Mobile Devices

Project

Juan Martinez

CPMT 2443

2-11-118
The Project that was tasked upon us to do was wirelessly print a 3-D object using a MakerBot

Z18 replicator and a tablet through a router, create a network mapping scheme of how it would

work, investigate requirements on maintaining a small network, and discover what companies

are using 3-D printing for.

The three-different network topology mapper software I investigated and used were

Cisco Packet Tracer, Solarwinds, and Smartdraw. The first network topology that I investigated

was Cisco Packet Tracer, Cisco developed this program for Networking Academy students to

view how a network works, it allows you to create a network diagram for you to make as a

reference for your network (Cisco). They started this program in 1997 and as of 2016 it is free to

use for anyone. Solarwinds was the second network topology mapper I explored. Solarwinds

allow the user to map automatically their network map in detail, it also allows the user to create a

diagram of their own. (SolarWinds). The latest versions of Solarwinds allows user to even map

guest virtual machines from VMware, vSphere and Micorsoft Hiper-V. The only downside

would be that it has a 14-day trial and the cost would be $1,495. The last network topology I

investigated and was the one I used to make my diagram was SmartDraw. SmartDraw started in

1994, they also have full compatibility with old standard. The software is simple and easy to use

to create a network map diagram. The version I used was the 14-day free trial. The downside like

Solarwinds would be the price which starts at $2,995 per year. (SmartDraw)

As an IT the maintenance of the 3D printer is very important. Some of the duties would

be cleaning the chamber, checking if the filament is being fed right, if the extruder is working

right, checking if the gears are perfectly aligned, these would be some of duties for a 3-D printer

technician. According to Ultimaker the essential toolkit for a 3D printer user would consist of

glue stick, spatula or palette knife, deburring tool, pliers, Magnalube and Unilube, digital
calipers, tweezers, sandpaper, screw drivers, adhesion sheets. The pallet knife or spatula can be

used for prying any 3-D print that is stuck to the print bed, the magnalube and the unilube are

used to lubricate the axles to keep a smooth printing process. The digital calipers have many

different uses from helping to calibrate the printer to measuring if the filament is the right size.

(Lozova)

A 3-D printer consist of a print bed which is where the extruder starts placing the

filament for the 3-D build, depending on the printer the print bed might be heated or not.

(Anderson, Anatomy of a 3D Printer: How Does a 3D Printer Work?). The extruder is what

prints out the design by melting the filament and. There are two types of extruders one is called

the direct drive which has both the cold and hot ends of the extruder together. While the Bowden

Extruder are bolted to the frame. What pushes the filament onto the extruder’s hot point is called

the hobbed gear. When printing the 3-D printer first creates a layer called the raft. The raft is

used as a base plate to either stabilize or not let the actual print be warped (Tyson). There are

many different types of filament and each one has different requirements for heating. The

filaments used by the MakerBot Z18 replicator are PLA, ABS, flexible, and dissolvable. The

temperature used to melt the PLA filament is between 215-235 Celsius, while the ABS melts

between 230-240 Celsius (Starter Temperatures & Printing Guide).

Some companies have already started to implement how 3-D printers will work within

their companies. Once company that has set their goals with 3-D printing is to have enough sales

to create a 12-meter printer. The reason for them wanting to create a 12-meer 3-D printer is for

them to build 3-D affordable housing for the homeless (WASP). Aerospace companies are also

testing the limits of 3-D printing by using them in their airplanes such as Airbus who has created

over one thousand parts for their A350 XWB aircraft. Nasa is also 3-D printing for their future
space explorations. Nasa is using the Statasys 3-D printer to make a space rover. (Schwartz). The

company known as Open Bionics is hoping to use 3-D printing to build better prosthetics. The

owner of the is hoping to create custom fitted prosthetics for disabled people. The first prosthetic

fitting for open bionics was for a young man born without a hand (Open bionics).

The first thing needed to be done was familiarize ourselves with the tools given to us.

The Tablet is an Acer Iconia One, and the router is a Linksys E900 N300. Getting familiarized

with the tablet was easy since it was an android based device and most of the electronics I use

are android based as well. The router was a bit more difficult due to at first pfsense and the

router’s ip address is the same. The way to log into the routers login through its wifi, after

connecting to the wifi it was possible to access the login page and settings of the router. We

configured the router to allow access to our tablets through their mac address instead of their ip

addresses since they would likely change when on and off the network. We named the host and

domain name row2, changed the router’s ip to 192.168.2.1 and kept the default login username

and password as admin to access the settings. After finishing the configuration of the router, we

moved on to the onto the MakerBot Z18 replicator and placed it at the end of the table. The

ethernet cable to connect the MakerBot printer was not long enough so we moved the router to

be nearer to the printer. Upon giving the router power we noticed that the ip address that we had

given it did no longer work. The reason for it was that when we unplugged it the ip address it

changed it’s ipv4. To fix that issue what we did was give the router a static ip of 192.168.2.1..

