A great deal uses a raspberry pi and either load it with octoprint or repetier server so they can control remotely. with a webcam attached they can even see what is going on.
It made me go in the “hmmmm” mode…
Why not load some scripts on it and give us the option to print directly from the hub dashboard?
of course a cloud slicer with settings would be needed… but i think it will make the task more easy for hub owners… and give options not otherwise possible
Sounds interesting, but if they did do this, I would never use it as I like to have a lot of control when slicing the models. I don’t think a cloud based slicer can achieve what I can do in S3D.
Maybe this might work for a fully automatic printer with a common filament loaded, but it certainly wouldn’t work for me. I need to be present to select good slicer settings, load the filament, wipe off the build plate with alcohol, clean the nozzle, watch the first couple of minutes of the first layer going down, and generally babysit the printer for about 5 minutes as the print starts.
I’ve thought of having my octoprint stream available for the client to watch, but honestly I don’t think that they really care all that much. All they care about is a picture of the finished product, and good communication as to when they will receive it. If the client knows enough about 3D printing to want to watch the live stream and print the part themselves, then chances are they already have a 3D printer. In which case they won’t be asking you to print something for them on 3D hubs.
