How to use 3DPrinterOS

This file can be found here for ease of reading:

https://docs.google.com/document/u/1/d/1XYt2zIOzXPkGTgafUCKzzbj2Dvm-PWbLW6E_l8R1I4s/pub 

Step 1: Getting logged in

1. Go to cloud.3dprinteros.com
2. Log in using SSO, click on the drop-down menu and either scroll to find Lehigh University, or start typing Lehigh University, when you see the option for Lehigh University click on it and sign into your Lehigh account.

3. Once you’re logged in correctly, if you click on the Printers tab you should see a list of printers, now you can get your files set up

4. If you did not log in using SSO the first time and see a tab like the following, you must contact sik223@lehigh.edu to be added to the Lehigh printer network.

Step 2: Adding your files and setting them up

1. Go to the files tab, then click on the Add files button

2. Either drag and drop the files into the box or click on the select from computer option. 3DPrinterOS needs STL or 3MF files for proper results

3. Your files will end up in the Files subtab, and after they have been set up, they will move to a project within the Projects subtab

4. Getting your files ready to print using the move, scale, and rotate features:

1. Click on the Layout button

2. First, select the printer you want to use. Other than the Formlabs printer which is a resin printer with separate instructions for use, the other 3 printer types are fairly similar. The best practice is to use either the Prusa MK3 or the Bambu Lab X1 Carbon as the lab has 10+ of each of these printers and only 1 MK4. If you need to print a part that will not fit on these printers, please email in3d@lehigh.edu for assistance. To reiterate, the Formlabs have a separate set of instructions, so if you want a resin print, refer to the instructions for resin printing. 

3. Click the On bed and Center buttons to ensure your part is on the print bed and not hanging over any edges. You can now use the Move and Rotate features to orient your part however you want. Be careful to click On bed before you move to the next step to avoid your part being in the bed or floating

4. Make sure your file is the correct size, in the Scale tab you can see how big the part is in each direction, z is vertical, x is left to right, y is front to back. If you need to adjust the size, simply change the value in one direction to a known value, and as long as keep proportions is on, the rest of the part will scale accordingly. Note that all dimensions are in mm.

5. Once you are satisfied with the layout of your part, you can now either click on Save or Slice. Clicking Save will return you to the files tab, and clicking Slice will automatically take you to the next step.

Step 3: Preparing/Slicing your files for printing

1. If you clicked Slice, move to step two. If you clicked Save or if you wish to change the printer type, go to the Projects subtab and find the correct file. If you click Slice, it will automatically take you to the slicer for the printer type you selected in Step 2.4b. If you wish to change the printer to use, click the dropdown arrow next to slice and click on either Prusa Slicer or Bambu Slicer for the Prusa printers and Bambu printers respectively. Slicer 5 is only useful if you need to tweak some fine details, for general printing Prusa Slicer and Bambu Slicer are better.

2. You should now see a menu like one of the following. The only settings you should ever change are shown boxed out below. The effect of each setting is explained in the next substep

Bambu Slicer        

Prusa Slicer

3. Settings:

1. Slicing profile: This setting changes the default settings for each filament type. Change this setting if you need to print your part in a different filament type.
2. Print Settings: These settings control the weight and strength of your part, which in turn affects the print time and material usage

1. Layer thickness controls how thick each layer of the sliced part will be. 0.2mm is the all-around best setting, the only reason to ever change this setting is if you desperately need to get finer detail (decrease layer thickness) or decrease print time for a large part (increase layer thickness) However in general, you should probably not change this setting as this will increase the chance of your print failing
2. Wall Loops or Perimeters: This setting is how many lines of filament are used to build the “shell” of the part. Increasing this setting will increase the strength, but also increase print time and more than 3 walls can increase the likelihood of failure. Only change this setting if your part absolutely needs higher strength

1 Loop/perimeter                  3 Loops/perimeters              5 Loops/perimeters

3. Infill Density controls what percentage of the interior of your part is printed plastic. Increasing this setting will increase the weight and strength of the part as well as the amount of filament used. However, above 50-70%, there is no increase in the strength-to-weight ratio, and above 70% infill highly increases the chance of print failure, with the exception of 100% infill. To print at 100% infill, you must use either the Rectilinear or Concentric infill pattern

      5% Infill                          15% infill                          30% infill

3. Brim Type controls whether there is a “brim” or extra area printed around the first layer of your part. This can help in two ways, first is to increase the surface area contacting the bed in order to prevent the part from sliding off, and the second way is to help stabilize tall thin parts to help prevent them from being knocked over while printing.

