SoliForum - 3D Printing Community — Printing while not at home.

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-21T03:06:18Z

^^
With how well my parts have stuck in the past, I wouldn't want to try this. The extruder would have smashed well and truly before the part came off the bed. Almost need to have a failsafe system with a spring and a limit switch. If the part doesn't come off the bed with x amount of force, the spring compresses and the limit switch is touched causing the "sweep" to abort and flag an error to the user in the software.

I too had the same concern as the OP, especially if the software/printer crashed meaning the the extruder head had stopped on the part, continuing to heat it until it burnt. So far I have found that even on a crash the heating process is stopped so I just end up with a dark cigarette style burn were the extruder was (before it cooled). Not much of an issue. Maybe a crash leads to loss of connection, leads to the whole process being killed. A print that comes off the bed before it is finished leads to spaghetti fluff all over the place.

Though coming home to a smouldering house still worries me. I don't want my soliwidow to have more of a reason to hate the 3D printer.

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-20T23:07:10Z

some one posted on youtube a SD3? That had an arm that would sweep off the bed, thus allowing the owner to print small parts till the filament ran out. The machine could run autonomously.

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-20T21:03:06Z

Good Luck!

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-20T18:03:33Z

I am running my first remote print as we speak. I still have a remote connection to my computer so things must be going well!

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-20T08:01:42Z

Just make sure you set it to kill the bed heat when the print finishes, and be prepared to come back to a mess of filament if anything goes wrong. Nothing dangerous, just a few minutes of potential cleanup.

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-20T01:42:29Z

I print while at work and while asleep all the time. I like to use my "awake time" for printing smaller things, designing, tweaking/upgrading the printer, and slicing.

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-19T21:05:48Z

I've never heard of anyone's house being burned down from any 3D printer for any reason ever. I have heard of one (1) small electrical fire that only damaged the printer, and even that was repairable. In addition, I never have time to watch more than the first layer or two anymore. I'll start a print in the evening, pop in once before bed to check on it, pop in before work the next morning, and then it's usually done when I get home. Rinse, repeat. I wanted to do a webcam stream, but 1. I have no wifi signal from my garage and 2. when I was printing in my basement, running the stream MAJORLY slowed down my internet connect, which irritated my lady. I wanted a satellite-based camera but they continue to be outside my budget.

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-19T18:10:03Z

Excellent!

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-19T18:05:59Z

I've started a job while at work as well as let it print while I am away. I use a web cam to periodically view the result so I can stop it if it is failing. No house fires yet.

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-19T18:01:27Z

when i begin a 14hours print.. sure i will let it finish even if i'm not at home...

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-19T17:50:04Z

I have messed around with a webcam setup to monitor it in case the part comes off the bed or the nozzle plugs. I was just curious as to how many of you are doing it.

Re: Printing while not at home.

2013-06-19T17:48:46Z

Its not likely to burn the house down.

More likely to be having other problems. Yet once it is set up properly, you could have a print farm.

Printing while not at home.

2013-06-19T17:35:57Z

How many of you run your printer while you are not at home. What are the chances of one of these burning your house down?