There have been a few stories in recent weeks about 3D printer networking solutions. Most recently, we heard about AstroPrint, a project that launched on Kickstarter with a way to get your printer printing via the cloud. Similarly, both Printr and PrinttoPeer announced their own methods for networking 3D printers. What some of these service providers may not be aware of is the variety of bugs that might be encountered while networking a new technology. Did you know that there’s a committee already working to tackle those problems?
The IEEE-ISTO (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – Industry Standards and Technology Organization) is a non-profit that’s dedicated itself to ensuring standards across various industries associated with electronics engineering. Operating under the IEEE-ISTO is the Printer Working Group (PWG). Aware of the growing popularity of 3D printing, the PWG sent an action item to their Semantic Model Work Group to reach out to 3D printer manufacturers and make them aware of the work the PWG has done. The PWG has been dealing with networking printers for some time and believes that their PWG Semantic Model could help 3D printer (and device) manufacturers properly anticipate some of the problems with networking printers.
Paul Tykodi, the Vice Chair of the Semantic Model Work Group, explained to 3DPI in an email:
[T]he PWG has significant experience with network attached printing peripherals and we expect that 3D printer manufacturers are going to be surprised by some of the unexpected challenges they will encounter when a workstation used for creating a file to be consumed and rendered by a 3D device changes from being directly connected to the 3D printer to using a network attachment. The change in the proximity of the creating workstation to the consuming 3D printer means that the 3D printer user might not be able to visually see the 3D printer while it is rendering their file when using a network attached 3D printer. This suggests that the sending application needs a mechanism to pass the rendering instructions (user intent) to the 3D printer and to also retrieve device status (Example: receive messages about errors and a need for more consumables) from the device while the adaptive manufacturing process is occurring.
In other words, a 3D printer printing over a network may be read differently by a piece of software than a 3D printer connected directly to a computer. Tykodi believes that the PWG’s previous experience with non-3D printers might transfer over to 3D printing, as well. In order to lend 3D printer (and device) manufacturers a helping hand, he is inviting anyone working on the task of 3D printer networking to participate in a dialogue with the PWG’s Semantic Model Working Group.
If you’d like to partake in the dialogue or use the PWG’s resources to advance the 3D printing movement, visit their webpage here.
