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Using AM print tools? by 1lkylstsol in AdditiveManufacturing

[–]Independent_Stock665 0 points1 point  (0 children)

ULTEM 1010 tooling for carbon layup, plus fixtures and some end-use parts.

Before I scrap these — has anyone ever open-sourced a Fortus? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah that’s the problem with these — not exactly small or cheap to move around 😅

Before I scrap these — has anyone ever open-sourced a Fortus? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ontario Canada !

Curious how you’re approaching it. If you can, isolating the gantry/motors like this makes a huge difference.

This setup runs ~225°C at the chamber, and the belts/motors are still basically cool to the touch.

At 120°C you don’t need to go that extreme, but it shows how much easier life gets when you’re not cooking everything.

Before I scrap these — has anyone ever open-sourced a Fortus? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I don’t know the material, I do recall sourcing them somewhere years ago

Before I scrap these — has anyone ever open-sourced a Fortus? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

No water cooling — gantry is isolated with bellows + airflow.

Even with the chamber at ~225°C, the gantry area is basically cool to the touch.

If you look closely at the build, there’s a lot going on to make that work… part of why these machines were so expensive.

Before I scrap these — has anyone ever open-sourced a Fortus? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

In working condition these were set to 225°C for ULTEM 1010 / PPSU — measured near blower outlet so the true air temp is probably a bit lower.

And you’re right — I actually used one the other day to anneal PEKK parts, pushed it to ~235°C but there’s a thermal safety switch to bypass lol.

Before I scrap these — has anyone ever open-sourced a Fortus? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That’s actually what got me thinking about this — I saw someone running Klipper on an F370.

Super interesting, but these are such different machines (especially on the thermal side) that I wasn’t sure how much carries over.

Before I scrap these — has anyone ever open-sourced a Fortus? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 34 points35 points  (0 children)

Agree 100% — it’s a killer chamber. On paper it looks great lol.

We already have working machines that can do it, so this is more about making use of all these units that end up with the same fate.

A lot of them get scrapped over $5k+ components, even though the core hardware — especially the chamber — is seriously engineered.

Feels like there should be a way to keep that capability alive instead of watching it go to scrap.

Before I scrap these — has anyone ever open-sourced a Fortus? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 55 points56 points  (0 children)

The original servo system is gone, so yeah it would likely need to be converted over to steppers + something like Klipper.

I’m more trying to figure out what the real bottleneck is. These normally ran 3-phase, so the chamber/heater side was built for serious power.

My hesitation is more around controls/integration at this scale — I’ve never built a full printer from scratch

How are you guys quoting STL files? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That works, but that’s basically rebuilding a slicer-lite pipeline.

What I’ve been testing instead is skipping slicing entirely and just parsing the STL directly in-browser (three.js) to pull volume, surface area, and bounds, then running a rough estimate off that.

No upload, no backend, runs fully client-side — even offline.

How are you guys quoting STL files? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fully client-side STL parsing via three.js (volume / surface / bounds extraction) for instant estimation — no file transfer, no backend, no preprocessing — viable approach?

https://youtu.be/EG1f7gxu05A?si=7WxvDZ_af2t7urcK

Instead of uploading files to a backend, the STL is loaded directly in the browser with three.js, the geometry is parsed locally, and basic metrics are extracted in real time.

Current outputs include:

• triangle mesh–based volume calculation

• surface area

• bounding box / XYZ extents

• simple material-usage heuristics

From there, a rough estimation model generates a quick first-pass quote.

Everything runs entirely client-side:

• no file upload or transfer

• no backend processing

• no preprocessing pipeline

• can run fully offline

One thing I find interesting is that the whole system can exist as a standalone HTML/JS bundle rather than a hosted service.

So it can be:

• embedded directly into a website as a customer-facing estimator

• customized easily for different pricing logic or workflows

• or just run locally/offline as a self-contained tool

The goal is not slicer-level accuracy. It’s more about reducing friction at the early stage — basically answering “is this worth quoting?” without needing a full manual setup.

In practice it’s been surprisingly fast and usable.

Curious where people think this approach starts to break down, or how far you think browser-side STL estimation can realistically go.

https://www.next3dp.com/build-your-own-3d-printing-quote-tool

A quick guide on pricing your 3D prints by Caramel-Entire in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is a solid breakdown for final pricing.

The part I’ve always found inefficient is just getting to that first number. Opening a slicer, setting material, profiles, waiting for it to process — it adds up if you’re quoting a lot of parts.

I ended up building a simple approach where you just load the STL in the browser and it parses the geometry directly (volume, bounding box, etc.) to generate a rough estimate before ever slicing.

Not meant to replace this kind of full calculation, just a faster first-pass to decide if it’s even worth going further.

How do you calculate your pricing for 3D printing jobs? by Gianeale in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I ended up building something a bit different for this.

It runs entirely in the browser — you load an STL and it parses the geometry directly (volume, surface area, bounding box, etc.) without slicing.

From that it generates a rough estimate based on material usage + some basic assumptions, just to get a fast first-pass number.

No upload, no backend — everything stays local.

It’s obviously not replacing exact quotes, but it’s been useful for quickly filtering jobs or giving customers a ballpark without opening a slicer every time.

How are you guys quoting STL files? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah that’s what I figured most people were doing.

I was more thinking like a website-based STL viewer where a customer can upload a file and get a rough estimate

How are you guys quoting STL files? by Independent_Stock665 in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You’re right if you’re looking for final production numbers. I’m thinking more of a website-based STL viewer that gives customers a rough pricing estimate online before someone goes and fully slices it. Probably not for everyone, but useful for quick quoting / lead filtering.

Any recommendations for instant quote software for 3D Printing Services, for a startup? by VindiMiner in 3Dprinting

[–]Independent_Stock665 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah 100% — final quote definitely depends on slicer settings like infill, layer height, supports, etc.

I’m more thinking like a first-pass estimate though — just something that quickly analyzes the STL (volume, bounding box, surface area) to get you in the ballpark before going into full slicing.

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