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CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 140 Figure 4.81: Polar Cloud build plate UI SETTINGS 4.6.1.1 The build plate screen: adding or extracting objects You may load multiple objects to the build plate, adding objects from other print jobs you have queued, or adding objects acces-
sible to you in the Polar Cloud, via the Load Objects from the Cloud or Load Objects from the Queue icon buttons, respectively. When the build plate has multiple objects on it, stored in separate les, you may also select particular such objects to copy into your private collection of objects in the Polar Cloud: you may extract such particular objects to store in the Polar Cloud. See the Upload Objects to the Cloud icon button. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 141 4.6.2 Submit your print job to a printer and begin printing From the build plate screen, clicking the blue PRINT button
(at the upper right of the screen) submits your print job to the currently selected printer (as shown in the upper left of the build plate screen); see for instance Figure 4.81 (or for additional discussion of build plate screen features, refer to Figure 4.78 in Section 4.6.1). Especially if your object(s) have large .stl les, you may see a swirling blue icon (with a numeric progress value) towards the lower left of the build plate screen after clicking PRINT, as the job is submitted to the printer; the numeric value and inner blue arc indicate how far the load has progressed, while the swirl of the outer blue arc shows progress occurring; see Figure 4.82. Once your job is completely submitted, you will automati-
cally be taken to the printer dashboard screen, where you will now see your job (as well as possibly other, previously submit-
ted, jobs) in the print queue; refer to Figure 4.86. To actually begin the print of your object, or whichever object is rst in the queue, the printer owner or a printer manager (or a member of a group with control access to the printer) must click the START button on the printer dashboard screen (a blue button, towards the upper right); Section 4.6.3 will further discuss the printer dashboard control buttons such as START and STOP. Of course, rst you may want or need to perform some preparation tasks such as: remove any previously printed completed object o the build plate, touch-up the hair spray on CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 142 Figure 4.82: Polar Cloud build plate screen: progress loading job to printer the build plate, load or change lament, etc. Before your print job begins printing, you may also choose to modify it. And if you are a printer manager or have control access to the printer, you may modify the queued jobs of other members, perhaps shuing the order of jobs, or merging jobs;
Section 4.6.4 will further discuss such print queue management operations. 4.6.3 Printer dashboard control buttons By default, the control buttons on the printer dashboard screen are only active for the printer owner and any additional printer managers, while members instead see these control buttons grayed-
out. For such printers, only the printer owner and any additional CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 143 printer managers can trigger the actual start of a queued print job (or pause or stop a job that is currently printing). However, when a printer is shared with a group, there is a group setting to allow members of the group to control the printer. When that switch has been set ON, then all members of the group sharing the printer can also make use of the control buttons. To trigger the start of the job at the head of the print queue, click the START button on the printer dashboard screen; see Figure 4.83. Figure 4.83: Printer dashboard: job submitted and START button active Once a job is printing, the control buttons CHANGE FILAMENT, COLD PAUSE, PAUSE, and STOP appear; see Figure 4.84. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 144 Figure 4.84: Printer dashboard: control buttons active during job print The CHANGE FILAMENT button pauses the print (performs a warm pause), and backs out the current lament. The COLD PAUSE button pauses the print, turning othe heating element in the extruder. A cold pause is appropri-
ate when you do not wish to abort a partially printed object, but you need some signicant time to check (or x) something with the printer, or perhaps you need some time to obtain more lament. The PAUSE button performs a warm pause:
it pauses printing but keeps the heater(s) on and does not back out the lament. As such, a PAUSE is appropriate when you want to quickly check (or x) something. But leaving the printer in a warm pause for an extended period is not recommended:
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 145 since the lament remains in the still hot extruder, during an extended warm pause, melted lament may begin leaking onto your build plate. The STOP button cancels the print job: printing of the current job stops, and all heaters are turned on. Note that the print job is left in the queue (should you later wish to make a fresh start on the print); if, however, you do not plan to ever re-attempt this print job, you should delete the job from the queue. After performing a CHANGE FILAMENT, COLD PAUSE", or PAUSE, the control buttons that become available are RESUME
(to resume printing) and STOP (if you wish to turn your tem-
porary pause into a permanent cancel of the print job). Figure 4.85: Polar Cloud printer dashboard ADJUST EXTRUDER TEMPERATURE screen CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 146 In addition to the control buttons, the printer dashboard also allows controlling the printer temperature. Clicking on the tem-
perature dial will bring up a screen with an option to adjust the printer temperature; see Figure 4.85. 4.6.4 Print queues in the Polar Cloud The Polar Cloud maintains a print queue for each printer, allow-
ing multiple members (those Polar Cloud members authorized to use that printer; see Section 4.5.5) to submit print jobs to a printer; the Polar Cloud will submit each job in turn to the actual printer. From the printer management screen, see Figure 4.60, clicking on QUEUE will show a display of jobs on the print queue. The owner or a manager of a printer will see all jobs; similarly, a member of a group congured to have printer control of any shared printers will also see all jobs. But a Polar Cloud member who is allowed to use the printer but who is neither the owner nor a manager, (nor a member of a group congured to have control of shared printers), will only see his or her own jobs. Note that the printer manager(s) may view all jobs in a print queue, including jobs of other members; see Figure 4.86. The printer manager(s) may also modify jobs in a print queue, in-
cluding those of other members; for instance, a printer manager may delete jobs from the print queue, or rearrange the order of the jobs in the queue. Clicking on the three vertical dots at the top right of the icon for a job will bring up the menu of available modications; see for instance Figure 4.87. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 147 Figure 4.86: Printer dashboard: printer owners view of job queue A Polar Cloud member (who is not the owner nor a manager of the printer, nor a member of a group with control access to the printer) can see and modify only those print jobs he or she submitted to the printers job queue, as well as seeing through the printer dashboard a live view of whatever the printer is cur-
rently doing (which may be printing another members job). Figure 4.88 shows an example of the printer dashboard screen presented to a member who has one queued print job of their own, waiting for another members print job to nish. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 148 Figure 4.87: Printer dashboard: printer owners job modication menu CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 149 Figure 4.88: Printer dashboard: a member queued job waiting while another members job prints Note that the control buttons (towards the top right of the screen) are all grayed-out when a member is viewing the printer dashboard of a printer the member neither owns nor manages
(nor has control access permitted through group membership):
such a member cannot interrupt the printers current job. Nor can such a member see what other jobs may be queued to the printer before his or her own job(s); the member can only per-
form operations on their own print jobs (before they begin print-
ing), such as removing one of their own queued jobs, or edit-
ting/combining print jobs. Clicking on the three vertical dots towards the upper right of the queued job icon (see Figure 4.88) will bring up the options for modifying a queued job (see Figure 4.89). CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 150 Figure 4.89: Printer dashboard: member options for editting their own queued job The Polar Cloud also maintains a history list of what has been printed on the printer. From the printer summary dis-
play screen, see Figure 4.60, clicking on HISTORY will show the history of what has been printed on the printer; see Figure 4.69. 4.6.4.1 Merging print queue jobs Sometimes it may be convenient to merge multiple print jobs that is, to have the printer work on printing multiple objects at once. Especially for small objects, printing multiple objects at once (thus with built-in cooling time) may even yield bet-
ter results. And for printers accessed by multiple Polar Cloud CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 151 members, printing multiple objects at the same time may lessen wait time and contention for the printer. Suppose the print queue has multiple jobs queued; see Figure 4.90. Figure 4.90: Two jobs in the print queue Click on the three dots at the upper right of the rst job, and select Edit Job; see Figure 4.91. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 152 Figure 4.91: Edit a job in the print queue Editting a print queue job will take you to a build plate screen for that object; click the icon to the far right, Load Objects from Your Queue (underneath UI SETTINGS); see Figure 4.92. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 153 Figure 4.92: Build plate screen: load another object from queue Clicking the load icon will bring up a LOAD OBJECTS FROM QUEUE screen; see Figure 4.93. Figure 4.93: Polar Cloud LOAD OBJECTS FROM QUEUE screen CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 154 Check the box(es) for the jobs you wish to merge into the job youre editting, and then click the blue LOAD button (towards the lower right); see Figure 4.94. Figure 4.94: Selecting which objects to load from the print queue The additional object(s) will now also be loaded to the build plate; see Figure 4.95. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 155 Figure 4.95: Build plate: additional queued object loaded Click the PRINT button (towards the upper right) to submit this merged job to the printer; a pop-up SAVE PRINT JOB screen will ask whether you wish to SAVE TO EXISTING PRINT JOB (replacing the print job you originally chose to edit) or CREATE NEW PRINT JOB (submit a newly created print job in addition to your original print jobs); see Figure 4.96. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 156 Figure 4.96: Build plate: choose whether merged job replaces original job or becomes a new job If you click CREATE NEW PRINT JOB, then at the printer dashboard you will now see three queued jobs, the two original jobs plus a third job which has both objects; see Figure 4.97. If you wish, you may now remove either or both of the original two print jobs: click on their three dots and select Remove Job;
see Figure 4.98. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 157 Figure 4.97: Merged job present in print queue Figure 4.98: Remove redundant jobs from the print queue CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 158 4.6.4.2 Move a print job to a dierent printer If you have access to multiple printers, then a print job that is pending in one printers print queue may be moved to a dierent printer. To do this, go to the printer dashboard, click the three dots at the upper right of the print job icon, and click Edit Job to return to the build plate screen for the print job. Then select the desired printer from the printer drop-down menu (to-
wards the upper left of the build plate screen) and click PRINT to resubmit the print job to the newly chosen printer. Moving a print job is most often performed just for con-
venience and eciency of managing printer use: e.g., a dif-
ferent printer might be currently unused and ready to print, or might already have desired lament loaded. However, an-
other case that can arise is when the printer local web interface Reset Printer on the Polar Cloud tab has been used to obsolete a prior use of the printer. When a printer has been obsoleted in the Polar Cloud, any print jobs that had been pending in its print queue remain in the Polar Cloud, not ac-
tively printing but instead assigned to the obsolete printer
(re)named P3Dserial-digits -deleted-date , so that if de-
sired, such print jobs may be editted to reassign them to a dif-
ferent printer. 4.6.5 Real-time video or updated snapshots of jobs in-
progress When you submit an object to be printed (press PRINT on the 3D PRINT screen), the Polar Cloud display will automatically CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 159 go to the dashboard screen for your selected printer, showing what the printer is currently doing. If you are connected to the same local network to which the printer is connected, the printer dashboard will show live video of what the printer is currently doing. If you are connected to the Polar Cloud through a dierent local network, the printer dash-
board will instead display frequently updated (updated about every ve seconds) still snapshots of what the printer is cur-
rently doing. If your job is at the head of the printers job queue, you will see your job printing. Once your job has begun printing, a STOP button will appear; you may press that button if you wish to stop (abort) the print job. If you are the owner or a manager of the printer, you will see on the printer dashboard START button; press that button to begin your print. Note that time-lapse video of the print job is also available later in the printer history; see Section 4.5.7. 4.7 Notications in the Polar Cloud Hovering over the bell icon, towards the upper right of a Po-
lar Cloud screen, will display a summary of any notications
(such as invitations to access a printer or join a group) that you may have. When a number appears on the bell, it represents how many pending notications are awaiting your attention; see Figure 4.100. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 160 Figure 4.99: Polar Cloud notications Figure 4.100: Polar Cloud notications: three pending When you invite a fellow Polar Cloud member to become a member of one of your groups, or invite a fellow Polar Cloud member to become a user or manager of a printer that you own or manage, that Polar Cloud member will receive an invitation notication. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 161 Figure 4.101: Polar Cloud invitations 4.7.1 Responding to an invitation notication Clicking on the bell icon, towards the upper right of a Polar Cloud screen, will display the list of notications awaiting your attention; see Figure 4.101. Figure 4.101 shows a range of the possible types of invitations:
an invitation to join a group, an invitation to become a manager of a printer, and an invitation to become a user of a printer. Note that the issuer of an invitation is not explicitly informed of your action on the invitation (in particular, no response no-
tication back to the invitation issuer is generated when you DECLINE an invitation), though if you do ACCEPT an invita-
tion, the issuer will thenceforth see, when looking at a group or CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 162 printer, that you are a member of the group or have access to the printer. When you ACCEPT an invitation to join a group, see Figure 4.102, a conrmation that you joined will appear and you will have the opportunity to go see the group; see Figure 4.103. Figure 4.102: Polar Cloud ACCEPT a group invitation Clicking on the CONFIRM button in Figure 4.103 will take you to the groups SUMMARY display page, as shown in Figure 4.104. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 163 Figure 4.103: Polar Cloud conrmation of joining a group Figure 4.104: Polar Cloud SUMMARY display of group upon accepting invita-
tion to join CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 164 When you ACCEPT a printer access invitation, whether that invitation is to become a manager (see Figure 4.105) or a user, a conrmation that you may now access the printer will appear and you will have an opportunity to go directly to that printers dashboard; see Figure 4.106. Figure 4.105: Polar Cloud: invitation to manage a printer Figure 4.106: Polar Cloud conrmation of printer access CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 165 Figure 4.107: Polar Cloud object detail, by Van Morris 4.8 Viewing other Polar Cloud members Clicking on the icon of a Polar Cloud member, whether that icon appears on an object detail page (e.g., see the upper left of Figure 4.107), group member list, printer member list, or in the activity list for your account (so a user of a printer of yours), will take you to a Polar Cloud member page for that member, such as shown in Figure 4.108. Note that student Polar Cloud members are typically mem-
bers of PRIVATE or MODERATED class groups. Therefore, un-
less a student has posted (that is, shared) a PUBLIC OBJECT, students typically are not visible to general Polar Cloud mem-
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 166 Figure 4.108: Polar Cloud member Van Morris CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 167 bers; students are typically visible only to other members of their own class groups and their class groups managers (typi-
cally their own teacher(s)). 4.9 Collaborating through the Polar Cloud You may share objects you have created or printed through the Polar Cloud, either with all Polar Cloud members, or with mem-
bers in particular groups, or only with specic other Polar Cloud members. To share an object simply click the SHARE but-
ton (under OBJECTS, MY PRIVATE OBJECTS or MY SHARED OBJECTS, the object itself), and then choose with whom to share the object; see Section 4.2.2 or Section 4.10. An alterna-
tive, more group-centric, way to share objects with a group is also discussed in Section 4.4.5. Note that your descriptions of objects and any printing rec-
ommendations or tips you wish to provide, and possibly photos of your printed object, see Section 4.2.4, may be particularly useful to other members when you share objects. You may also search for and nd and use objects that others have shared within the Polar Cloud; see Section 4.2.2. (Note how it is useful when other members provide detailed descriptions and helpful printing tips for their objects!) You may allow others to access your printer(s) share your printer(s) through the Polar Cloud. To make your printer ac-
cessible to particular, specied Polar Cloud members, see Sec-
tion 4.5.5; to allow access to your printer to all members in specied groups, see Section 4.4.6. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 168 If others have made their printer(s) accessible to you, you can use others printers. Accessible printers will show up in the list of printers displayed by selecting PRINTERS from the Polar Cloud left-hand top menu; see Figure 4.55 (or Figure 4.110). You may create groups of Polar Cloud members with a shared characteristic (e.g., students in a class) or shared interests. A group is a particularly convenient way to share objects and share
(access to) printers. See Section 4.4. You may LIKE the objects of other members, and they may LIKE your objects; see Section 4.2.6. LIKEs are tallied and displayed along with the object (both in the icon displays of lists of objects, and on the objects screen). 4.10 Navigating through the Polar Cloud user interface Go to http://polar3d.com and you will see the login screen, as shown in Figure 4.2. Once you have logged in, the main screen has an expandable menu icon at the upper left, with choices PRINTERS, OBJECTS, and GROUPS; see Figure 4.109. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 169 Figure 4.109: Polar Cloud top menu The main screen also has a drop down menu under the ac-
count name at the upper far right, with choices Settings, your account email, and Sign Out; see Figure 4.1. And just to the left of the account drop down menu is a bell icon, for notications. You can return to the main screen from other Polar Cloud screens by clicking on the cloud icon towards the upper left. 4.10.1 Navigating the printers Under PRINTERS will appear a list of printers (which can either be displayed via photos or via names the icons for switching between views), a tab to ADD a printer, and a tab to SEARCH for a printer (relevant if you have many accessible printers). For an example of the thumbnail view, see Figure 4.55; for an example of the list view, see Figure 4.110. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 170 Figure 4.110: Polar Cloud PRINTERS list view screen Clicking on a specic printer from the THUMBNAIL VIEW
(or clicking on the eye icon on that printers line in the LIST VIEW) will take you to the printers dashboard screen, such as shown in Figure 4.111. Clicking on the MANAGE tab from the printer dashboard (or on the squares icon on that printers line in the LIST VIEW) will take you to the printer management screen, such as shown in Figure 4.112. On the printer management screen are tabs QUEUE (display the current queue of jobs submitted to the printer), HISTORY (display the recent jobs printed on that printer), and MEMBERS (control which members may use the printer, and which members are considered managers of the printer).
