Cloud 3D Printing Online without Micro SD Cards & USB Sticks

3D printing online: without SD cards, micro SD cards, or USB sticks

You’ll find us in makerspaces all the time, and most of our clients are the talented people who run those makerspaces. We hear their challenges and successes, and we see how hard they work to enable their students to do more.

Often, they come across our software when they're trying to scale their 3D printing. The thing is, when they're running a couple of 3D printers, they can probably handle the workload by doing all the 3D printing themselves. This means they have a system where someone gives them a file to review, on an SD card or USB stick, and as the administrator, they personally set the 3D printer going.

But there are only so many hours in a day, and when their 3D print program begins to scale, they start to run into more and bigger challenges.

One of the top challenges is managing the SD cards. Our software allows you to 3D print remotely, so no USB sticks or SD cards are needed. Here’s why our clients love this!

No SD cards means you won't lose your files

Of course, the obvious benefit of 3D printing without SD cards is that you're not going to literally lose your files. Those little SD cards are incredibly easy to misplace. When you switch to 3D printing online you gain peace of mind, knowing that your 3D print files are not going to get lost.

Online 3D printing helps reduce print fails

But that's not the only benefit. One of our customers, who runs a makerspace for students from grades 9 through 12, explained to us that they've managed to dramatically reduce print fails since making the switch. 

As you can imagine, after a print fail, young students might try to print the same thing again without making any changes. Or they might make the necessary changes, but when printing from an SD card, inadvertently print the wrong file again. It's also impossible to say with 100% certainty which file was the one that got printed, and they could be making changes to a file that was never even printed in the first place.

He tells us that since using 3DPrinterOS they can easily troubleshoot print fails. Often, when he goes back into a file with a student, they'll find settings were changed or perhaps the size was increased or decreased. 3DPrinterOS has such a robust system for 3D print file management, that they can adjust the file and print it, and each iteration is tracked. This means students begin to develop a habit of checking settings before printing, instead of just writing off the print failure as having an unknown cause.

No USB means you can 3D print from a Chromebook

Another benefit of online 3D printing is being able to 3D print from a Chromebook. A lot of schools provide students with Chromebooks, as they are a cost-effective method for giving students access to specific educational tools and platforms. With 3DPrinterOS, students can log in through their Chromebook and 3D print from anywhere, whether on campus or not.

Allow or restrict access to 3D printers

And of course, being able to allow or restrict access to certain groups of students is a massive win for the makerspace administrators. This is the secret, really, to being able to scale your 3D printing operations. Your advanced users can be set free to 3D print with little to no restrictions, either because they have proved themselves over time, or because you have set up quizzes or tutorials that they have successfully completed. Your less experienced users, on the other hand, can be restricted to uploading their designs and requesting your approval. 

Online 3D printing makes collaboration easier

Collaboration on group projects is also easier without those little SD cards and USB sticks we were talking about. If you think it's easy for one grade 9 student to lose an SD card, just wait till you have 3 or 4 grade 9 students sharing the same card!! But with 3DPrinterOS, our clients have their students work together on designing and printing shared projects, even if the students are not on the same campus. (Check out Pine Crest Academy's story here!)

Print to multiple 3D printers at once

One of our makerspace clients had a student who used this feature: 3D printing to multiple 3D printers at once. His project included multiple identical parts, and he was able to send it to several 3D printers at the same time.

We're always impressed with the work administrators do to assist their students. More than one has told us that if they do not have the skills needed for a particular student project, they will learn whatever is necessary so they can teach it to that student. 

That level of commitment is what we love to support, and we love that our software reduces the time spent on the mechanics of 3D printing, so they have more time to help their students do more.

Ask us for a demo to see it in action for yourself! 

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