3D printing is a hallmark manufacturing technique for rapid prototyping, however in more recent years it has taken on the role of a primary production method. A print farm is a group of 3D printers that run simultaneously and as continuously as possible to increase production rates of printed parts. In order for a print farm to function at high efficiency, it is essential to minimize printer down time.

Two factors that limit print farm efficiency: lack of printer automation and printer reliability. The machines need to run for long periods of time without failure or depletion in part quality, and transitions between prints need to be as seamless as possible. Without these key automation and reliability factors, managing large quantities of printers can become tedious and time consuming. Markforged printers have several unique features that make them ideal for running a print farm.

In fact, Markforged houses its own print farm, where 25 printers – a mix of Onyx Ones, Onyx Pros, Mark Twos, and Mark Xs – crank out thousands of sample parts each week. The print farm produced 10,500 sample parts just in the month of May, with a yield rate of about 92%.

System Features

The unique marriage of quality software, hardware, and materials across Markforged products makes this small factory not only effective, but straightforward to implement.

To start, Markforged employs streamlined communication across every component of the 3D printing experience. Liveprint monitoring in Eiger allows the freedom to leave many printers running unattended.

‍‍With live print monitoring, users can track their prints and receive notifications when jobs are completed or if any utilities require attention.

The newly updated print queue functionality for each printer allows large sequences of prints to be organized across many different printers and managed with ease. Additionally, out of material warnings keep track of filament supply to ensure that someone is readily available to replace the spools when they run out.

Πηγή:  Pv Engineering Co