(Note that DASHBOARD and MANAGE take you back and CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 171 Figure 4.111: Polar Cloud printer DASHBOARD screen CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 172 Figure 4.112: Polar Cloud printer management screen forth between the printer dashboard screen and the printer man-
agement screen.) On either the dashboard or management screen, clicking the LOCAL UI tab will cause the Polar Cloud to attempt to connect back (over the Internet) to the printers local interface (via its local IP address); see Section 4.5.9 and Chapter 5. 4.10.2 Navigating the objects Expanding the Polar Cloud main screens top left-hand menu and clicking OBJECTS (see Figure 4.8) will take you to the OBJECTS screen (Figure 4.9) with tabs for categories of objects:
MY PRIVATE OBJECTS, MY SHARED OBJECTS, and PUBLIC OBJECTS. Under each of these tabs, you may select (click on) any available object, or click a tab to UPLOAD or SEARCH for an object. CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 173 Clicking on the icon for an object itself will take you to a screen where (for one of your private objects) you may 3D PRINT, DOWNLOAD, or SHARE your object, or EDIT the objects text description; see Figure 4.10. For shared objects, you have similar choices 3D PRINT, DOWNLOAD, or SHARE
(with EDIT the object text description not available for shared objects). For any object, you may also LIKE the object by click-
ing on the heart icon (towards the upper right of the object screen). Clicking on 3D PRINT takes you to a screen where you may adjust PLACEMENT (position on the build plate) and PRINT SETTINGS, or click the PRINT button when you are ready to print; see Figure 4.78. Under PLACEMENT, you may MOVE, SCALE, and ROTATE the object:
CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 174 In the left hand side of the window, the object is schematically pictured on the build plate, with three colored axes (red for the x-axis, green for the y-axis, and blue for the z-axis), a + and
- button, and a dial with four arrows around the outside and a central restore double arrow. The + and - buttons zoom in and zoom out, respectively, your view of the object, and the dial rotates your view of the object. The colored axes may be used to reposition the object on the build plate: position your cursor over an axis and drag the object along that axis. In the right hand side of the window, you may select MOVE, SCALE, or ROTATE. When MOVE is selected, as an alternative to dragging the object on the build plate, you may instead move the object on CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 175 the build plate via the X-AXIS and Y-AXIS sliders under MOVE in the right hand side of the window When SCALE is selected, you may change the size of the object via any of the X-AXIS, Y-AXIS, or Z-AXIS sliders under SCALE in the right hand side of the window. When ROTATE is selected, you may rotate the object via the X-AXIS, Y-AXIS, and Z-AXIS sliders under ROTATE in the right hand side of the window. Under PRINT SETTINGS:
1. You may adjust BASIC settings relating to: Basic set-
tings such as extruder Temperature (a fundamental set-
ting that must be aligned with the type of lament you are printing), Layer Thickness, and Print Speed; or Support settings such as Support Type (where if your object is not actually touching the build plate, you may wish to add a type of support), or Platform Adhesion Type (which is where you may add a brim, raft, or skirt). CHAPTER 4. THE POLAR CLOUD 176 2. You may adjust ADVANCED settings relating to: Fill
(inll) such as Infill Speed, Infill Overlap, and Infill Amount; Filament such as Diameter and Flow; Retraction such as Amount Extruder Switch
(the amount to retract or raise the extruder when switching between extruders on a dual-extrusion 3D printer), Speed
(the speed at which to perform the retraction too quick a speed may yank up just-extruded lament whereas very slow retraction simply wastes time), Amount (the height by which to raise the extruder); Quality (which might be more alternately described as thickness of the exterior of the print object) such as Initial Layer Thickness, Extrusion Width, Wall Thickness, Bottom Layer Count, and Top Layer Count; Speed (which goes into more detail than the basic Speed setting under BASIC options) including among other things Initial Layer Speed
(as printing the initial layer ; and Cool such as Minimal Layer Time and Cooling Fan (only relevant if your printer has a cooling fan). 3. You may adjust via the G-CODE tab the actual starting and ending Gcode that will be sent to the printer. 4.10.3 Navigating the groups From the Polar Clouds main screen left-hand menu, clicking GROUPS will take you to the GROUPS screen with its main tabs for MY GROUPS and PUBLIC GROUPS, as shown in Fig-
ure 4.33. When MY GROUPS is active, tabs to SEARCH and CREATE a group are available; when PUBLIC GROUPS is ac-
tive, only SEARCH is available. Chapter 5 The printer local web interface If you are controlling your printer directly through its local WiFi
(see Section C.1) rather than going through the Polar Cloud, then the printers local web interface will be your main con-
trol interface. From a device on your local network (computer, tablet, or phone), simply open a browser window connecting to the printers local IP address and you will be at the printer local web interface. If you connect your printer to the Polar Cloud, then after performing its initial connection (see Chapter 1), you likely will seldom have a need or interest in connecting directly to the printers local web interface. However, the printers local web interface is still accessible. If you are on the same local network as the printer, you may simply open up a browser window and connect to its local IP address without going through the Polar Cloud. Or from within the Polar Cloud, navigate from the main menu to your list of printers, then click on the printer itself, and then click on the LOCAL UI tab (settings dial towards the upper 177 CHAPTER 5. THE PRINTER LOCAL WEB INTERFACE 178 Figure 5.1: Polar Cloud printer dashboard shows LOCAL UI tab right), shown in Figure 5.1 The Polar Cloud will then attempt itself to connect to what it knows as the printers local IP address. If your local network permits access to the printers local IP address from the Inter-
net (which some local networks may not), this will open a new window onto the printer local web interface, as shown in Figure 5.2.
(If your local network does not permit such access from the Internet, then you may still connect to the printers local web interface more manually, by simply connecting directly to its local IP address, as previously mentioned.) CHAPTER 5. THE PRINTER LOCAL WEB INTERFACE 179 Figure 5.2: Printer local web interface as viewed from Polar Cloud CHAPTER 5. THE PRINTER LOCAL WEB INTERFACE 180 5.1 Navigating through the printer local web interface Connecting to the printers local IP address will put you at the network screen. This is the same screen you would see if you selected the networking icon on the left menu; see 6. The tabs/icons at the left of the screen select additional screens:
1. POLAR3D the default (network) screen. 2. The printer icon (Print File) selects the Project Details screen, where you may upload a le to print, or select an already available le to print (as the Polar3D printers user interface ships with several test .stl les), and then initi-
ate printing. This screen also displays, on the right hand side under Printer Status, various status information regarding the printer. CHAPTER 5. THE PRINTER LOCAL WEB INTERFACE 181 Figure 5.3: Printer local web interface Print File (Project Details) screen 3. The lines-with-boxes icon (Controls). At this screen, you may manually direct the printer; e.g., raise the print head, set the temperature, extrude a millimeter of lament, turn on/o the printers LED lights, unlock the stepper mo-
tors (so that the print head and build plate shuttle may be moved manually), etc. CHAPTER 5. THE PRINTER LOCAL WEB INTERFACE 182 Figure 5.4: Printer local web interface Controls screen 4. The dial/gear icon (Calibration) will take you to the Calibration screen, where you may perform Z axis (Z rod) and X axis
(build plate shuttle) calibration. Figure 5.5: Printer local web interface Calibration screen CHAPTER 5. THE PRINTER LOCAL WEB INTERFACE 183 5. The camera icon (Camera) takes you to a screen showing live camera feed from the printer, and various printer status details. Figure 5.6: Printer local web interface Camera screen 6. The network icon (Network) icon will take you to the Configured Network screen, where you may see what network the printer is on currently and the printers own IP address on that network, and even switch to a dierent network. CHAPTER 5. THE PRINTER LOCAL WEB INTERFACE 184 Figure 5.7: Printer local web interface Network screen Note that the Reset Networks button will remove any congured network proles, resetting the printers network knowledge back to factory defaults. Thus you would not normally want to click this button except when perma-
nently transferring the printer to an entirely new location
(entirely dierent network milieu) or owner!
(If you are merely temporarily moving your own printer to another network, it is more convenient to instead add the new WiFi network or plug in the Ethernet cable, and then use the Restart tab on the left pane to have the printer recon-
nect using the newly added network; see step 7 in Section 1.1. Then you can switch back to the original network later, by selecting that network and then again clicking Restart, without having to entirely redo the network prole.) CHAPTER 5. THE PRINTER LOCAL WEB INTERFACE 185 Note that the Reset Printer on the Polar Cloud but-
ton on the Configured Network screen will obsolete any existing ownership of this printer in the Polar Cloud. That is, any Polar Cloud members who had formerly been the owner of or been allowed access to this printer will now no longer see the P3Dserial-number printer, and instead will see a reference to P3Dserial-number -deleted-date .
(Such members may wish to move any queued jobs that had been on that printer to some other printer.) Thus you would not normally want to click this button except when transferring ownership of the printer to some other per-
son (some other Polar Cloud member). After clicking this button, the printer will need to be re-registered to some Po-
lar Cloud account in order to be used by any Polar Cloud members; see step 10 of Section 1.1. Thus both the buttons Reset Networks and even more so Reset Printer on the Polar Cloud are primarily of in-
terest when transferring the printer to another owner. 7. The update icon (Update) if clicked will show you a sum-
mary of any current update, and ask if you wish to apply that update:
CHAPTER 5. THE PRINTER LOCAL WEB INTERFACE 186 Figure 5.8: Printer local web interface Update screen 8. The restart icon (Restart) will ask if you wish to restart the printer:
Figure 5.9: Printer local web interface Restart screen Chapter 6 CAD software create your own objects There are many computer-aided design (CAD) software pack-
ages available; for 3D printing, you will just need a package that can save object les in .stl le format. The Polar Cloud itself provides access to some convenient CAD software you can access and use see Section 4.3. Alter-
natively, if you prefer you may use many popular CAD packages of your choice to generate .stl les. For younger designers or beginners, we recommend Tinker-
cad. It is a browser-based design program so no software needs to be installed locally. This makes it a great solution for Chrome-
books. Sketchup is another good solution for designing 3D parts. Make sure to install the STL plugin so you can export your design for 3D printing. Autodesk Fusion 360 is higher-level CAD software provided 187 CHAPTER 6. CAD SOFTWARE CREATE YOUR OWN OBJECTS188 on a cloud platform, available free to students and hobbyists, and available for Mac or PC. Autodesk 123D Design, OnShape, and Morphi are good apps for iPad users. They have free versions (123D) or free for educa-
tion versions (OnShape), or free with limitations (Morphi) and you can pay to unlock all the features. Morphi oers discount pricing for schools based on the number of seats purchased. Blender is an open-source design package that can also be used for 3D animation, so time spent learning this tool means students can do more than just create models for printing. OpenSCAD is open-source software for creating 3D CAD ob-
jects, with a focus on programming and engineering. Sculptris is focussed on art, and in particular, virtual sculpt-
ing. Note that AutoDesk oers several professional design soft-
ware packages that are for free to students and teachers. Some have already been listed above, but to list a few more with com-
parisons:
1. Autodesk 123D Design is a good intermediate design tool. 2. Autodesk Fusion 360 is higher-level CAD software provided on a cloud platform. 3. Autodesk Maya is an animation package that can be used for 3D modeling. 4. Autodesk Inventor is a mechanical design and 3D CAD software package that oers professional-grade 3D mechan-
ical design, documentation, and product simulation tools. This is good for advanced users who need exact tolerances CHAPTER 6. CAD SOFTWARE CREATE YOUR OWN OBJECTS189 in designs that they are creating. Chapter 7 STEAMtrax curriculum STEAMtrax is an innovative new curriculum that integrates en-
gineering and 3D printing technology with core academic knowl-
edge in science, math, language arts, social studies, and art. In the true spirit of the Framework for 21st Century Learning skills, students are engaged in relevant learning scenarios that encour-
age the essential skills of problem solving, collaboration, commu-
nication, clear and critical thinking as well as developing core academic knowledge. Each lesson imbeds 3D design, printing and scanning technology as an integral part of the STEAMtrax Engineering Process. STEAMtrax curriculum module features include:
1. Problem-based, thematic storylines make learning relevant and fun. 2. Hands-on, constructivist learning stations to clarity science concepts. 3. Integration of 3D design, printing, and scanning built into each module. 190 CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 191 4. Engineering Project Design Process encourages critical think-
ing. 5. A variety of formative and summative assessments, includ-
ing rubrics. 6. Flexible modules easily align to NGSS or state standards. 7. Available in digital or print form. 8. Hands-on science kits are available for each module. 9. Modules available for grades K-12. To see a current list of available STEAMtrax modules, go to:
http://www.polar3d.com/curriculum 7.1 STEAMtrax Star Portal STEAMtrax modules are available in print form, if desired. But more often, teachers and students will wish to access STEAM-
trax modules through the STEAMtrax Star Portal, at:
http://build.steamtrax.com In addition to including access to all the print materials, the STEAMtrax Star Portal also includes an interactive teacher dashboard for each teacher, and an interactive student dash-
board for each student. CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 192 7.1.1 STEAMtrax Star Portal teacher dashboard The teacher dashboard includes nine panels:
1. SUMMARY A per-class (for cases where a teacher has more than one class using STEAMtrax) summary of the percent of activities (assignments) completed, the total num-
ber of students, the number of students recently active (last 30 days), and the number of activities which are uncon-
rmed (not yet checked by the teacher). 2. MY CLASSES Access to class information including the CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 193 name of the class, the students in the class and the as-
signments for each student, the assigned exercises for the class and the total number of students who have been as-
signed/completed/conrmed for each such assignment, and the login data for each student. (The class and student data is customized for each teacher by STEAMtrax; see Section 7.2 for details on this process.) 3. LATEST NEWS STEAMtrax news for teachers. 4. 3D PRINTING RESOURCES How-to videos on print-
ers, software, and scanners, as well as other helpful tips for teachers. 5. ENGINEERS TODAY News on engineering.
