3DQue just solved a growing issue on large 3D print farms.
The company produces AutoFarm3D, a system that manages large 3D print farms. The tool automatically dispatches jobs, monitors activity, collects statistics, etc., and generally increases the efficiency of managing a production operation.
They observed a big problem with farms using Bambu Lab equipment: managing spools in AMS units. The Bambu Lab AMS is an accessory that holds up to four spools of (possibly) different materials that can be selected during a job. This allows for multicolour 3D prints.
The problem is that the G-Code generated by BambuStudio, the associated slicing tool, refers to physical slot numbers in an AMS, rather than the type and colour of material.
This means that if you had a 3D print farm and happened to load spools into AMS units in different orders, the jobs would not run. The operator would have to tediously re-map the slots to the correct materials for each job. Either that or somehow the operator guarantees to mount spools in a consistent order inside all AMS units.
That could cause plenty of operator activity, which is not desirable in a large manufacturing operation.
3DQue’s latest release of AutoFarm3D includes a new feature they call “AMS Mapping”. The idea is to automatically adjust the G-Code of a job to match the particular configuration of materials in a target 3D printer. For example, if the job was sliced to expect pink PLA in slot 3, but it was actually in slot 1, the G-Code would be tweaked automatically to refer to slot 1 instead.
This requires no work for the operator, who simply needs to load the spools in random order. This should significantly simplify the operations. 3DQue explains:
“With AMS Mapping, AutoFarm3D users can slice a multicolour file once, and AutoFarm3D automatically maps the correct colours/materials to the right spools – regardless of which slot they’re in. Files can be queued, routed, and printed across any compatible machine, with no need for manual rework.”
The implication is that a job needs to be sliced only once, and then it can be dispatched to any Bambu Lab device that happens to have the correct materials loaded — in any order.
As a bonus feature, it’s also possible to change the materials in a job after it’s queued for printing. Want orange instead of pink on that job? No problem!
Via 3DQue
