the PLACEMENT and PRINT SETTINGS for that object. When there is only one object on the build plate, the PLACEMENT and PRINT SETTINGS apply to that object, and the ob-

ject need not be explicitly selected (clicked on). However, when there is more than one object, clicking on the object in the list selects which object will have PLACEMENT and PRINT SETTINGS adjustments applied. 6. When PLACEMENT is highlighted, four buttons appear un-

derneath it, above the list of objects. 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 Po-

lar Cloud objects to the build plate.

(d) Load Objects from your Queue that is, add an ob-

ject currently on the print queue to the build plate

(that is, merge print queue jobs). Figure 4.79: Polar Cloud build plate MOVE of object 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 move-

ment, MOVE, SCALE, or ROTATE, along with three slider scales corresponding to the axes, will appear on the right, under PLACEMENT and the object list. You may move the object on the build plate, change its size, or rotate it about an axis, either by dragging and dropping on the image of the object, or via the slider scales, while PLACEMENT is selected. Figure 4.79 shows an example of the appearance of axes when MOVE has been selected. Figure 4.80: Polar Cloud build plate PRINT SETTINGS 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. In particular, under PRINT SETTINGS, there are three screens of settings:

(a) The BASIC settings include extruder temperature (185C is normal for the PLA lament provided by Polar 3D, but the temperature should always be adjusted for the type of lament you are actually using), and whether to add a brim, raft, or skirt when printing the object.

(b) The ADVANCED settings include inll settings (den-

sity of the objects interior), lament diameter, retrac-

tion settings (raising the print head during non-printing moves), Quality settings (adjusting the thickness of the exterior of the object), Speed settings (e.g., for ne-tuning the speed of printing the initial layer which may be relevant for getting good adhesion, and a good initial ow of material), and some cooling set-

tings.

(c) The G-CODE settings allow you to modify the starting and ending Gcode (actual instructions to the printer). 9. The UI SETTINGS are several setting adjusting the oper-

ation of the build plate user interface; see Figure 4.81.