(Student dashboards also have this panel.) 6. 3D PRINTING ZONE 3D printing news, resources, and interesting .stl les. (Student dashboards also have this panel.) 7. RECENT STUDENT ACTIVITY A running list of re-
cent student activity. The teacher can review a student activity/assignment submission by clicking a preview icon next to the submission item. Within the preview, the teacher can decide to Conrm Assignment Completion or Reassign to Student. This is a way for the teacher to track which assignments he or she has reviewed, and to provide feedback to students by reassigning when the sub-
mission needs re-working. 8. RECENTLY ASSIGNED ACTIVITIES A running list of the class assignments for this class. CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 194 9. AVAILABLE MODULES Teacher-level access to mod-
ules. All purchased modules, organized by grade band, can be accessed from this panel. 7.1.2 STEAMtrax module teacher view Every engineering module is organized with four sections. Within each section, material visible only to teachers is labelled in green on the dashboard, while material also visible to students is labelled in red on the dashboard. 1. Module Preparation Pre-Lesson Instructions. Teacher-
CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 195 visible materials under Module Preparation typically in-
clude:
(a) Welcome Outlines for the teacher the four key sec-
tions of the module.
(b) Targeted concepts & skills Outlines for the teacher how the module aligns to standards.
(c) Teacher background Introduction for the teacher to background science and math concepts that will be taught in the module.
(d) Setup-Up and Management Guidance to teachers on what should be printed out ahead of time, and how to set-up the learning stations.
(e) Materials Needed A complete list for the teacher of all the hands-on materials needed to run the module.
(Note that pre-packaged, hands-on, Engineering Kits of everything needed may optionally be purchased along with the STEAMtrax module.)
(f) Parent letter A letter, customized for each module, for the teacher to send home with students. (The stu-
dent module view also has access to this letter.)
(Note that in print delivery format, any setup and man-
agement instructions, list of materials needed, background concepts for the teacher, targeted concepts and skills out-
lining how the module aligns to standards, and the parent letter are all collected into a Teacher Guide.) 2. Classroom Guide A Facilitation Guide to orient the teacher and guide the teacher through the module, a Classroom CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 196 Guide to use in the classroom, and 3D printing le(s) and instructions as a starting point for use and reference.
(a) Facilitation Guide A detailed resource including pac-
ing, facilitation questions, objectives, and overall step-
by-step guidance to run the module. It is recommended that the teacher print this out ahead of time to under-
stand the module ow, and jot down any notes.
(b) Classroom Guide A detailed resource for teachers to use in the classroom. Every module follows the En-
gineering Design Process, and the classroom guide re-
source is built to guide teachers and students through the process. The Class Guide EDP may include pop-up slides for the teacher to project on a screen or electronic white board to guide students through the process of the module.
(c) 3D Printing Files Sample .stl le(s) and step-by-
step CAD instructions for the teacher and students to use and reference. (The student module view also has access to this section.) 3. Student Activities Activities for the students, and down-
loadable materials.
(a) Activities may include readings, videos to watch, as-
signments to print 3D objects, etc.
(b) Lesson downloads always includes at a minimum a Stu-
dent Notebook, in which students are to record their observations and conclusions. 4. Student Assessments Evaluation form, rubric, and an as-
CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 197 sessment, as well as a (teacher-only visible) assessment key.
(a) Evaluation Rubric Downloadable, and provided as an example rubric for students, as well as the teacher, to reference. (The student module view has access to this also.)
(b) Self & Group Evaluation Students also have a copy of this form in their Student Notebooks. The teacher can choose whether to have students ll it out in their Student Notebooks, or whether (if the teacher clicks an Assign to Students button on this evaluation section) to have it also show up in the students Star Portal as an assignment to be completed online.
(c) Assessment The assessment is not visible to students until the teacher assigns it (by clicking an Assign to Students button); at that point, once assigned, it be-
comes visible to the students.
(d) Teacher Answer Key Assessment answer key for teacher reference. CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 198 7.1.3 STEAMtrax Star Portal student dashboard The student dashboard includes ve main panels:
1. SUMMARY Total assignments, Complete assignments, Conrmed assignments. (Conrmed assignments are those that the teacher has reviewed and checked o.) 2. ACTIVITY LOG A record of what the student has been CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 199 assigned, when it was assigned, and (if completed) when it was completed. 3. ENGINEERS TODAY Updates on engineering. 4. 3D PRINTING ZONE 3D printing news, resources, and interesting .stl les. 5. AVAILABLE MODULES Student-level access to mod-
ules. In addition, for K-8 students a Stacy STEAMtrax char-
acter icon displays a blurb guiding the student to any new as-
signment or conrming to the student that all assignments have been completed. 7.1.4 STEAMtrax module student view Just like teachers, students can access a module by clicking on the module link under the AVAILABLE MODULES panel in their student dashboard; (see Section ??). And (again like teach-
ers) the students see four main sections in each module in the student module view. However, students do not see also the teacher-only visible background and guidance material within the sections. Instead, in the student module view, what appears may typically be something like:
1. Module Preparation
(a) Parent letter 2. Classroom Guide
(a) 3D Printing Files CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 200 3. Student Activitities
(a) Activities
(b) Lesson downloads Includes at a minimum a Student Notebook. 4. Student Assessments
(a) Evaluation Rubric
(b) Self & Group Evaluation
(c) Assessment Only becomes visible to students once the teacher assigns it. 7.2 STEAMtrax user import STEAMtrax is accessed through its Star Portal at http://build.steamtrax.com So that STEAMtrax will be ready to use the rst time a teacher logs in at that portal, STEAMtrax has a process for entering general information regarding the teacher and class that will be using STEAMtrax. The instructions for importing the teacher and general class data may be found at:
https://polar3d.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/9000096273-
user-import-instructions Please contact Polar 3D if you have any questions or dicul-
ties entering the class data. CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 201 7.3 STEAMtrax user password management The teacher and each student using STEAMtrax will each have their own password. With a busy lesson plan and a short period, theres nothing worse than lost class time; retrieving lost student passwords can be a huge time waster! Because we know that keeping a class on topic and engaged is the bedrock of classroom management, the STEAMtrax Star Portal includes a simple mechanism to make it easy to retrieve lost student passwords and to prevent student passwords from being lost in the rst place:
1. Log in to the teachers STEAMtrax portal at http://build.steamtrax.com CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 202 2. Locate the students class in the MY CLASSES panel. CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 203 3. Click on the Login Cards button associated with that class. CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 204 The screen will then display a list of all students, including their user names and passwords. This list is updated every time a student changes his/her password, so you always have easy access to the most up-to-date login information for each and every one of your students. 4. Note the Print button in the upper righthand corner of the Login Cards screen. By printing this Login Cards page on a sheet of 8.5 X 11 Avery label paper, you can create CHAPTER 7. STEAMTRAX CURRICULUM 205 an adhesive label for each student that can be attached to the inside of a binder, folder or adhered to the back of the students STEAMtrax Student Notebook. This allows the students to easily manage his/her own password by referring to this label. For additional discussion, see:
Polar 3D support: My student forgot his/her password!
Chapter 8 Operational tips 1. Good adhesion of objects to the build plate improves build quality, and reduces the frustration of objects coming loose partway through a build. 2. Good positioning of object(s) on the build plate can im-
prove speed and quality of prints. 3. Know the characteristics of your lament. 4. Perform periodic maintenance on the printer, as discussed in Chapter 10. 8.1 Positioning objects Thoughtful positioning of your object on the build plate can improve print speed and quality:
1. For faster print completion, position objects towards the edge of the build plate. 206 CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 207 2. Print multiple small objects at once; this can actually im-
prove the quality of objects (as well as production speed). 3. Avoid straight-line extrusion runs through the center of the build plate. 8.1.1 Position objects towards the edge of the build plate In consequence of the Polar3D printers underlying polar coor-
dinates architecture, note that objects may print faster if you position them towards the edge of the build plate, rather than at the center. Positioning an object towards the edge of the build plate wont eect the speed of extrusion; but when the printer needs to spin the build plate to achieve a non-extrusion move, the same angular spin results in a longer arc length (faster movement) towards the edge of the build plate. 8.1.2 Print multiple small objects at once When printing a small object, especially a small and tall object, the printer may print so quickly that successive layers are de-
posited while lower layers are still hot and malleable, resulting in a smooshed or melted eect on the print: a less than optimal print outcome. One approach is to slow down the print, for instance by in-
serting Gcode for a delay after each layer. Another approach is to point a small fan at the build plate, to speed up the cooling process, so that even small, quickly-printed layers get cool be-
fore the printer gets to the next layer. A third approach is to CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 208 consider printing multiple objects: the time the printer spends moving to another section of the build plate, and then printing a layer of another object, is likely to suce to let the rst objects layer cool. See Section 4.6.1 and Section 4.6.1.1 for a discussion of adding an object or objects to the build plate. 8.1.3 Avoid straight-line extrusion runs through the center of the build plate The Polar3D printers underlying polar coordinates architec-
ture means that in order to perform a straight-line extrusion through the very center of the build plate, the printer must pause extruding when it reaches the center of the build plate and perform a 180 spin, before resuming printing. This makes this a point where if your printers calibration is less than per-
fect, it may be more apparent here (straight-line extrusion runs through the center point of the build plate) than anywhere else:
with less than perfect callibration, you might see a jog in the output, a bit of a blob at the exact center, a slight bend in the line, etc. So if the appearance of an exact, smooth, straight line is an important part of the object you are printing, try to position the object so that (visible) such straight lines of material dont have to go through the exact center of the build plate or else be very careful with your callibration. CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 209 8.2 Adhesion and adhesion problems Sometimes during a print an object will come loose from the build plate, usually resulting in the print being ruined. The rst layer of the print needs to stick to the build plate. Preparing the build plate properly, to be sticky so that that rst layer adheres, can aid in avoiding this occurrence. It is also important that the initial layer print at the correct height above the build plate: just a little squished so that it adheres, not too high so that it doesnt adhere, nor too low so that it is overly squished or dragged by the print nozzle. If the printer has just been turned on and heated up, it is also important that the extruder is consistently emitted melted plastic during the entire rst layer, rather than burping and failing to emit melted lament at spots in the rst layer. This does not tend to be a problem with the Polar3D printer but if you do encounter a problem consistently extruding melted la-
ment when the printer rst begins extruding, consider printing a few skirt loops to establish a smooth ow of lament, before printing the actual object. And printing at the proper temperature for your lament is important for adhesion. Some objects, however, will need extra assistance for adhe-
sion. In those cases, printing a brim or raft may aid in keeping the object in place. CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 210 8.2.1 Making the build plate sticky You should ensure that the build plate is a bit sticky. What sort of stickiness works best depends a bit on what type of l-
ament you are using. The lament that Polar 3D sells is PLA
(PolyLactic Acid) lament, which sticks well to certain brands of hair spray, to the glue in many common glue sticks, or to ordinary blue painters tape. Hair spray is particularly quick and easy to apply. Aqua Net Extra Hold works well; or look for any other hair spray containing VA/crotonates/vinyl neodecanate copolymer. After applying a generous layer to a new or freshly cleaned build plate, you need only lightly touch up the hair spray for additional prints; for a video demonstration, see:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BJBaWwrjCwF/
As the hair spray will tend to build up over time, every so often, (every few weeks, depending on how heavily used the printer is), clean the build plate with hot water and paper towels, and then reapply a fresh generous layer of hair spray. But if glue sticks are more convenient for your classroom, they work too, though they may result in an object sticking too well if a heavy layer is applied try to apply a very thin, even coat to the build plate. Any PVA (Polyvinyl acetate) based glue stick, including Elmers washable glue sticks/Purple Disappearing glue sticks, or Scotch glue sticks, should work. A layer of blue painters tape on the build surface is another way to achieve an adhesive surface, though applying it is liable to take a bit more time. (Also, sometimes an object will start CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 211 pulling the tape o, at which point the rest of the build will likely be warped.) Lay down a uniform layer of tape, with no gaps and no overlapping of the edges of the strips of tape. The painters tape will need to be replaced when its surface becomes less adhesive, typically after about ve to ten prints at the same location. For ABS lament, the above build plate preparation approaches
