Type A Machines fault....

[Jan Kaliciak]

Has anyone that still owns a Type A Machines Series 1 Pro 3D printer experienced any problems with external hacking when connected to an internet router to operate the printer across an ethernet network....?


The potential evidence for this arose from receiving an unsolicited pop-up message in the printer's Safari browser interface, that suddenly started appearing upon boot-up some time ago.


Words to the effect that "Man, this browser is really old" (when, of course it wasn't). Since, this is clearly a vernacular comment, unique to using the TAMs interface, I concluded it arrived from outside the LAN.


It seems to me that, since there is no apparent Firewall in the printer itself, when connected to an internet LAN it may be susceptible to interference.


What has happened recently is that after an overnight printing session, but having fully completed the job, the printer no longer will connect to Safari despite using different Cat5e cables, an alternative router on a closed LAN, and other Macs. This suggests more of a software issue, than a hardware one, since it did not fail half-way through printing.


I have been discussing this with 'Solid State Printers' in San Francisco, a company that now handles maintenance for this model, since the recent sad demise of Type A Machines itself.


Unfortunately, they have not yet been able to throw much light on this issue, despite supplying replacement firmware on an SD card for the onboard 'Beaglebone Black' processor. All onboard PCBs LEDs show that they are receiving power, and ethernet signals are being exchanged.


I would guess that if there is a natural cycle time for common faults to emerge, then some users would be experiencing similar issues.


It would be very useful to pool such outcomes to find the common threads, if any, and to formulate recovery strategies.


The first recommendation that I would make is to ensure that this machine is only operated on a closed LAN with no internet access. The only reason that it had been coupled to the internet by default, is that this was recommended in TAMs 'Addendum to Series 1 User Manual with Updated Information?
"....Stay Up-To-Date. Automatically.
The onboard software interface receives OTA updates, allowing you to have the latest and greatest software as soon as it becomes available...."




I had only recently become aware of TAMs untimely disappearance, so I had found no reason to question this recommendation until now.


What I had done in this respect was only use cable connections between router, printer, and Macintosh....right from the beginning in 2015, after being newly installed.


When I first tried the wireless connection, there definitely appeared to be some interruptions from external sources, at the time, harmless....but I thought it wiser to hardwire the connections instead.


For me, this is an ongoing enquiry as I work through the steps to bring this printer back to full operational status. Ruling out various possibilities narrows down the focus for remedies.

[curious aardvark]

well safari is pretty shite, but it's apple software so that kind of comes with the territory.

Found some specs.
well that sucks - no onboard screen or control panel - can't even see an sd card.

why on earth would you have a camera but no sd card ?

The only thing I can suggest - and it really goes against the grain - is to try using chrome instead of safari.
I hate chrome, as it's more an operating system than a true browser, but in this case that's exactly why it might work.
Pretty sure you can install chrome on an apple.
failing that try firefox - the best browser on the planet - has some api's, so could work. Plus every thing is an improvement on safari :-)

As far a sthe messages go - safari is pretty lousy, so maybe just the internet giving an opinion ;-)

[Jan Kaliciak]

Er....Do you own a Type A Machines Series 1 Pro....?