Afterwards when we unplugged it the ip address did not change.

Next came the tricky part of having connection receive and transmit between printer and

tablet through the router. Both devices were connected to the router, yet it was difficult due to

the apps found for 3d printing needed to be online and the router had no connection. The apps I
tried were Astro Print, and autocad fusion. For Astro print what was needed was the online. I

could not access fusion without an autocad id. Since I couldn’t figure it out the next thing to do

was create my 3-D project. For my 3-D Project design what I created was an external raid

system. The project was created in both the desktop and the tablet. The desktop version was

made through tinkercad, and the tablet version was made through an app called quibism. The

idea was to create a portable raid system for those rare times when almost all systems are

running on its last leg and the portable raid system would act as a backup for the worst-case

scenario. The prototype would allow up to four drives at a time, and that would mean that it

would be able to perform most raid systems. After completing the design of the project, I

exported it into the desktop and uploaded the file into the MakerBot print application on the

desktop to view the print time for my design. When I viewed the projected time for the raid

system it said it would take around 2hrs and 18 mins to print. The allotted time we had to print

was 50 minutes or less. I shrunk my design by 50% and the print time for the project this time

was 27 minutes, so it fell in with the allotted printing time each student had.

After finishing my project, it was time to give the printer another shot. Me and my row

tried to find offline apps that would allow for 3-D printing but to no avail. We went to the

MakerBot website to see if there was any information to figure this out. We found out that the

printer had a wifi mode that allowed for the printer connect with the tablets and send print orders.

The website said to hold down the Options wheel for four seconds till the ring around the wheel

turned blue when we tried that, but nothing happened.

The final thing we tried before class ended was to update the firmware to see if with the

update it would allow us to view more options in the Z18 Replicator. We learned that the

firmware on the Z18 Replicator was on the version 1.3 and the latest version was 2.6. To
download the firmware update we had to download the MakerBot desktop app, we downloaded

the app in one of our fellow classmate’s laptop. After downloading the app, the next step was to

connect a usb a to usb b cable from the computer to the printer. When connecting the printer, the

following thing to do is find if the printer is connected to the MakerBot desktop app, if connected

what would follow is going to the MakerBot menu bar look for the tab for Devices open it and

go to firmware update and click it. The download took about 30-40 minutes and for the printer to

upload the new firmware it took about 20 minutes. There were three steps the printer took as it

updated the firmware which were transferring, verifying, and downloading.

When finished we went through the menu and still couldn’t find the wifi option that

would allow us to print. Near the end of class I found out that the way to allow the wifi option to

operate was that it needed to be done through the MakerBot app, but my fellow classmate where

we were downloading the firmware had to leave. That was how far we got when it came to print

our designs. Even without being able to print I still learned a lot due to the trial an error that we

did to get the printers to work.

Work Cited

Anatomy of a 3D Printer:How does a 3D printer work? Ed. Tyler Anderson. 4 February 2016.

10 February 2018. <https://www.matterhakers.com/articles/anatomy-of-a-3d-printer>.

Anderson, Tyler. Anatomy of a 3D Printer: How Does a 3D Printer Work? 4 February 2016. 9

February 2018. <https://www.matterhackers.com/articles/anatomy-of-a-3d-printer>.

Cisco. Packet Tracer Download. n.d. Website. 5 2 2018.

<https://www.netacad.com/courses/packet-tracer-download/>.

Lozova, Lana. Essential tools for every 3d printing professional. 7 March 2017. 9 February

2018. <https://ultimaker.com/en/blog/38572-essential-tools-for-every-3d-printing-

professional>.

Open bionics. 4 November 2015. 10 February 2018. <https://www.openbionics.com/blog/world-

first-for3d-printing-and-bionics>.

Schwartz, Morgan. How 3D printing is Transforming the Aerospace Industry. 7 November 2017.

10 February 2018. <https://blog.trimech.com/how-3d-printing-in-transforming-the-

aerospace-industry>.

SmartDraw. SmartDraw. n.d. 8 February 2018. <https://www.smartdraw.com/features/>.

SolarWinds. Solarwinds. n.d. 5 February 2018. <https://www.solarwinds.com/network-topology-

mapper#key-features>.

Starter Temperatures & Printing Guide. 2018. 8 February 2018.

<https://www.filaments.ca/pages/temperature-guide>.

Tyson, Ed. rigid.ink. 17 August 2017. 8 February 2018.

<https://www.amp.rigid.ink/blogs/news/3d-printed-raft-brim-skirt>.

WASP. n.d. 6 February 2018. <www.wasproject.it/w/en/>.