(hair spray, glue stick, or painters tape) work; in addition, ABS will also stick to PEI sheets, PET sheets, or Kapton tape, or the build plate may be spread with ABS juice a slurry made from ABS and acetone (which dissolves ABS). 8.2.2 First layer height calibration For proper adhesion, as well as a smooth base layer, it is im-
portant that the initial layer of the object print at the correct height above the build plate: just a little smooshed so that it adheres. When the Z height of the rst layer is well-calibrated, the lines of the rst layer should be slightly touching. If there are gaps in the rst layer between the lines of material, then the Z height is too high; if the lines of material are overlap-
ping and arent forming a smooth surface (or material is getting dragged or smeared by the print nozzle), then the Z height is too low. To adjust the calibration, connect to your printers local web interface (e.g., connect to your printers local IP address see Chapter 5), select Calibration, and click on Z offset down. This action will lower the Z home by 0.05mm (about 1/2 the thickness of a sheet of paper). Continue to lower the gantry CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 212 until the tip of the extruder is just touching the build plate. When you are at the correct height, click the Just Right button. Also, though unlikely: check that the build plate is maintain-
ing a consistent height from the extruder nozzle over the build plate shuttles range of motion (since if the height isnt consis-
tent, that rst layer may not be getting consistent smooshing). Check the Z height with the extruder at the middle of the build plate; then slide the build plate shuttle forward so that the ex-
truder is at the edge of the build plate and conrm that the Z height hasnt changed. If the Z height is changing from middle to edge of build plate, then see Section 10.6 for a discussion of checking and correcting build plate shuttle alignment. 8.2.3 First layer print speed and thickness PRINT SETTINGS (in the Polar Cloud, specied under Object, the object in question, 3D Print) has a couple of settings that may aect the printing of the rst layer and therefore its ad-
hesion properties. See in particular the ADVANCED setting of Speed, First Layer Speed, and the ADVANCED setting of Quality, Initial Layer Thickness. 8.2.4 Temperature and adhesion With PLA lament, if you print at too high of a temperature, the PLA will curl slightly when it cools along the edges, which might pull the edges up o the build plate over time. If youre using Polar 3D lament, we recommend 185C. PLA lament CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 213 from other manufacturers may need to be printed at a slightly dierent temperature; check any information from the manufac-
turer of the lament. Note that ABS lament is quite prone to curling as it cools, which is one reason why we dont recommend ABS lament for beginners; PLA lament is much more forgiving (if printing at the proper temperature). 8.2.5 Brims, rafts, and skirts Sometimes, especially when printing an object with a small foot-
print on the build plate, an extra adhesion feature such as a brim may be helpful. A brim is extra material, typically only one or two layers tall and several outlines wide, printed around the perimeter of the object touching the object, extending outward, to stabilize the object. A brim tends to be helpful with small or isolated parts of a model, e.g., hooves of an animal, to aid with adhesion of the small area of the object to the build plate by extending the area. A raft is a few extra layers of material, printed as a horizontal latticework, extending under the entire object. Besides helping with adhesion, it can also provide a strong foundation for the rest of the print. The number of layers in the raft controls the height (and to some degree the strength) of the raft; the raft oset controls how far beyond the main object the raft will extend; the raft separation determines the distance between the raft and the object itself typical distances range from 0.14 0.2mm where you want to aim for a close enough distance to CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 214 give adequate adhesion during the build, but not so close that it becomes very dicult to remove the raft from the object once the print has nished; the raft inll controls the density of the interior of the raft, where you want enough material to support the bottom of your main object but not so much that the raft is so solid that it bonds too tightly to the bottom of your main object. A skirt is an outline of extra material printed surrounding the perimeter of the object, but not touching it, typically oset 3 or 4 millimeters from the object; it is thus similar to a brim that has been moved farther from the object itself. However, unlike a brim, sometimes a skirt might be quite tall even the height of the object itself rather than, like a brim, being only a few layers high. This is because a skirt is sometimes used to shield the object from drafts; as such, they tend to be used more with lament such as ABS where uneven cooling can cause warping. Including a brim around small or isolated parts of a model object may aid in adhesion and stability of that portion of the build. Including a raft under a model object may aid in adhesion of model objects that have small footprints on the build plate, as well as adding stability and a solid foundation for the rest of the build, especially if the overall object is relatively large compared to its small footprint on the build plate. Building a skirt along with an object may help establish smooth nozzle ow, or may be used to shield especially thermal-sensitive lament material from thermal drafts during the print. Only brims tend to be of much interest when using PLA lament, such as that shipped with the Polar3D printer and sold CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 215 by Polar 3D. Rafts and skirts, in contrast, may be of interest with other lament materials, such as ABS. Figure 8.1: Polar Cloud build plate PRINT SETTINGS The Polar 3D Cloud 2.0 has a feature whereby you can ask to add a brim, raft, or skirt to your object. Once you have selected an object and clicked 3D PRINT to get ready to print it, then go to PRINT SETTINGS, (see Figure 8.1), and under BASIC settings scroll down to Support, (see Figure 8.2). Then under Platform Adhesion Type use the drop-down menu to select None(Skirt), Brim, or Raft, as desired; see Figure 8.3. Then click the gear icon to adjust the parameters (layers, outlines, raft inll, etc.) as desired; see Figure 8.4. CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 216 Figure 8.2: Polar Cloud build plate Support CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 217 Figure 8.3: Polar Cloud build plate Platform Adhesion Type CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 218 Figure 8.4: Polar Cloud build plate Skirt Settings 8.3 Removing objects from the build plate Cooling a printed object, still on the build plate, briey in the refrigerator or freezer may make it easier to remove from the build plate. Remove the build plate, with freshly printed object still attached, from the 3D printer and place it in the refrigerator or freezer: four or ve minutes in the freezer may suce. A spatula may be useful to aid in removing objects from the build plate. Note that while an object may be less stuck to the build plate while still slightly warm, delicate or fragile details may CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 219 benet from thoroughly cooling before you attempt to remove an object. For some objects, printing with a raft may better allow re-
moval from the build plate without damage to the bottom of the object. After removing an object, check whether it is time to clean the build plate and/or apply more hair spray (or other adhesion aid). 8.4 Filament If you have a Polar3D printer and have lament from a previous 3D printer, you are in luck! Polar3D does not use proprietary lament. This means that as long as you have 1.75mm diameter lament, your Polar3D printer can print it. Note that we strongly recommend use of PLA lament in the classroom as it: (1) is easier for beginners, and (2) does not require ventilation. Our other suggestion is that when it comes to lament, cheaper is not always the best choice. An extra cheap roll of lament may not have the same print quality as the Polar 3D lament, or other standard brands of lament. For instance, you may nd particles within the lament cause jams in the 3D printer, making it an annoyance to keep cleaning it out; (see Section 10.3). Or lament whose diameter does not remain consistent may result in lower quality prints. Especially if youre using lament from a supplier other than CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 220 Polar 3D, measure precisely the diameter of your lament with a caliper. And know what temperature is best for your la-
ment, and be sure to set the printer extruder temperature ac-
cordingly. See Polar Cloud PRINT SETTINGS to adjust for a dierent lament diameter (under ADVANCED) or temperature
(under BASIC). 8.4.1 Types of lament Note that while there any many dierent and interesting types of lament, dierent types of lament have dierent requirements for printing: know your laments characteristics. Just a sample... For instance, glow-in-the-dark PLA lament is fun for stu-
dents. But be aware that it is typically: (a) fairly abrasive on the extruder nozzle be prepared to replace your extruder nozzle if you perform much glow-in-the-dark printing, (b) more expensive than regular PLA, and (c) green and blue glow eects are generally more satisfactory than other colors. Some users recommend that best glow eects result from objects that are fairly hollow but with thicker walls, so consider slicing objects using no (or very little) inll while adding a few more shells than usual. Similarly, color-changing PLA lament changing color in response to temperature or, for some brands, in response to UV light can be fun for students. It also tends to be more expensive than regular PLA, but unlike the glow-in-the-dark PLA, does not tend to be especially abrasive. CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 221 Wood lament (PLA infused with wood dust/wood bers) results in objects with the look and feel of wood. A number of dierent brands, incorporating dierent types of woods, are available. Note that its moderately dicult to work with (as opposed to plain PLA which is relatively easy): it tends to be more nicky about print temperature (which typically needs to be a bit higher than that for Polar 3D PLA), is subject to some shrinking during printing, and may not adhere as easily as plain PLA. Conductive PLA is PLA infused with conductive carbon. It allows printing low-voltage electronics. It tends to need to print at a slightly higher temperature than plain PLA, and while it is considered fairly easy to print, and is not reported to be par-
ticularly abrasive on the extruder nozzle, it is a little harder to get it to adhere (even to itself); also, it tends to be expensive compared to regular PLA. Carbon Fiber PLA is PLA mixed with small, chopped carbon bers. It results in strong objects, much stronger than regular PLA, but is extremely abrasive on the extruder nozzle; expect to have to replace your extruder nozzle after printing only 550g
(half a regular spool) of carbon ber PLA . Metal PLA is PLA combined with ne metallic power, such as bronze powder, brass powder, copper powder, aluminum pow-
der, or steel powder. Objects 3D printed using metal PLA l-
ament will look and feel as if they were made of metal, can be polished like metal, and will be denser (heavier) than regular plastic objects, hefting more like metal. However, metal PLA is quite abrasive on the extruder nozzle, especially when the incorporated metal is a harder metal than the brass of the ex-
CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 222 truder nozzle. Metal PLA lament is considered quite a dicult lament to get printing well, so be ready for a challenge!
ABS lament is second only to PLA lament in terms of popularity for general 3D printer use. However, it is not usually recommended for use in the classroom, due to the intense fumes it generates during printing which can be dangerous for those with breathing diculties; when printing ABS, the 3D printer must be placed in a well-ventilated area, and you must avoid breathing in the fumes when it is in use. Also, ABS shrinks while cooling, so it is very prone to curling, and pulling up from the build plate. Due to ABSs thermal issues, it prints best on printers that incorporate both a heated build plate (to lessen the temperature dierential between the bottom and top of the object while printing) and an enclosure around the print area
(to lessen the eect of cooling drafts); neither feature is part of the Polar3D printer. However, by extra attention to issues of adhesion and thermal insulation, it is possible to print ABS on a Polar3D printer: use of Elmers Xtreme glue stick on the build plate (to glue down the object even as it attempts to cool and shrink) and adding a tall skirt around the main object (to shield it from drafts) are techniques that can be used. PET (PolyEthylene Terephthalate) lament and PETG (a blend of PET with Glycerol) lament are very versatile, reason-
ably easy to work with, newer laments, with PETG being a version better adapted for 3D printing. However, PETG does tend to be more expensive than regular PLA. There are many more types of lament, with new kinds con-
tinuing to come out. While some types produce fumes requiring ventilation (thus being less suitable for the classroom), or need CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 223 or benet from a heated build plate (not a feature of the Po-
lar3D printer), or are distinctly more challenging to use than regular PLA, and exotic types tend to be more expensive, still other types may be of interest to you. For some further discussion of these and additional lament types, see:
Polar 3D youtube video: WWBD The Dierent Types of Filaments 8.4.2 Loading and unloading (and changing) lament Figure 8.5: Loading lament onto the Polar3D printer CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 224 The Polar 3D support site has detailed discussions of loading and unloading lament on Polar3D printers. For Polar3D printers with serial numbers P3D02150 and higher, see:
Polar 3D support document Loading and Unloading Fila-
ment For Polar3D printers with serial numbers P3D02000 - P3D02150, see:
Polar 3D support document Loading and Unloading Fila-
ment For Polar3D printers with serial numbers P3D00000 - P3D02000, see:
Polar 3D support document Loading and Unloading Fila-
ment 8.4.2.1 Loading lament Refer to Figure B.1 and especially to Figure 8.5. 1. Take the spool of lament and hook it onto the spool holder. 2. Find the end of the string of lament. 3. If the end of the string of lament is blobby or thin (some-
thing to check if this spool has been previously used, so that the lament end got a bit melted previously) or kinked (e.g., from being pinched in the spool holder), consider snipping the end o perhaps snip an inch or two o so that you have a clean end to feed into the printer. CHAPTER 8. OPERATIONAL TIPS 225 4. Feed the lament through the lament guide (the hole at the top of the Polar3D printer). (Having the lament prop-
erly guided keeps the lament from opping wildly from the spool to the print head.) 5. Stick the end of the lament into the 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 gear inside the print head. 6. If you want to check whether the lament is all the way in, raise the temperature of the printer to 180C,1 and slowly hand feed the lament through. Seeing a string of molten plastic get extruded tells you youre ready to print!