Part with brim                                        Part without brim

4. Support Type determines whether there are supports under overhangs on your part, and how these supports are generated. By default, this is set to Organic/Tree which generates tree-shaped supports. Grid/Normal supports generate a support structure similar to the infill. Snug is the same as Grid/Normal except it tries to optimize how much support is used by creating weaker more localized towers. Grid/Normal and Snug are much stronger and tend to fail less than Organic/Tree, but use more filament, are harder to remove, and tend to damage the surface of the part more.

Organic/Tree Supports

Grid/Normal Supports 

5. Supports are recommended for any part that has sides that are more than 45 degrees from vertical.

Photo en route 

6. Clicking the checkbox that says On build plate only will remove any supports that start with their base on the part. Supports would normally appear where the red arrows are as shown below. This helps with parts that have small internal overhangs, or parts with hollow sections that you cannot remove supports from if they are printed in there.

Supports on build plate only off                        Supports on build plate only on

4. Once you have chosen the settings that are best for your part, click on Slice & toolpath preview

Step 4: Examining the print file

1. Make sure the Show service parts slider is to the right, then use the Range slider to move through the different layers of your sliced part. By doing this you can see the different features of your sliced part, including the Loops/Perimeters, the Infill, and the Supports

2. What you need to look out for when moving through the slices is floating unsupported features and proper bed adhesion. The green boxed images show a bad first layer, and then what the bad second layer looks like. The purple-boxed image shows what the first layer is supposed to look like.

3. The reason you may have a first layer that is like the green boxed images above is if your part is very slightly rotated from horizontal. The fix is to go back to the Layout step (Step 2.1a-e) and click on Align Face to Bed, then click on the bottom face of the part. After this go through the slicing steps again and continue.

4. Once you have examined your sliced file and made any necessary adjustments, click the print button in the top right corner.

5. Select a printer that has the same material type as your selected material type, then click queue. Make sure the material type is the same in the two green boxes as shown below. The ONLY exception to this is if you are printing PETG on the Bambus. Then check that the name of the printer has PETG in it, for example; 26. Master Mold (PETG) would be a Bambu printer with PETG.

6. If the queue button is grayed out on a printer, that means the queue is temporarily disabled for that printer, so find a different printer that does not have a grayed-out Queue button.
7. Once you click Queue, Read The Instructions. Please read them so that if you need extra job details not contained within the questionnaire such as a specific color, you get that color. If you do not read the instructions any errors with your print are not the responsibility of the staff.
8. For Bambu Labs Printers Only: After clicking Queue, you will see a screen similar to the image below. You should just hit the Skip & Queue button. Do not change either of the Enable AMS or Bed Leveling sliders. You can choose a filament that is currently loaded on the printer, but unless you follow the instructions to get a specific color we cannot guarantee that you will get the color chosen in this dropdown. If you change this, hit the Queue button instead of Skip & Queue.

9. If you need to add a job note, for example if you want a specific color, find your file under the Printers tab and click the note button

10. Type your note in the text box, and then click the Add note button.

11. We do not typically charge for prints on our filament printers, unless you abuse the privileges you have, in which case you will receive an email informing you what you did wrong, and what you must do to rectify the problem. Abuse of privileges is determined on a case-by-case basis by the Design Labs Admin Team, but is generally defined as using abnormally high amounts of filament, queuing prints with long build times without previously notifying staff members, and using the printers for personal profit, i.e printing parts and selling them. See the Design Labs Acceptable Use Policy on the design labs website under Obligitory Legal Jargon

Step 5: Getting your finished print

1. You should receive a minimum of 3 emails throughout the printing process.

1. The first is when you submit your job
2. The second is when your job is started
3. The final, but not always the third, email you will receive is when your print is finished
4. If your print fails before it completes, or fails without the printer knowing you will receive extra emails;

1. If your print fails without the printer noticing, you will get an email saying your print is finished, but then shortly after you will receive an email saying your print job was copied or restarted. Wait until you receive a second email saying your print is finished if this is the case.
2. If you receive an email saying your print failed check the reason for failure. If it was a Hardware failure, you should receive an email saying it was copied or restarted within 24 hours. If the error is a slicing or 3D model issue, you should reslice the file, fixing any changes recommended in the email. If the job is not restarted within 24 hours, or if you have questions please come to the 3D Print Lab and ask a staff member for assistance.

2. Once you have received the email saying your print is finished successfully, come into the 3D Print Lab to collect your part.
3. Your part should be in the bin corresponding to the first letter of your email address and should be in a bag with your email address written on it. If you cannot locate your part please ask a staff member for help

4. Please make sure to thank any staff members who help you, and Happy Printing!