SMART+3DP Brain Revealed - Control Printers Wirelessly and Effortlessly

[Brian_Krassenstein]

The team at Drotix LLC is getting ready to untether the making community from their 3D printers with a new device that offers complete autonomy. All you need to do is have wireless capability, and then order the SMART+3DP device, retailing at $75. With the SMART+3DP, you can do virtually everything you need right from the touchscreen, from preparing, slicing, and repairing models to pausing in between layers. You can monitor 3D printing process with the camera, as well as share photos and even a time-lapse video on social media. Check out more details in the full article: http://3dprint.com/61959/smart3dp-wireless-touchscreen/


Below is a look at the SMART+3DP setup:

[Drotix]

intro-bg.jpg
Just let us know if need more info about our product!

[Starlord]

I take it this will not be available anytime soon?

[curious aardvark]

I just don't see the point of this kind of device.

Why would you want it ?

I mean if you've bought simplify 3d - that's out the window - who knows how good the slicer on this device is.
And unless you actually have a printer that NEVER EVER mucks up the first layer - you still need to be with the printer when the print starts.

So mr Drotix - convince me: why do I need this and what actual benefits might it give me ?
I don't have a smart phone or tablet - just a bunch of netbooks and computers.
Why should I buy your product ?

[Drotix]

I just don't see the point of this kind of device.

Why would you want it ?

I mean if you've bought simplify 3d - that's out the window - who knows how good the slicer on this device is.
And unless you actually have a printer that NEVER EVER mucks up the first layer - you still need to be with the printer when the print starts.

So mr Drotix - convince me: why do I need this and what actual benefits might it give me ?
I don't have a smart phone or tablet - just a bunch of netbooks and computers.
Why should I buy your product ?

Thanks, this kind of question lets us to explain a little bit more our product.


First of all what we are offering is very similar and very different to simplify 3D, when you buy Simplify 3D you pay $149 just per the software license, you still needing a computer attached to your 3D printer, when you buy our product, you receive, for the same money (Or less depending which version you choose), a piece of hardware and software that offer the same functionalities offered by simplify 3D and much more, with also the enormous advantage that you free your computer for be used in whatever you need.

Regarding slicers, we offer 4 different slicers (Cura, Slicer, Skeinforge and Matter Control) all of them are widely used and tested by makers community, you can choose your preferred one, any of them can be used in any job also, regarding parameters we offer to use them in easy, advanced and expert mode.
If your 3d printer is reliable with our product you can start your print job wherever you are, but if not, as I told you before you can start your job being there but as soon your printer is working you can free your computer and also monitor your work from living room, coffee shop or wherever you are, this is very useful for large jobs or when you got your printer at the attic like me.

If you don't have a phone or tablet, there's no problem, you can use the SMART+3DP touchscreen.

As you know every product isn't for everyone, if are comfortable using different software for each step of 3d print (Select the model, fix, slice and monitor), left your computer prisoner of your printer, go back and forth every few minutes to see your work, then maybe our product is not for you. But if you want to centralise all your 3D printing stuff in one site, simplify the process and let it accessible for everyone then you might try SMART+3DP.

Thanks again for your question and if you need more information just let us know.

[Drotix]

I take it this will not be available anytime soon?

SMART+3DP Will be the first Windows 10 IoT (Internet of Things version) project to hit Kickstarter next week, we already have an Ubuntu version ready to launch, but we will use KS te get funds to achieve the Windows 10 IoT migration (Which is already on going...).

[curious aardvark]

okay, that sounds good :-) - so next question or two.

1) can it run two or more printers at the same time ? I currently have 2 machines, both have sd card slots - so I don't need to tie up a computer when printing - and obviously once you've got the gcode/x3g file (see question 2) I can print from the printer whenever and as often as I like without recourse to the pc.
So much of what your machine offers can be duplicated with an sdcard. But running seevral printers at the same time from the one little box - that would be useful and not the same as printing from a card.

2) is your machine makerbot replicator and replicator clone compatible. ie: can it generate working .x3g files ? None of the slicers you mention will do this un-aided. You need custom start and end code and gpx convertor to generatev the x3g file to send to the printer. Given just how many clone replicators there are around and how cheap they are - support for them would be a big selling point.

[Drotix]

okay, that sounds good :-) - so next question or two.

1) can it run two or more printers at the same time ? I currently have 2 machines, both have sd card slots - so I don't need to tie up a computer when printing - and obviously once you've got the gcode/x3g file (see question 2) I can print from the printer whenever and as often as I like without recourse to the pc.
So much of what your machine offers can be duplicated with an sdcard. But running seevral printers at the same time from the one little box - that would be useful and not the same as printing from a card.

2) is your machine makerbot replicator and replicator clone compatible. ie: can it generate working .x3g files ? None of the slicers you mention will do this un-aided. You need custom start and end code and gpx convertor to generatev the x3g file to send to the printer. Given just how many clone replicators there are around and how cheap they are - support for them would be a big selling point.

SMART+3DP was originally designed to be the OS for our 3D Printers, so in this original design, the ability to control 2 or more printers or control sailfish based printers was never a need, in the new Ubuntu release we added the multi printer support as well of sailfish support (Makerbot and others) but further tests are still pending, so we will include this features on future updates, because we prefer to lack in features before delivery untested software. The actual release has more than 10K printing hours, we are now testing the new release and at the same time we are migration the whole development to windows 10 IoT, so for this wave, we will offer the actual release and all of new features will be included in the Windows release.

[FelixP]

Hey, I just created an account to ask something. On your site it says you can use certain "certified" cameras with the SMART+3DP to monitor your printer. Do you plan to include webcams with that, and how many cameras do you expect to be able to connect to it and use?

[Buda3D]

The device will come with an optional 5MPx /1080P camera, you can also connect a second USB webcam (check here the list of compatible webcams: http://elinux.org/RPi_USB_Webcams).

Best Regards.