8.4.2.2 Unloading lament If the lament is still warm, you should be able to simply pull the lament straight up and out of the print head. If the lament is stuck, raise the extruder temperature to 200C.2 Once the lament has softened, you should now be able to pull the lament straight up out of the print head. 1To set the temperature of the printer, you may use the Polar Cloud printer dash-
boards temperature dial. Alternatively, you may use the Controls screen of the printer local web interface. If you are using a direct cable connection to the printer and Repetier-
Host to control the printer, under Repetier-Hosts Your Printer, use the controls on the Manual Control screen to set the extruder temperature. 2Printer extruder temperature can be controlled at the Polar Cloud printer dashboards temperature dial or at the printer local web interfaces Controls screen. If using a direct cable connection with Repetier-Host to control the printer, under Repetier-Hosts Your Printer, use the controls on the Manual Control screen to set the extruder temperature. Chapter 9 Updating the printer Occasionally, an update to the printer rmware will be available. When an update is available, you will see an update button visible in three locations:
Figure 9.1: Polar Cloud printer dashboard UPDATE button 226 CHAPTER 9. UPDATING THE PRINTER 227 1. On the printer dashboard screen within the Polar Cloud;
Figure 9.1. 2. On the printer manage screen within the Polar Cloud; Fig-
ure 9.2. Figure 9.2: Polar Cloud printer management screen UPDATE button 3. On the printers local web interface; Figure 9.3. Figure 9.3: Printer local web interface shows Update tab CHAPTER 9. UPDATING THE PRINTER 228 Clicking the UPDATE button or Update tab in any of these respective locations will cause the update to be performed. Alternatively, you can force an update as follows. From a device (computer, tablet, phone) on your local network, open a browser window and go to the location:
http://localip /update where localip is your printers local IP address1. Figure 9.4: Printer update description and conrmation screen 1If you need a reminder of just what your printers local IP address is, note that from within the Polar Cloud, selecting the LOCAL UI tab while viewing a printer dashboard screen will show you what the Polar Cloud believes to be the printers IP address. CHAPTER 9. UPDATING THE PRINTER 229 Whichever of the three approaches above you use to request an update, you will be presented with a screen describing the update which asks you to conrm that you truly wish to update the printer; an example is shown in Figure 9.4. Click Confirm to perform the update. 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). Chapter 10 Printer maintenance The Polar3D printers polar coordinates-based design means a simpler machine with fewer moving parts, so fewer maintenance issues. But as with any machine, there are a few parts that benet from some occasional maintenance attention. 10.1 Cleaning your build plate Something you will need to do fairly regularly is to clean your build plate. Remove the build plate from the printer, and wash it with warm water. If bits of lament are still a bit stuck, rub it lightly with a ngernail or green scrubber (but do not scrub hard). Then dry the build plate thoroughly, both top and bottom, be-
fore replacing it on the printer. For a video demonstration, see:
Polar 3D youtube video: WWBD Cleaning your Build 230 CHAPTER 10. PRINTER MAINTENANCE 231 Plate 10.2 Lubrication There are ve spots which can benet from occasional lubrica-
tion: the bottom of the threaded Z rod, and around the bush-
ings on each of the four steel rods (two rods for the build plate shuttle, and two rods for the gantry); see Figure B.1. We recom-
mend Tri-Flow lubricant (often used on bicycle chains), which is a dry lubricant. Put a drop of the lubricant at the bottom of the threaded Z rod, and a drop both in front of and behind each bushing on each rod. In addition, if you are hearing any squeaking from the printer, you may wish to apply a drop of lubricant at the top of the threaded Z rod, and on the drive pinion. For a video demonstration see:
Polar 3D youtube video: WWBD Care and Maintenance 10.3 Clean lament drive gear Over time, small particles of lament may start clogging up the lament drive gear in the print head. A lament jam in the nozzle, or low quality (aky) lament, or frequent changes of lament (pushing lament in or pulling it out) may accelerate this. So occasionally you should remove the block from over the lament drive gear, clear out any accumulated lament dust or particles, and reinstall the block. CHAPTER 10. PRINTER MAINTENANCE 232 For a video demonstration, see:
Polar 3D youtube video: WWBD How to Unclog a Nozzle and Clear a Leaky Nozzle 10.4 Replace the nozzle on the extruder Every so often, sooner if you print with abrasive laments (see Section 8.4), or not for a long while if you stick with regular PLA lament, you may need to replace the extruder nozzle. Polar 3D support solutions: How do I replace the nozzle on the extruder of my Polar 3D printer?
10.5 Replace a corrupted SD card SD cards are fragile, and relatively easily corrupted by static dis-
charges, or sudden power failures. So while its rare, sometimes unfortunately an SD card will need replacing. Please contact Polar 3D support if you need a new SD card. If you have had an SD card fail, and now have a new SD card from Polar 3D to install, for directions on replacing the SD card see:
Polar 3D support solutions: How to replace the SD card or Polar 3D support solutions: Replacing the SD card CHAPTER 10. PRINTER MAINTENANCE 233 10.6 Printer calibration One of the advantages of the Polar3D printers underlying polar coordinates architecture, and minimal number of moving parts, is that the Polar3D printer doesnt tend to require frequent cal-
ibration. However, occasionally you may want to check and adjust its calibration. There are two general types of calibration: (1) the z height of the extruder, and (2) the consistent levelness of the build plate. 1. If the z height of the extruder is slightly high, the rst print layer (rst layer of material extruded) may only be lightly touching the build plate, instead of being smooshed so that it adheres to the build plate. If the z height is too low, lament either may not be able to come out at all, or may come out too smooshed and actually attened. To calibrate the z height of the extruder, from within the Polar Cloud, click on the printer, and then click on the set-
tings (dial icon); or when communicating directly with the printer, from your device (computer/tablet/phone), con-
nect to the printers local IP. At this point you should be seeing the printers local interface:
CHAPTER 10. PRINTER MAINTENANCE 234 Select Calibration from the stacked tabs on the left, and click Z offset down or Z offset up, as desired. CHAPTER 10. PRINTER MAINTENANCE 235 Each click will lower (or raise) the z home of the print head
(and hence the extruder) by 0.05 millimeters (about 1/2 the thickness of a sheet of paper). Adjust the z height until the tip of the extruder is just touching the build plate. When you are at the correct height, select the Just Right but-
ton. 2. The build plate, when sliding forward or back, should re-
main at a consistent height relative to the extruder tip. Check the z height with the extruder at the middle of the build plate; then slide the build plate forward so that the extruder is at the edge of the build plate and conrm that the z height hasnt changed. If the z height is changing from middle to edge of build plate, then:
CHAPTER 10. PRINTER MAINTENANCE 236
(a) The build plate shuttle arms in the back of the printer
(near the Z rod) may be bent downwards. Push these arms up gently until the extruder nozzle stays at the same height across the entire radius of the build plate.
(b) The pads that the build plate mirror rests upon may be slightly o. This is normally checked at our factory when the printer is assembled, but something might have happened to throw o this alignment after leaving the factory, so it is worth checking to conrm that the mirror is still properly aligned. Chapter 11 Troubleshooting The Polar3D support website has a number of articles and videos discussing commonly encountered issues. You can also open a support ticket at that site. 11.1 Printer LED lights In addition to the small, white lights around the camera under-
neath the print head which are the very rst lights to turn on when the printer is plugged in, the Polar3D printer has LED lights running vertically on the left hand side, with POLAR showing in blue when the printer is turned on (plugged in), and with the color of 3D being an indication of the state of the printer. A summary of the meaning of the LED lights on these Po-
lar3D printer is:
1. POLAR3D (BLUE over BLUE): The printer has nished turning on, but is not connected to a network, and has 237 CHAPTER 11. TROUBLESHOOTING 238 stood up its own wireless network. 2. POLAR3D (BLUE over RED): The printer has been con-
gured to connect to a network, but that network has not yet, or could not, be found. (The LED lights will only re-
main BLUE over RED for a short time: then the lights will either return to BLUE over BLUE if the network could not be found, or progress to BLUE over YELLOW if the network is found.) 3. POLAR3D (BLUE over YELLOW): The printer found a network to which it could connect, but the printer has not connected. 4. POLAR3D (BLUE over WHITE): The printer is connected through the local network and the Internet to the Polar Cloud. 5. POLAR3D (BLUE over GREEN): The printer has begun an update.1 6. POLAR3D (BLUE over GREEN): The printer is partway through an update. 7. POLAR3D (GREEN): The printer has just completed an update. (The LED lights will only remain solid GREEN for a short time; then the LED lights will return to their prior color(s), e.g., BLUE over WHITE if the printer is connected to the Polar Cloud.) See also the Polar3D support discussion: Polar3D Support:
What do the dierent LED lights mean?
1The green color will move gradually upwards in the letters, until all the LED lights are green as the update completes, after which the LED lights will return to their normal color from before the update. CHAPTER 11. TROUBLESHOOTING 239 And the Polar3D video:
Youtube Polar3D channel: WWBD - LED Light Explained 11.2 Clogged or leaky nozzle See:
Polar 3D youtube video: WWBD How to Unclog a Nozzle and Clear a Leaky Nozzle 11.3 Flaws in printed objects 1. If an object appears warped due to coming partially or fully loose from the build plate during the print, take steps to improve adhesion; see Section 8.2 for some ideas. 2. If objects are printing with rough surfaces, or with lay-
ers that dont seem fully stuck together, so that the ob-
ject can pull apart, the temperature of the extruder may have been too low; try increasing the temperature by 5C and try again. In particular, if printing through the Po-
lar Cloud, under PRINT SETTINGS, BASIC, adjust the Temperature. 3. If individual layers, and especially the top layer, look bad, another possibility besides too low a temperature (men-
tioned above in item 2), is that the lament is not feeding smoothly and hence not extruding smoothly. Make sure that the spool of lament is feeding easily and smoothly, CHAPTER 11. TROUBLESHOOTING 240
(see Figure 2.1), and consider cleaning the lament drive gear, (see Section 11.2). 4. If strings of unintended extrusion are occurring between separate parts of your print, then either the temperature may be a bit too high try decreasing the temperature by 5C and try again or else you may have a batch of lament that is simply rather runny even at lower tem-
peratures try increasing the retraction a few millimeters
(3 or 4 millimeters). For adjusting the retraction if print-
ing through the Polar Cloud, under PRINT SETTINGS, ADVANCED, Retraction, adjust the Amount (and per-
haps the Speed of the retraction). 5. If corners are messy or blurry or (unintentionally) rounded rather than sharp, or if there are ripple patterns (corner ringing) visible on vertical surfaces near direction changes
(corners), the print speed may need to be slowed down. To slow down the entire print, if printing through the Polar Cloud, under PRINT SETTINGS, BASIC, adjust Print Speed. 6. If surfaces have blemishes where the interior print mate-
rial shows through or penetrates (telegraphing), the exte-
rior shell of material may be too thin: modify the print to have a thicker exterior (use more shells). In partic-
ular, if printing through the Polar Cloud, under PRINT SETTINGS, ADVANCED, Quality, adjust as relevant the Wall Thickness, Bottom Layer Thickness, and/or Top Layer Count. 7. If tall and narrow sections of the print look squished or melted, the print may be happening so fast, with one layer CHAPTER 11. TROUBLESHOOTING 241 on top of another, that the material is not cooling su-
ciently between the layers. Slow down the print speed, or point a small fan at the printer, or print multiple objects
(thereby forcing more movement and printing at each layer, hence forcing more time before returning to print another layer) to aid in cooling. 8. If you see a jog in the material output, or a slight bend in what should be a straight line, or a bit of a blob of material right where an intended straight line of output material crosses the exact center of the build plate, check the calibration of the printer and try to reposition your object so that any visually important straight lines are not positioned exactly across the center of the build plate;
see Section 8.1.3. 9. if the object consistently appears to have skimpy lines of material being extruded (under-extrusion), or contrarily consistently appears to have excessive amounts of mate-
rial being extruded (over-extrusion), this may indicate that the lament you are using has a diameter dierent from what the slicer expected. Measure your laments diameter carefully, and then if appropriate adjust the slicers expec-
tation accordingly. In particular, when printing through the Polar Cloud, under an objects 3D PRINT screens PRINT SETTINGS, ADVANCED, Filament, adjust the Diameter. CHAPTER 11. TROUBLESHOOTING 242 11.4 Camera color balance The camera in the Polar3D printer attempts to perform auto-
matic color balancing. However, occasionally its color balancing algorithm may yield strange results, where the camera picture appears to have a strange overall tinge. (In particular, this may happen if the printer is left on in dark surroundings, such as overnight; when the lights get brighter, as in the morning, the color balancing may not readjust properly.) See for instance Figure 11.1, where the image has a blue cast. Figure 11.1: Printer camera color balance gets strange Power-cycling the printer (unplugging it and then plugging it back in) may reset the camera so that a correct color balance CHAPTER 11. TROUBLESHOOTING 243 is restored. Appendix A Polar3D printer specication sheet 244 Appendix B Polar3D printer diagram Filament Loading Hole Press Fit for Fan Guard Shuttle Arm Build Plate Spool Holder Indicating LED Logo X Y Sensor Build Plate Gear Carrying Handle Filament Guide Serial Number Z Threaded Rod Raspberry Pi Indicator Lights Fan Grill Holes 0.4mm Brass Nozzle USB A USB B - to PC Ethernet 12 V Power In Figure B.1: Polar3D printer diagram 245 Appendix C Connecting the printer directly to your device The Polar3D printer supports direct, non-Internet-enabled, print-
ing; in such modes, the features of the Polar Cloud are not avail-
able, but direct printing may be useful when Internet access is not available yet you need to print an object.
(When Inter-
net access is available, see instead Chapter 1 for a discussion of connecting the printer to the Polar Cloud.) If this is a brand new Polar3D printer, which you are just unpacking from its shipping box, begin by performing steps 1 through 4 of Section 1.1; namely:
1. Spray the build plate generously with AquaNet hairspray;
for a video demonstration, see:
https:/www.instagram.com/p/BJBaWwrjCwF/
2. Twist the threaded Z rod clockwise to raise the print head enough (1 to 2) to install the build plate. After you have unpacked the build plate and prepared its 246 APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE247 surface by applying a coat of hair spray (see above), and raised the print head to make room for installing the build 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. 3. Insert the power cord into the adapter, and insert the adapter plug into your Polar3D printer. Do not force the adapter plug; it will not be ush with the printer. 4. Plug in to a power outlet; the Polar3D printers LED lights should turn blue over blue: POLAR3D . Then there are two ways to connect the printer directly to your device: wireless (WiFi) see Section C.1, or via direct USB cable see Section C.2. C.1 Wireless direct connection and printing For wireless (WiFi) direct connection and printing, you will use the printers own hotspot and the printers user interface to com-
municate directly with the printer from your device (computer, tablet, phone), and will be able to print object les stored on your device. APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE248 C.1.1 Wireless direct connection For this type of connection, you will connect to the printers hotspot directly. (Thus this process starts out rather similarly to conguring the printer to connect via WiFi to a local net-
work, as discussed in Section 1.1, but instead of merely using the printers own hotspot to congure the printers connection to a local network, you will instead stay connected to the printers hotspot and communicate directly with the printer, rather than using the Polar Cloud interface.) 1. Connect to the printers hot spot. The printer should already be plugged in and all its LED lights blue: POLAR3D . From your device (computer, tablet, or phone), select WiFi network. From the list of net-
works, select the P3D network named after your printers serial number, as found on the back of the printer; for ex-
ample, P3D00526-WIFI. You will be prompted for a pass-
word, which will be the 8-character serial number consisting of P3D and ve digits: in this example, P3D00526. Note: Your device will not allow itself to be connected to two WiFi networks simultaneously. If your device is already connected to a WiFi network, you will need to (temporar-
ily) disconnect from that network and then connect to the printer hotspot. 2. Connect to the printer. In your browser (Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc.) enter 192.168.0.1 into the navigation bar. (On the printers hotspot, that is, on the private P3D network which is named APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE249 Figure C.1: Printer local web interface network status after your printers serial number and which the printer stood up itself, 192.168.0.1 will be the address of the printer.) You are now connected to the printer and should see the printers local web interface, as shown in Figure C.1; (the printer local web interface is discussed in detail in Chapter 5). At this stage, in the printer local web interface, note that there is no blue highlighted network shown under Configured Network, meaning that the printer is not connected to any local WiFi, but rather is in HotSpot mode. APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE250 C.1.2 Wireless direct printing The steps below describe the full process for uploading and printing an arbitrary .stl le.
