[london-hack-space] Dedicated computer for 3D printers

[Glen]

If nobody has any objections I'm going to bring in a new computer to
run the 3D printers.

It's 4U and in a lockable rack case. It's less then a year only, has
quad-core, 16Gb RAM, and a big raid. It should be able to render
peoples heads in near real time, as opposed to the current 10-15
render time.

Glen

[Sci]

I don't see how anyone could have any objections to that sort of upgrade!

[Russ Garrett]

On 11 July 2011 19:15, Glen <glen....@gmail.com> wrote:
> If nobody has any objections I'm going to bring in a new computer to
> run the 3D printers.

I don't think we should have a dedicated computer to run the 3D
printers, especially one that sizeable. We are constrained by space
and power as much as it is, so if it's worth having, we should replace
Lovelace with this.

But, it's a rackmount machine? How loud is it? How much power does it
draw in comparison to Lovelace?

--
Russ Garrett
ru...@garrett.co.uk

[Kal]

Though I understand your issue with some of the practical aspects of
this Russ, I have for some time been advocating a dedicated machine,
we have one for the laser cutter and I see nothing but benefits for
having one for the 3D printers as long as it can be accomidated for
space wise.

In relation to this I also believe that both the makerbot and
stratisys are better placed in the workshop/ dirty room, especially
because of noise but also because of the mess they tend to make from
waste material/ burning plastic smell.

My 2cents

On Jul 11, 10:59 pm, Russ Garrett <r...@garrett.co.uk> wrote:

> On 11 July 2011 19:15, Glen <glen.sea...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > If nobody has any objections I'm going to bring in a new computer to
> > run the 3D printers.
>
> I don't think we should have a dedicated computer to run the 3D
> printers, especially one that sizeable. We are constrained by space
> and power as much as it is, so if it's worth having, we should replace
> Lovelace with this.
>
> But, it's a rackmount machine? How loud is it? How much power does it
> draw in comparison to Lovelace?
>
> --
> Russ Garrett

> r...@garrett.co.uk

[Russ Garrett]

On 12 July 2011 00:06, Kal <lamb...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Though I understand your issue with some of the practical aspects of
> this Russ, I have for some time been advocating a dedicated machine,
> we have one for the laser cutter and I see nothing but benefits for
> having one for the 3D printers as long as it can be accomidated for
> space wise.

We have a dedicated machine for the laser cutter because primarily
because it has to run Windows XP. Similar case for the Stratasys,
currently.

The Makerbot software runs fine on Linux, so I don't see why it needs
to be separated from what is currently Lovelace.

Also: you understand my practical points but you have no response to them?

> In relation to this I also believe that both the makerbot and
> stratisys are better placed in the workshop/ dirty room, especially
> because of noise but also because of the mess they tend to make from
> waste material/ burning plastic smell.

I don't think the noise or smell are particularly objectionable. I
think both machines (plus any computers which drive them) will suffer
from being in the dirty shop. Especially the Makerbot, which is
temperamental enough as it is.

--
Russ Garrett
ru...@garrett.co.uk

[Mark Steward]

On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 12:06 AM, Kal <lamb...@gmail.com> wrote:

Though I understand your issue with some of the practical aspects of
this Russ, I have for some time been advocating a dedicated machine,
we have one for the laser cutter and I see nothing but benefits for
having one for the 3D printers as long as it can be accomidated for
space wise.

The laser cutter machine can be virtualised as soon as people get round to it.  The main challenge is stretching a USB cable and display back to a server somewhere.  The stratasys machine is similar, but is understood to be on a much shorter timescale.

There's a big difference between the shuttle PC under the laser cutter table and a hulking, power hungry 4U server.

Mark

[tom]

on the virtualisation note... why dont we take glens donation and run
the VM there? We could virtualise the stratasys and makerbot OS's too.
Its got 16gb ram, should be plenty

In fact couldnt we setup a "fabbing corner" in the workshop for the
cutter/failbot/stratasys?

>The main challenge is stretching a USB cable and display back to a
> server somewhere.

Run it over cat5, you can even buy converters if no one can be arsed
to solder one


On Jul 12, 8:52 am, Mark Steward <markstew...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Russ Garrett]

On 12 July 2011 09:39, tom <bollo...@gmail.com> wrote:
> on the virtualisation note... why dont we take glens donation and run
> the VM there? We could virtualise the stratasys and makerbot OS's too.
> Its got 16gb ram, should be plenty

Ah, now we're talking. Getting the laser cutter computer out of the
workshop is a good idea.

> In fact couldnt we setup a "fabbing corner" in the workshop for the
> cutter/failbot/stratasys?

Again, I'm concerned about the dust affecting the 3D printers, and
dust pervades everywhere in the workshop.

>>The main challenge is stretching a USB cable and display back to a
>> server somewhere.
>
> Run it over cat5, you can even buy converters if no one can be arsed
> to solder one

This is a good idea, but we will need a proper extender, and they are
not that cheap. That said, the power saving could pay for the cost of
extenders over a couple of months.

--
Russ Garrett
ru...@garrett.co.uk

[Sam Cook]

On 12 July 2011 10:12, Russ Garrett <ru...@garrett.co.uk> wrote:

On 12 July 2011 09:39, tom <bollo...@gmail.com> wrote: 

> In fact couldnt we setup a "fabbing corner" in the workshop for the

> cutter/failbot/stratasys?

Again, I'm concerned about the dust affecting the 3D printers, and
dust pervades everywhere in the workshop.

Why not having a fabbing corner that's not in the workshop? (once) the kitchen is transplanted we could use that area. The laser cutter and stratasys are the largest objects but the stratasys (I think) will fit in the corner currently containing the fridge and I imagine we could easily use one desk space for the laser cutter.

S

[Adrian Godwin]

Or make a fabbing corner that's separated from the rest of the
workshop by a partition ?

The title of this thread is 'Dedicated computer for 3D printers'.
Would sharing a server between the fab machines solve whatever problem
it is that the dedicated computer is meant to solve ? (I recall
something about locking).

Is a fast computer with big fans etc. an improvement over 3 smaller
computers, not all of which need to be switched on ?

If the shared machine needs multiple displays & keyboards to handle 3
simultaneous users, can they be adequately managed and linked to the
correct VMs/applications or will it be a maintenance nightmare ?

[Billy]

On Jul 12, 10:23 am, Sam Cook <sam.lindenrat...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 12 July 2011 10:12, Russ Garrett <r...@garrett.co.uk> wrote:

>
> > On 12 July 2011 09:39, tom <bollocks...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > In fact couldnt we setup a "fabbing corner" in the workshop for the
> > > cutter/failbot/stratasys?
>
> > Again, I'm concerned about the dust affecting the 3D printers, and
> > dust pervades everywhere in the workshop.
>
> Why not having a fabbing corner that's not in the workshop? (once) the
> kitchen is transplanted we could use that area. The laser cutter and
> stratasys are the largest objects but the stratasys (I think) will fit in
> the corner currently containing the fridge and I imagine we could easily use
> one desk space for the laser cutter.
>
> S

The Stratasys will fit in the fridge alcove, but it'll need better
ventilation as it gets reeeeeaaallll hot, like keep-the-space-warm-in-
winter-time-hot, also we have to stick it on something wheeled, so we
can access the back to reload the drums.