Zortrax today announced the launch of the inCloud system for managing devices in the cloud. Thanks to it, it will be possible to remotely control machines and supervise the 3D printing process theoretically from anywhere in the world. The innovation will also reduce the number of hours and staff needed to operate enterprise 3D printer farms.
Zortrax inCloud will allow you to safely send projects to selected 3D printers and start the 3D printing process remotely. In addition, the solution will optimize the process of managing the production and farms of 3D printers, and at the same time reduce the number of people needed to operate them. Before launching the service for all users, it was tested by the company’s employees, who used it to remotely operate around 200 3D printers
The idea was born from the needs of the Zortrax employees themselves, who carried out the production of many different projects and prototypes every day, and the optimization was to improve the remote operation of devices. From now on, it will be possible to check the history of printouts and control the current state of the machine without having to approach it. Using inCloud, you can assign individual devices to a selected group of employees, which is especially important for entrepreneurs. The system also allows you to remotely select, start or suspend the printing process on selected devices.
The Multiprint function allows you to select currently available devices and quickly run mass printouts on 3D printer farms. It is a service dedicated primarily to companies that perform serial printouts. Thanks to Multiprint, all elements will be produced on many devices at the same time.
Another interesting feature of Zortrax inCloud is remote viewing of images from cameras built into 3D printers from the M Plus series. This will make sure that the previous printout has been removed from the build plate and the device is ready for operation. Additionally, it will be possible to preview the ongoing printing process. This is another function especially dedicated to enterprises that, due to the ongoing epidemic, have to reduce the number of employees at the company’s premises.
The inCloud system allows you to manage projects and teams of employees connected to specific 3D printers. This will enable sending the previously prepared models directly to the device and remote start of the printing process. Thanks to this functionality, instead of a dozen or so people supervising the work of a printer farm, one employee is enough, responsible for collecting ready-made models from the working platforms after printing.
Zortrax ensures that sending even confidential projects is safe. Sensitive files, which are the intellectual property of designers, are protected so that they do not fall into the wrong hands. Models intended for remote printing are sent to the device via Zortrax servers. During file transfer, data is encrypted and as soon as it is loaded on the target machine, it is deleted from the servers. The system only stores information (material consumption, printing time) necessary to provide users with the history of prints.
InCloud is available to users from September 2, 2020. Thanks to the new service, you can transfer files up to 1 GB for free. Nevertheless, Zortrax allows you to expand your data transfer package to 3GB for the standard plan, 16GB for the professional plan, and 50 GM for the Enterprise plan. The available transfer is renewed monthly.
More information about this solution can be found on the manufacturer’s website.