(However, note that the Po-
lar3D printer ships with several .stl les, suitable for an initial test of the printer, already onboard the printer user interface; for your very rst print, you may wish to print one of them rather than uploading your own le.) 1. On the printers user interface, click the Print File button
(top choice in the column on the lefthand side of the win-
dow). This will take you to the Project Details screen, as shown in Figure C.2. 2. Upload a le to print. (If this is your very rst print on this printer, you may prefer to skip this step, of nding and uploading an arbitrary .stl le, and instead go to step 3 to print one of the les shipped as test print les.)
(a) Under Upload File, select Choose File.
(b) Find the le, select the le, and click Open.
(c) Click the Upload File button. 3. Select and print the le.
(a) Click the Select file... drop down menu under Print File (.stl or .gcode). APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE251 Figure C.2: Printer local web interface Project Details screen APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE252 APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE253
(b) Select the desired le. (Note that several sample .stl les ship with the Polar3D printer, accessible from the printer local interface, for your convenience in using them as a rst print, or for calibration prints.) APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE254 4. Click the Print File button. C.2 Cable direct connection and printing With the cable direct method of connection and printing, since you wont be able to access either the Polar Cloud user interface, or the Polar3D printers own onboard web user interface, you will need to run third-party printer control software on your device APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE255
(typically your computer) that can control the printer. In par-
ticular, Repetier-Host is free software which can be downloaded and installed on your computer for this purpose. You will also need an appropriate cable to connect your printer with your computer, such as a type-A-male-to-type-B-male USB cable to connect to your printer. The proper type of USB cable looks like:
If you do not already have such a USB cable, you may pur-
chase one from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-USB-2-0-CableMale/dp/B00NH11KIK APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE256 C.2.1 Cable direct connection 1. Obtain an appropriate cable, either a type-A-male-to-type-
B-male USB cable of the type described above in Section C.2, or an Ethernet cable. 2. Plug the cable into the printer and into your computer. A window should pop up that says it is installing drivers. Do not close that window!
3. Now, download and install Repetier-Host. 4. Start up Repetier-Host. This is what you should see:
APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE257 5. Once the drivers from step 2 have nished downloading, unplug your printer. Then click Printer Settings on the top right of the screen. You should now be looking at the following window:
APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE258 First, set the Baud Rate to 115200. Next, click on the down arrow in the box labelled Port and make a note of the values shown in the dropdown menu. This will show you what ports you currently have on the device and will help you determine the port used by the Polar3D printer. Click Cancel to close the Printer Settings window. 6. Plug your printer back in. Open Printer Settings again. Select the new value in the drop down menu. In the exam-
ple shown below, that new value is COM13, but the actual new value may vary. APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE259 Click the Ok button to save the changes. 7. Click the red Connect button (towards the top left of the Repetier-Host window). If it turns green, that means you are connected!
APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE260 8. Now, congure Repetier-Host to work with your Polar3D printer. Under Printer Settings, enter the values shown in the gure below:
APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE261 Click the Ok button to save these settings. 9. Now, congure the CuraEngine slicer settings. (CuraEngine is the slicer program that converts the 3D model the .stl le to Gcode that the printer can read.) Click on the tab that says Slicer, towards the right of the window. APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE262 10. Make sure that the Slicer choice is set to CuraEngine:
Then click theConfiguration button:
APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE263 11. You will need to download two les from the Polar 3D sup-
port page. The les to download are named Polar Cura Settings.rcp and Polar PLA Settings.rcf. They are available at the Polar 3D support website:
Polar 3D support: Repetier-Host/USB printing Save the two les to your desktop. 12. Still under the CuraEngine Configuration window from APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE264 step 10, navigate to the Print tab, click Import, and then load Polar Cura Settings.rcp:
13. Next, navigate to the Filament tab, click Import, and load Polar PLA Settings.rcf:
APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE265 14. Navigate back to Printer Settings (see for instance steps 4 and 5), click on Scripts, then select Run on Kill. APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE266 Copy the text as shown into the box or you may copy the text from this link and paste it into the box. Click OK to save. Everything is set up and congured properly, and now its time to print! See Section C.2.2!
APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE267 C.2.2 Cable direct printing Once you have connected your printer via USB cable directly to your computer, and congured the printer controller software on your computer (e.g., Repetier-Host), as described in Section C.2.1, you are ready to print an object!
1. Obtain an .stl le to print. (From your computer, you may want to look for an interesting le on the Polar Cloud, download it to your computer, and then you will be able to upload it from your computer to the printer.) But if this is your rst print and you dont have something else you want to print, then for your convenience the Polar 3D support website has a sample .stl le along with the .rcp and
.rcf les you already downloaded during the conguration in Section C.2.1. Go back to the Polar 3D support website and download the 3DBenchy.stl le to your computer:
Polar 3D support: Repetier-Host/USB printing 2. Use the Repetier-Host Load button (towards the upper left of the Repetier-Host main screen) to load an .stl le:
APPENDIX C. CONNECTING THE PRINTER DIRECTLY TO YOUR DEVICE268 3. You may want to change the position of the object on the build plate. You will generally to position the object so that it is not at the center of the build plate, and instead is near the edge of the build plate this will tend to increase the speed of the print. (See Section 8.1 for additional dis-
cussion of operational tips regarding positioning objects.) To move the object, right click on the object and drag it for instance, towards the edgeof the build plate. You can also scale and rotate the object by utilizing the Object Placement tab on the right of the Repetier-Host screen. 4. Once you are satised with the placement of your object, click the Slicer tab, and then click Slice with CuraEngine:
5. When the slicing completes, click Start Print. Thats it!
Glossary 3D printer The Polar3D printer melts plastic lament and deposits in layers or slices to additively build up a solid, three-
dimensional object. More generally, there are a variety of forms of 3D printing; see http://www.3dhubs.com/what-
is-3d-printing for an overview. Plastic lament 3D printers are relatively inexpensive, and accessible to students. Students may nd it interesting to consider how the sorts of thinking and skills developed using a plastic lament 3D printer could transfer to alternate forms of 3D printing. ABS ABS (Acrylonitrile-Butadiene Styrene) is an oil-based plas-
tic. If not quite as environmentally friendly as PLA, it is a bit tougher material, and besides its use as 3D printer lament, it is also used in making plastic objects for every-
day use, including Lego bricks. 211, 213215, 222, See also lament & PLA 269 Glossary brim 270 To promote adhesion of the object being printed, some-
times an extra ring of material may be printed encircling the object; this is referred to as a brim. build plate For 3D printers in general, the build plate is the platform on which objects are printed. For the Polar3D printer, the build plate is a round mirror with a toothed gear on the underside, that meshes with a gear on the build plate shut-
tle. 1, 4, 208, 213, 218, 230, 233, 235, 239, 246, See also build plate shuttle build plate shuttle For the Polar3D printer, the build plate shuttle consists of the carriage underneath the build plate: the shuttle arms and pads, and the gear, on which the build plate rests. The build plate shuttle slides along two support rods (in the x axis of movement) and rotates (the polar coordinate) the build plate via its gear. See Figure B.1. 4, 5, 181, 182, 212, 231, 236, 247, See also build plate & polar coordinates CAD Computer Aided Design is the use of computer systems to aid in design. CAD output is often in the form of electronic les; for 3D printing, the industry de-facto standard is .stl les. 47, 49, 84, 196, See also .stl le Glossary captive portal 271 A captive portal is a landing web page that a user must view, and at which a user typically must accept prescribed conditions for access, before access is permitted. Free WiFi hotspots at business centers, airports, coee shops, etc., typically permit access by means of a captive portal, where after a user accepts the conditions, the MAC address of the users device is permitted access for some period of time. In the context of Polar3D printers, note that a Polar3D printer cannot navigate itself through a captive portal; so for a Po-
lar3D printer to get on a local network, the local network must allow access to the Polar3D printer (perhaps involv-
ing local network conguration to recognize the printers MAC address) without requiring the Polar3D printer to do an extra step of viewing or agreeing to some access agreement. This is the same sort of situation for any hard-
ware device that needs to get on a local network. 8, 20, see MAC address Cartesian coordinates Cartesian coordinates are rectilinear coordinates, describ-
ing the position of a point in two-dimensional space via x and y coordinates, or in three-dimensional space via x, y, and z coordinates. Cartesian coordinates are named after the 17th century mathematician Rene Descartes who devel-
oped them; compare with polar coordinates. See also polar coordinates Glossary corner ringing 272 This is a type of print defect characterized by a ripple pat-
tern which quickly dampens and is seen on the vertical faces of prints, particularly after a direction change in the sur-
face. cylindrical coordinates Cylindrical coordinates are one way of extending polar co-
ordinates to three-dimensional space: cylindrical coordi-
nates use the r and of polar coordinates, plus a z height. See polar coordinates DHCP DHCP (Dynamic Host Conguration Protocol) is a client/server protocol that automatically provides an IP host (such as your 3D printer) with its IP address and other related net-
working parameters such as the IP subnet mask and de-
fault gateway IP address. In the absence of a DHCP server on a local network, each network device (such as your 3D printer) will need to have a statically (i.e., manually) as-
signed IP address. extruder The extruder, or extruder nozzle, of a 3D printer is the nozzle at the bottom of the print head, that is extruding the melted lament. 144, 145, 176, 220, 225, 232, 233, 235, See lament & print head Glossary lament 273 In the 3D printing context, lament generally refers to the plastic lament that the printer melts and prints; PLA and ABS are two of the most common materials for 3D printer lament. 37, See also ABS & PLA Gcode Gcode, sometimes written as G-code, is a numerical con-
trol programming language used to control the operation of machine tools such as 3D printers. While there is an inter-
national standard for Gcode, the 3D printing community loosely adheres to it. For example, dierent 3D printers ac-
cept dierent variations of Gcode. The specic Gcodes pro-
duced by dierent slicers and accepted by dierent printers are often not well specied. 139, 176, 207, 261, See also slicer inll Each model to be printed is comprised of an exterior and an interior. While the exterior is typically printed solid with no holes or gaps, the interior may range anywhere from completely empty to completely solid. The plastic printed in the interior is known as inll and its solidity is the inll percentage. For example, 0% inll means the print is completely hollow and 100% inll means it is fully solid. Printing time is reduced and plastic is saved by printing with inll percentages signicantly less than 100%. The amount of inll you should use depends upon the nature of the piece being printed and its intended usage. Glossary MAC address 274 A MAC address (Media Access Control address) of a net-
work device is a unique identier assigned for network data layer communications purposes. MAC address are typi-
cally assigned by the manufacturer of a network device, en-
coding the manufacturers registered identication number, and are stored in the devices read-only memory or other rmware. Among other uses, a devices MAC address is a way of identifying the device for network access purposes. Mcode Gcode can contain miscellaneous function codes known as Mcodes and which begin with the letter M. See Gcode MSDS sheet Material Safety Data Sheets are a widely used system for cataloging information on chemicals, chemical compounds, and chemical mixtures so for instance, the plastic of 3D printing lament. Note that 3D printing lament, espe-
cially PLA lament, is about as safe as plastic can get; but for those who need an MSDS document in their environ-
ment, Polar 3D has MSDS sheets available for the printing lament available from Polar 3D; see the Polar 3D support document Polar Filament MSDS Sheet. See also lament
