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3D Printer Company BEEVERYCREATIVE Needs Your Help with their BEECONNECT Project

When completed, the BEECONNECT will allow owners of the stylish BEETHEFIRST 3D printers to remotely control their 3D printer via Wi-Fi from anywhere with an Internet connection. Currently, the project is in an open source planning stage and needs the 3D printing community’s help to make it a reality.

At the moment, the BEECONNECT is a simple piece of open source hardware that anyone can build with a Raspberry Pi and a few software downloads from Github. While BEEVERYCREATIVE prides itself on BEETHEFIRST being based on an open source RepRap 3D printer, they admit that the USB communication protocol can make it difficult to use with many 3D printing software options. The goal of BEECONNECT is to make the BEETHEFIRST 3D printer more compatible with 3D printing software, to foster a culture of open-source collaboration, and to develop Wi-Fi connectivity to eliminate the necessity for a USB connection.

BEETHEFIRST 3d printer

Right now, the project is in Phase 0, in which they have invited the RepRap and open source communities to participate in developing the hardware and software needed to optimize the BEECONNECT. Once the open source community has had time with the core concept, they will enter Phase 1 and make all of the equipment and materials needed to build the BEECONNECT available to any of their users.

This is all leading up to Phase 2, of course, when the BEECONNECT will be launched as an actual product. The easy to use, plug–and-play hardware accessory will slide into the BEETHEFIRST USB port and, provided you have a Wi-Ficonnection, allow you to control and monitor your 3D printer from anywhere in the world.

I really like the BEEVERYCREATIVE 3D printing ecosystem and have always hoped that they would get wider recognition for making their solid and stylish little desktop 3D printer. It’s an interesting move to start crowdsourcing their future products, but the benefit of being part of an open source community is having access to people willing and, even, eager to tear things apart and put them back together again.

If you’d like to be part of the BEECONNECT Project from the ground floor, pick up a Raspberry Pi and head over to Github to get started.