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echodot@feddit.uk ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

The library near me has a bunch of 3D printers people can rent time on, or maybe it’s based on filament used I’m not sure I’ve never actually used them.

At one point they had some surface tablets connected up to them so people could review their 3D prints or something, (again not my area of expertise), but apparently it was enough of an issue they eventually got rid of them and just replaced them with some desktops. It seems that the 3D design software just isn’t built for touch screen primary interfaces. They’ll work up to a point but then you’ll come up against something that you have to use a mouse and keyboard for and be stuck, so then you have to go get a mouse and keyboard.

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FreedomAdvocate@lemmy.net.au ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
It sounds like the idea is to bring in your ready to print files and load them up and just use the Surface to review and send it to the printer via the slicer? A surface would be fine for that, especially since they support keyboards and mice.

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captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works ⁨11⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago
I bet those tablets had their slicer software on them.

A 3D printer is a CNC machine, it doesn’t understand 3D model files, you have to give it a series of gantry movement instructions, usually in G-code format. G-code has to be written for the individual printer it’s being run on, because some of them consider the bottom left edge of the bed to be the origin, some the bottom right, some the center, you need to know the nozzle size, things like that. So you typically slice your model right before printing. And yeah I’m not really aware of any tablet friendly slicer software.

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