& PLA NGSS Next Generation Science Standards, released in 2013, were developed by a consortium of 26 states, the National Sci-
Glossary 275 ence Teachers Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Research Coun-
cil, and the nonprot organization Achieve. For details, see http://www.nextgenscience.org. over-extrusion When the extruder outputs a surplus of plastic, over-ex-
trusion results. Over and under-extrusion are caused by a mismatch between the slicers expectations and reality: the slicer expects that when a millimeter of raw lament is fed into the extruder, a specic volume Ve of plastic will then be extruded output by the extruder. When the actual volume of plastic output, Va, exceeds Ve, over-extrusion re-
sults; when Va is less than Ve, under-extrusion results. There are a number of causes of such a mismatch of plastic extruded, but it generally is the result of the input la-
ment diameter not matching what the slicer expected, or the steps per mm for the extruder being incorrect. By care-
fully measuring your lament diameter, and then checking that that value is properly entered in the slicer for a Polar3D printer, this means properly entered under the ob-
jects PRINT SETTINGS, ADVANCED, Filament, Diameter you can generally prevent over- and under-extrusion from occurring. (But note that poor quality lament whose di-
ameter varies can cause intermittent over-extrusion and under-extrusion.) 241, See also lament, slicer & under-
extrusion Glossary PLA 276 PLA (PolyLactic Acid) is a biodegradable plastic, typically made from renewable raw materials such as cornstarch or sugarcane. Besides 3D printing lament, other common uses are for plastic cups and plastic water bottles. 1, 42, 210, 212, 214, 219, 220, 232, See also lament polar coordinates Polar coordinates describe two-dimensional location via ra-
dius, r, and angle, . Compare with Cartesian coordinates, which instead describe two-dimensional location via x and y coordinates. The Polar3D printer uses polar coordinates at the hardware level, which has several advantages; see the Polar 3D video WWBD - Polar is Better. Does this mean that you or your students need to use or understand polar coordinates? No! The Polar3D printer expects industry-standard .stl les, which describe loca-
tion in the more familiar Cartesian x, y, and z coordinates;
the Polar3D printers rmware automatically converts from the Cartesian coordinates describing an object to the polar coordinates (technically, cylindrical coordinates) that the printers hardware uses. However, if you have students who are learning about polar coordinates in their math class see Common Core stan-
dard http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/HSN/CN/B/4/
you may wish to draw such students attention to the un-
derlying polar operation of the Polar3D printer, both to help motivate them as to why one might want to learn about polar coordinates, and to help them visualize the Glossary 277 relationship between polar coordinates and Cartesian coor-
dinates. Also, a couple of printer operational tips will be more in-
tuitive if you are conscious that the printer is operating, at the hardware level, in polar coordinates. 207, 208, 230, 233, see also Cartesian coordinates print head The print head is the assembly including the heating ele-
ment and the lament extruder. It moves up and down the Z rod. See Figure B.1. 1, 4, 29, 181, 225, 231, 235, 237, 246, 247, See also extruder & Z rod raft To promote better build plate adhesion or to accommodate an uneven build surface, most slicers can add to your print a thick series of layers which can later be removed once the print is nished. These layers referred to as a raft are printed slowly so as to promote better adhesion to the build plate as well as to level out the printing surface. 139, 175, 209, 213, 219, See also slicer retraction In the context of 3D printing, retraction typically refers to the amount by which the extruder nozzle is raised when performing non-extrusion moves between sections of the print. That is, during printing there are normally extru-
sion moves, during which lament is being extruded, and non-extrusion moves, during which the extruder nozzle is retracted (raised) and moved without extruding melted l-
Glossary 278 ament to some other portion of the build plate where ex-
trusion will be resumed. Retracting (raising) the extruder nozzle for non-extrusion moves helps keep the extruder noz-
zle from dragging or smearing extruded material while it is being moved to its new position. 139, 176, 240, See ex-
truder SD card An SD card is specic type of memory ash card and is used to convey print les to your printer without using a USB or network connection. SD cards come in a variety of sizes, ranging from a fraction of a gigabyte to upwards of 256 gigabytes or more. The term SD is an acronym for Secure Digital. shell When a model is prepared for printing by a slicer, the slicer generates commands to print a solid exterior. The exterior is typically printed by following the models perimeter. The perimeter may be printed multiple times per layer, each time inset from the prior pass. The nal result can be thought of as a series of nested shells, one inside the other, from which arises the term shell. With some slicers, you control the thickness of the solid exterior by specifying the number of shells to generate. 220, 240, See also slicer skirt A skirt is an extra outline of material surrounding, but not touching, the perimeter of a print object. A skirt is some-
times used to shield the main object from thermal drafts, Glossary 279 especially when printing using ABS lament, or to estab-
lish a smooth ow of lament. 139, 175, 209, 214, 222, See also ABS slicer The process of turning a 3D model into printing instruc-
tions Gcode is referred to as slicing. That name derives from the fact that the process takes slices of the model and determines the necessary tool paths (extruder paths) to print that slice. The slice is a layer of the print. As the process is referred to as slicing, the software which implements the process is often called a slicer. For a Polar3D printer, slicer settings are set in the Polar Cloud under PRINT SETTINGS. (If using a direct connection to the Polar3D printer via a cable, and hence third-party soft-
ware to control the printer, then the slicer is controlled by that other software; for instance, Repetier-Host uses the CuraEngine slicer.) 125, 139, 241, 261, See also extruder, Gcode & tool slicing prole Most slicers have a mechanism whereby you collect together a number of conguration settings used by that slicer when preparing a model for printing. Such a collection of settings is here referred to as a slicing prole. A given slicer may use a dierent name (e.g., a factory in Simplify3D). See slicer stepper motor A stepper motor is a brushless DC (direct current) electric motor that divides a full rotation into a number of equal Glossary 280 steps. In a 3D printer, stepper motors are typically used to move the extruder and build plate. In particular, in a Polar3D printer, there are three stepper motors: one con-
trols the movement of the print head up and down the Z rod (z axis), one controls the movement of the build plate shuttle (x axis), and one controls the rotation of the build plate ( rotation). 181, See also build plate shuttle, polar coordinates, print head & Z rod
.stl le STL originally stood for the STereo Lithography le format native to CAD software created by 3D Systems, describing the surface geometry of a three-dimensional object. It does not include features such as color or texture, nor does it specify a xed size; it solely represents the shape. It has become the de-facto standard format used in 3D printing. 32, 36, 43, 47, 49, 52, 61, 63, 65, 66, 70, 80, 82, 84, 123, 125, 134, 136, 141, 180, 187, 193, 196, 199, 250, 253, 261, 267, See also CAD telegraphing A print defect caused by too thin of an exterior shell through which interior printing penetrates leaving visible surface blemishes. 240, See also shell tool In Gcode parlance, an extruder is a tool which is con-
trolled by the printer. That is, a tool is another name for an extruder. If your printer has a single extruder, than that extruder may be referred to as tool 0. If your printer Glossary 281 has two extruders, then the right extruder is tool 0 and the left extruder is tool 1. To further confuse matters, in Gcode motion commands for the right extruder may use the prex A while the left extruder the prex B. See also extruder & Gcode under-extrusion When the extruder outputs a decit of plastic, under-extrusion results. 241, See also over-extrusion Z rod On a Polar3D printer, the Z rod or Z threaded rod is the tall, threaded rod towards the back of the printer on which the print head (the printer extruder assembly) moves up and down; see Figure B.1. 4, 182, 231, 236, 246, See also extruder & print head Index 138 Aqua Net hair spray Important ingredient in, 210 Spraying on build plate, 4 Demo video, 4, 246 Light touch-up for additional prints, 210 Brim Adding Polar Cloud PRINT SETTINGS, 139, 175, 215 Adhesion aid, 213 CAD software, 187 Autodesk 123D Design, 188 Autodesk Fusion 360, 187 Autodesk Inventor, 188 Autodesk Maya, 188 Blender, 188 Morphi, 188 OnShape, 188 OpenSCAD, 188 Polar Cloud access to, 84 Sculptris, 188 282 Sketchup, 187 Tinkercad, 187 Clubs, see Polar Cloud, Groups CuraEngine slicer Repetier-Host conguration, 261 Using with Repetier-Host, 268 Direct printing (not through Po-
lar Cloud)
.stl les pre-supplied in printer local interface, 253 File upload via Repetier-Host, 267 File upload via WiFi, 180, 250 Object position via Repetier-
Host, 267 Via cable connection, 267 Upload le via Repetier-
Host, 267 Via WiFi, 250 Upload le via local web interface, 180 Engineering Design Process INDEX 283 Polar Cloud, 48 STEAMtrax curriculumn, 196 Temperature, 42 Wood-infused, 220 Filament, 219 ABS, 222 Adhesion issues and solu-
tions, 222 Curls as cools, 213, 222 Skirt as draft shield, 214, 222 Snip o ugly end, 28, 224 Unloading, 223, 225 Video discussion of, 223 Wood, 220 G-code Delay after each layer, 207 Modifying for print in Polar Ventilation required, 222 Cloud, 139, 176 Changing, 144, 223 Diameter Polar Cloud PRINT SETTINGS, 139, 176 Over-extrusion, 241 Polar Cloud PRINT SETTINGS, Printer local web interface Controls screen, 181 139, 219 Under-extrusion, 241 Loading, 28, 224 Manually extrude, 30 PET, 222 PETG, 222 PLA Adhesion aected by print temperature, 212 Carbon Fiber, 221 Color-changing, 220 Conductive, 221 Glow-in-the-dark, 220 Metallic, 221 Recommended for classroom, 219 Repetier-Host Run on Kill script, 265 Groups, see Polar Cloud, Groups Network Congure printer for local con-
nection, 8 Ethernet, 20 Printer conguration for lo-
cal WiFi, 8 Printer WiFi hotspot, 5 Remove network prole from printer, 114, 184 Troubleshooting, 20 Captive portal access not supported, 20 INDEX 284 Configured Network screen 208 of local web interface, 183 Towards edge of build plate DHCP, 21 Internet connection, 26 MAC address of printer, 23 Outgoing HTTP port ac-
cess, 20, 24 Static IP address, 21 Notications, see Polar Cloud, Notications Operational tips, 206 Adhesion, 209 ABS juice, 211 Brims, 213 First layer height, 211 First layer print speed, 212 Glue stick, 210 Hair spray, 210 Kapton tape, 211 Painters tape, 210 Rafts, 213 Skirts, 213 Temperature, 212 Filament, 219 Skirt to avoid burps at start of print, 209 Types, 220 Multiple small objects, 207 Object placement recommended, 207 Removing objects from the build plate, 218 Polar Cloud, 51 Account, 52 Activity, 60 ACTIVITY screen, 5961 ADMINISTRATOR position, 57 Banner, 59 Creating, 12, 53 Display name, 57, 71 EDUCATOR position, 57 Groups created, 61 Groups joined, 61 HISTORY screen, 61 LIKED screen, 61 Linked to Google, Facebook, or Microsoft Live account, 12, 53 Manage, 52 Objects LIKED, 61 Objects printed, 61 Objects QUEUED, 61 Objects shared, 61 OTHER position, 57 Photo (background banner), 59 Issues at center of build plate, Photo (self), 58 INDEX 285 Position menu, 57 Print jobs, 61 Printer added to account, 61 Printer managers added, 61 Printer managers removed, 61 Printer removed from ac-
count, 61 Prole photo, 58 QUEUED screen, 61 Settings screen, 56 Sign Out, 53 STUDENT position, 57 Add a printer, 14, 111 Background banner for ac-
count, 59 Build plate (3D PRINT) screen, 36, 69, 135 Adding objects to, 140 Delete Selected Object icon, 137 Extracting objects from, 140 List of objects on build plate, 136 Queue icon, 137 Loading object to build plate, 134 Loading object to printer, 141 Merge jobs, 152, 154 MOVE object, 38, 137 Object image, 136 PLACEMENT tab, 136 PRINT button, 36, 43, 135, 141, 155 PRINT SETTINGS, see Po-
lar Cloud, PRINT SETTINGS Printer drop-down menu, 135 ROTATE object, 138 Rotate view dial, 41, 136 SCALE object, 40, 138 UI SETTINGS, 139 Upload Selected Objects to the Cloud icon, 137 Zoom view in or out, 41, 136 CAD software access, 84 Classroom permissions screen, Load Objects from the Cloud 13, 54 icon, 137 Groups, 85 Load Objects from Your ACCEPT an invitation to join, Queue icon, 152 162 Load Objects from your CONTROL PRINTERS, 91, 104 INDEX 286 Create, 86 CREATE A GROUP screen, 86, 168 Sharing objects, UNSHARE, 87 DESCRIPTION eld, 86, 87 Invitation to join, 162 INVITE MEMBERS screen, 94 Invite Polar Cloud mem-
ber to join, 92 JOIN button, 98, 106 Join code, 97, 98, 108 LOCATION eld, 86, 87 Members, 92 MEMBERS screen, 93 Membership visibility, 90 MODERATED, Joining, 98 MY GROUPS screen, 85, 87 Object sharing, 73, 74, 98, 168 77 Sharing printers, 91, 102, 168 SUMMARY screen, 92, 98 TAGS eld, 87 Text description of, 86 Type of privacy, 88 WEBSITE eld, 87 Home page, 14, 54 Returning to, 54, 169 LIKE an object, 82, 168, 173 LIKED screen of account, 61 Members Account (your own), 52 Privacy, 57, 71, 73, 88, 106, Object sharing, UNSHARE, 165 77 Printer control, 91 Printer sharing, 91, 102, 168 Privacy of, 88 PRIVATE, 88 PUBLIC, 88 PUBLIC, Joining, 98 Requesting to join, 106 Searching for, 86, 88, 106 SETTINGS, 88 Sharing objects, 73, 74, 98, Viewing, 165 Navigation, 168 Account, 56 Groups, 176 Objects, 172 Printers, 169 Notications, 159 Accept or decline, 161 Format of, 161 Invitation to access printer, 119, 161 INDEX 287 Invitation to join group, 96, PUBLIC OBJECTS screen, 33, 161 Request to join MODERATED group, 98 Objects, 61 Add .stl les, 80 Delete .stl les, 80 Delete object from Polar Cloud, 82 Description of, 80, 172 Detail screen, 34, 63, 82 Download, 65, 70, 125, 149 EDIT screen, 80 LIKE, 61, 82, 168, 173 List of, 62, 172 List of LIKED, 61 List of, Newest to oldest, 62 MY PRIVATE OBJECTS screen, 66, 70 MY SHARED OBJECTS tab, 78 Photo snapshot of completed job, 126 Photos of, 80, 126 Placement on build plate, 37, 137, 138, 173 Print recommendations, 80 Printing, see Polar Cloud, Printing via Public, 173 62, 77 Public sharing of, 71 Public, Can not be deleted, 82 Public, Can not be unshared, 77 Public, Sharing with groups, 73 Removing from build plate, 218 Scaling, 40 Search, 77 Search those public, 33, 77 Search those shared with group, 78 Search those shared with you, 78 SHARE button, 71 SHARE WITH GROUPS screen, 74 SHARE WITH MEMBERS screen, 71 Shared, 173 Sharing, 71, 167 Sharing with all Polar Cloud members, 71 Sharing with groups, 73, 74 Sharing with specic Po-
INDEX 288 lar Cloud members, 71 Size, 40 Top menu tab, 61 UNSHARE, 77 Upload, 65, 125 UPLOAD FILES screen, 66 68 Obsoleting printer ownership, 114, 184 PRINT button on 3D PRINT screen, 43, 135 Merging jobs, 155 Print jobs job, 126 QUEUED screen of account, 61 Rearrange order of, 125, 146 SNAPSHOT photo, 127 Start and stop, 142 Stop, 159 Temperature, 42, 145 TIME LAPSE video, 128 Video (time-lapse) of com-
pleted job, 126 Video of, 158 Print queues, 121 After printer ownership change, After printer ownership change, 114 DETAILS screen, 126 Filament change, 144 History, 60, 150, 170 History of object screen, 127 HISTORY screen of account, 61 HISTORY screen of printer, 126 List in print queue, 146 Merge, 125, 150 Modifying in queue, 124, 149 Move to dierent printer, 158 114 CHANGE FILAMENT button, 144 COLD PAUSE button, 144 Dashboard control buttons, 142 Download Config tab, 125 Download STL tab, 125 Edit Job tab, 124, 151, 158 Job edit menu, 123 LOAD OBJECTS FROM QUEUE screen, 153, 154 Merge jobs, 150, 156 Move job to dierent printer, 158 Photo snapshot of completed PAUSE button, 144 INDEX 289 Printer dashboard, 151 Prioritize Job tab, 125 Remove Job tab, 125, 157 RESUME button, 145 Start and stop jobs, 142 START button, 123, 143 STOP button, 145, 159 PRINT SETTINGS, 139, 175, 215 ADVANCED, 139 BASIC, 139 Bottom and top layers, 175 Bottom Layer Thickness, 240 Quality, 212 Raft, 175, 215 Retraction, 175, 240 Screen, 138 Skirt, 175, 215 Skirt Settings, 217 Speed, 212 Support, 175, 215 Temperature, 42, 139, 175, 219, 239 Top Layer Count, 240 Wall Thickness, 240 Printers Access by group members, Brim, 175, 215 Cooling Fan, 175 Downloading, 125 Filament diameter, 175, 219, 241 91 Access by other Polar Cloud members, 118 ADD A PRINTER screen, 15 ADD MANAGER button, 119, First layer adhesion eects, 120 212 First Layer Speed, 212 G-CODE, 139, 176 Inll, 175 Initial layer print speed, 175 Initial Layer Thickness, 212 Layer thickness, 175 Platform Adhesion Type, 175, 216 ADD USER button, 119, 120 Adding to account, 14, 111 ADJUST EXTRUDER TEMPERATURE screen, 145 CHANGE OWNER button, 112 Changing ownership, 112, 184 Connecting, 11 Dashboard control buttons, Print Speed, 175, 240 142 INDEX 290 Dashboard screen, 43, 44, 110, 121, 123, 151, 158, 170 Dashboard screen UPDATE button, 129, 226 DESCRIPTION eld, 115, 116 DESCRIPTION eld, Search-
ing by, 118 HISTORY screen of printer, 126 INVITE button, 119 INVITE MEMBERS screen, 119, 120 Job history, 150 Job queue, 146 List in LIST VIEW, 169 List in THUMBNAILS VIEW, 15, 109, 169 LOCAL UI tab, 172 Local web interface, 131, 172, 177 Local web interface, Access by group members, 91 LOCATION eld, 115, 116 LOCATION eld, Searching by, 118 MANAGE screen, 115 MANAGE screen UPDATE but-
ton, 129, 227 MANAGE tab, 170 Manager-type control by group members, 91 Managers, 118 MEMBERS screen, 112, 119 NAME eld, 115, 116 NAME eld, Searching by, 118 Owner, 111, 114 P3Dserial-digits , 15, 116 P3Dserial-digits -deleted-date , 158, 184 PROMOTE PRINTER MEMBERS screen, 113 QUEUE screen, 115, 121 Search for, 118 Serial number, Add printer to account, 15, 114 Serial number, After obso-
leting ownership, 184 Serial number, Default name of printer, 15, 116 Serial number, Searching by, 118 SETTINGS screen, 116 Status COMPLETING PRINT JOB, 45 Status FINISHING PRINTING, 45 Status OFFLINE, 130 Status PREPARING PRINT, 44 INDEX 291 Status PRINTING, 44 Status READY TO PRINT, 45 Status UPDATING PRINTER, 129, 130 ton, 155 SAVE TO EXISTING PRINT JOB button, 155 Video (time-lapse) of com-
Status WAITING FOR RESPONSE, pleted jobs, 128 44, 130 Video of jobs in-progress, 158 Temperature, 145 UPDATE button, 129 UPDATE PRINTER conrma-
Ports Outgoing HTTP must be open to printer, 24 tion screen, 130 Used by Repetier-Host, 258 Printer Updating, 129, 226 Printing via, 132, 141 Account activity, 60 Account history, 60 Build plate (3D PRINT) screen, see Polar Cloud, Build plate
(3D PRINT) screen First print, 27 Job history, 146 Job queue, 146 Modifying the print, 135 Snapshots of jobs completed, 126 Snapshots of jobs running, 158 Video (time-lapse) of com-
pleted jobs, 128 Video of running jobs, 158 SAVE PRINT JOB screen Access by other Polar Cloud members, 118 Build plate Cleaning, 230 Homing via local web in-
terface, 181 Installing, 4, 246 Spray with hair spray, 4, 246 Build plate adhesion, 209 ABS juice, 211 Brims and rafts, 213 First layer height, 211 First layer print speed, 212 Glue stick, 210 Hair spray, 210 Kapton tape, 211 Painters tape, 210 CREATE NEW PRINT JOB but-
Build plate cleaning, 210 INDEX 292 Build plate shuttle Ethernet vs. WiFi Calibration for proper rst Network screen of local web layer height, 212 interface, 183 Calibration via local web Extruder head interface, 182 Lubricating the rods, 231 Unlock stepper motors to move manually, 181 Calibration, 233 Build plate shuttle, 212, 235 Local web interface, 182 Operational tips, 211 X axis, 182, 212 Z axis, 182, 211, 233 Camera Color balance, 242 Lights, 237 Local web interface, 182 Polar Cloud, 158 Turn on or o via Camera screen of local web inter-
face, 182 Clogged nozzle, 239 Connect or reconnect to Po-
lar Cloud, 11 Diagram, 245 Direct printing (not through Polar Cloud), see Direct printing (not through Po-
lar Cloud) Raise via local web inter-
face, 181 Unlock stepper motors to move manually, 181 Filament extrusion Local web interface, 30, 181 Manual control of, 30 Filament feed hole, 28, 29, 245 Filament guide hole, 28, 29, 223, 224, 245 Filament loading, 28, 224 Checking, 30 Diagram, 223 Filament unloading, 225 Gcode Send manually through lo-
cal web interface, 181 Homing At start of print job, 45 Triggered via printer local web interface, 181 IP address DHCP in Ethernet Settings under Network screen of local web interface, 183 INDEX 293 Finding, 183, 228 Network screen of local web interface, 183 Static, 21 Static in Ethernet Settings under Network screen of local web interface, 183 Leaky nozzle, 239 LED lights Meaning of, 237 Meaning of during update, 131, 229 Network connectivity prob-
lems, 25 lar Cloud, 11 Controls tab, 181 IP address, 183 Manual Printer Controls screen, 30 Manually extrude lament, 30 Navigation through, 180 Network tab, 183 Obsoleting printer owner-
ship in Polar Cloud, 114, 184 Polar Cloud access to, 131, 177 Security check, 17 Turn on or o via local web Print File tab, 180 Printer Calibration screen, interface, 181 Live video feed 234 Project Details screen, Camera screen of local web 180, 250, 252 interface, 182 Polar Cloud printer dash-
board, 158 Project Details screen, Print File button, 254 Reset Networks button, 114, Local web interface, 177 184 Access by Polar Cloud group Reset Printer on the Polar members, 91 Cloud button, 114, 184 Calibration tab, 182 Camera tab, 182 Configured Network screen, Restart tab, 11, 186 Update, 227 Update tab, 185, 227 183, 233 MAC address, 23 Connect or reconnect to Po-
Network screen of local web INDEX 294 interface, 183 ational tips Solving network connectiv-
Polar Cloud view of, see Po-
ity problems, 25 Maintenance, 230 lar Cloud, Printers Power on, 5, 247 Build plate cleaning, 210, Camera lights, 237 230 Print head Calibration, 233 Filament drive gear clean-
Unlock stepper motors to move manually, 181 ing, 231 Filament drive gear clean-
ing and poor quality l-
ament, 219 Lubricate, 231 Nozzle replacement, 232 Nozzle replacement and abra-
sive laments, 220 Nozzle replacement and car-
bon ber PLA lament, 221 Remove objects, 218 Restart Local web interface, 186 Serial number, 5, 245 Registering printer in Po-
lar Cloud, 15, 114 WiFi hotspot name, 7 WiFi hotspot password, 5 Setup, see Printer setup Specications, 244 Spool holder, 6, 28, 223, 224, Nozzle replacement and glow-
245 in-the-dark PLA lament, 220 Squeaking Lubricate, 231 Nozzle replacement and metal-
Status lic PLA lament, 221 SD card replacement, 232 Local user interface Camera screen, 182 Manual controls Local user interface Project Local web interface, 181 Details screen, 180 Nozzle problems Polar Cloud printer dash-
Clogged or leaky, 231, 239 Operational tips, see Oper-
board screen, 158 Status (network) INDEX 299 Manually forcing, 228 Polar Cloud approach, 129, 226 INDEX 295 Local user interface Configured WiFi Network screen, 183 Stepper motors Unlock manually via local Changing WiFi network via Network screen of local web interface, 183 web interface, 181 WiFi vs. Ethernet Temperature Network screen of local web Camera screen of local web interface, 183 interface, 182 Z rod Load lament, 30, 225 Polar Cloud PRINT SETTINGS, 139 Calibration via local web interface, 182 Lubricating, 231 Polar Cloud printer dash-
Printer setup, 1 board, 145 Add printer to Polar Cloud Polar PLA Settings.rcf account, 111 le, 264 Project Details screen of local web interface, 180 Repetier-Host, 225, 264 Set manually via local web interface, 181 Unload lament, 225 Updating, 226 Conrmation screen, 228 LED light color change, 131, 229, 238 Local web interface approach, 185, 227 Manually force, 228 Polar Cloud approach, 129, 226 Ethernet connection, 20 WiFi connection, 14 Baud rate USB cable direct connec-
tion, 258 Change network, 8, 184 Connect to Polar Cloud, 11 Description of printer in Po-
lar Cloud, 115 Direct connection, 246 Direct connection via USB cable or Ethernet cable, 254 Baud rate, 258 Printing, 267 Repetier-Host software, 254 INDEX 296 Type A male to type B male USB cable, 255 Power adapter, 5, 247 Power on, 5 Direct connection via WiFi, LED lights blue over blue, 247, 248 Printer hotspot network name, 248 5, 247 Raise print head, 4, 246 Security light check, 114 Printer hotspot password, WiFi connection to Inter-
248 net, 17 Printer serial number, 248 Printing, 250 Serial number, 15, 114 WiFi hotspot network name, Ethernet connection to In-
7, 248 ternet, 19 Filament loading, 28 Checking, 30 Install build plate on printer shuttle, 4, 246 LED lights Meaning of, 237 Network connectivity prob-
lems, 20, 25 Security check, 17 Location text of printer in Polar Cloud, 115 MAC address, 23 Name of printer in Polar Cloud, 15, 114, 115 Network connectivity prob-
lems, 25 Outgoing HTTP port ac-
cess, 24 WiFi hotspot password, 5 Spray build plate, 4, 246 Static IP address, 21 WiFi connection to Internet, 3 Connect to printers user interface, 7 Connect to printers WiFi local hotspot, 5 Internet connection, 8 LED lights blue over white, 12 Local network connection, 8 Local network name, 8 Local network password, 8 Serial number, 5 Printing, see Polar Cloud, Print-
ing via, see also Direct INDEX 297 printing (not through Po-
lar Cloud) Conguring, 261 Using, 268 Raft Adding Polar Cloud PRINT SETTINGS, Startup screen, 256 Use with direct USB cable connection to printer, 254 139, 175, 215 Adhesion aid, 213 Foundation for build, 213 Repetier-Host software Connect button, 259 CuraEngine Skirt Adding Polar Cloud PRINT SETTINGS, 215 Draft shield, 214 ABS lament, 222 Conguring, 261 Polar Cura Settings.rcp Smooth ow of lament at start of print, 209 le, 263 Using, 268 STEAMtrax, 190 Modules Filament settings congura-
tion, 264 File upload, 267 Installation, 256 Polar Cura Settings.rcp le, 263 Polar PLA Settings.rcf le, 263 Student view, 199 Teacher view, 194 Password recovery, 201 Stacy STEAMtrax charac-
ter, 199 Star Portal, 191, 200 Student dashboard, 198 Teacher dashboard, 192 Printer Settings, 257 User import, 200 Baud Rate, 258 Port, 258 Printer Shape, 260 Run on Kill script, 265 Scripts, 265 Slicer Tri-Flow lubricant, 231 Troubleshooting, 237 Filament Clogged in nozzle, 231, 239 Diameter, 241 INDEX 298 Diameter variation, 219 Feeding poorly, 239 Leaking from nozzle, 231, 239 Leaking from nozzle dur-
ing PAUSE, 144 Over-extrusion, 241 Poor quality of, 219 Skirt to avoid burps at start of print, 209 Glow-in-the-dark, 220 Layers pull apart, 239 Rough surfaces, 239 Shell too thin, 240 Small parts squished, 207 Strings between separate parts, 240 Surface blemishes, 240 Tall or narrow parts squished, 240 Strings between separate parts, Telegraphing of interior ma-
240 terial through shell, 240 Temperature, 212, 240 Temperature for conductive Top layer bad, 239 Warped, 239 PLA, 221 Printer Temperature for wood-infused PLA, 220 Under-extrusion, 241 LED lights, 20 Network connectivity prob-
lems, 20, 237 Object, 239 Adhesion of rst layer, 233 Blemish at center of build plate, 208, 241 Came loose of build plate, 239 Corners blurred, 240 First layer problems, 211, 233 Calibration, 233 Camera color balance, 242 LED lights, 237 Network connectivity prob-
lems, 20, 25 Nozzle clogged, 231, 239 Nozzle leaking, 231, 239 Outgoing HTTP ports, 24 Power failure aftermath, 232 SD card, 232 Squeaking, 231 Updating printer, 226 Conrmation screen, 228 Local web interface approach, 185, 227 This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. Any Changes or modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user's authority to operate the equipment. Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:
-Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
-Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
-Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which the receiver is connected.
-Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help. This equipment complies with FCC radiation exposure limits set forth for an uncontrolled environment. This equipment should be installed and operated with minimum distance 20cm between the radiator & your body.
This product uses the FCC Data API but is not endorsed or certified by the FCC