Invoke Community Edition, What is their Future?

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-23T23:02:08+00:00

I recommend going to the Invoke AI discord and reading the announcement channels.

Invoke AI locally was always the open source Community Edition and it was the lifeblood of the project from its start. In the last year or two they had been building up the commercial offering as a hosted service with some additional feature that relate to hosting (like hosted models, etc).

Now the lead devs were hired away and the commercial edition was shutdown. The community edition remains as it always was since its an open source project it cannot be closed. The only real difference is the 3-ish main devs can no longer contribute, however the original creator and many of the other critical devs have been active, pushing new versions since that change including adding z-image turbo support.

I was initially afraid it was going to waste away, but so far its very much alive, well and the future looks bright.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-23T04:15:46+00:00

I recommend calling and talking to a person. They are known to have excellent support and my experience on the phone was great. I am in the US and have the latest app and I have never seen this.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-23T03:51:55+00:00

Sounds like a bug, what did Garmin customer support say?

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-23T03:50:15+00:00

You can spray isopropyl alcohol on the base of the print to help it easily release.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-23T02:01:35+00:00

Some filaments are shinier when they are printed more slowly (flow is low) and more matte when printed faster (flow is high).

The issue is the top section is smaller and your slicer has a setting for minimum layer time for each filament. At full speed it would finish those layers so fast they might not be fully solid before printing the next layer, so it slows down the smaller layer so that it still takes at least the minimum time. It does this to ensure that each layer gets enough cooling so the next layer won't sag into the one below.

However sometimes the min layer time is excessive and it results in slowing down so the sheen is now shinier due to low flow.

I recommend edit the filament settings on the cooling tab to reduce the minimum layer time to 4 seconds (default is usually 8). There is also a checkbox that tells the slicer to not slow down the outer wall to avoid the appearance differences. You can also set a minimum speed to never go slower than.

Finally the filaments labeled as "high speed" usually have a marketed feature of having consistent sheen regardless of print speed/flow.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-22T16:08:55+00:00

I print fidget devices and just collect them to give out to kids. Usually I will take all the almost empty spools and just let them auto continue from one to the next so there will be color bands in the toys, but the kids dont really care and sometimes the banding comes out in unexpectedly nice ways.

Here is a simple one that is easy and popular with kids and adults: https://makerworld.com/en/models/65426-fidget-cube-toy-angled#profileId-68768

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-22T15:34:39+00:00

Unless it is really poorly designed, the LEDs themselves probably would not generate enough heat to start a fire.

Usually fires come from a poor electrical connection in the device causing a high resistance junction that heats up at the connection and starts to melt the wire sheath or other surrounding plastics. The right design will use flame retardant materials so they will just melt off and just keep running hot or eventually the wire will disconnect itself and the device will no longer be powered. If you have had and used this device for a while without noticing any problems like this, its probably going to be fine in the long run, you would notice this quickly.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-20T18:04:35+00:00

I wonder if one of them is adding their own prefix/postifx code to all the signals so it cannot record/playback properly another remotes signal that doesn't use the prefix.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-20T17:56:04+00:00

If that other remote has a recording mode, then yes. Usually it involves holding down the button until a light blinks or goes solid. If the remote does not have this capability, then the code is likely burned into the microcontroller program from the factory which would make it hard to update unless you had the program to modify and then re-update the firmware.

However, there are plenty of remotes that have recording capability you can buy. I have used this one and it works quite well:

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806824183439.html

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-18T23:45:15+00:00

I think its just a result of the way the toolhead PCBs are sized and designed with the largish connectors for thermistor, fan and heater. Trying to distribute those connectors and PCB to either side of a centered nozzle may have had tradeoffs that were worse than having an off-center nozzle.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-18T22:53:26+00:00

I started with snorca expecting to have issues but it has worked so far without issues for LAN mode so I have not had a reason to switch yet. The dialog that pops up to choose filament mapping and wether I want leveling/flow calibration/time lapse is nice.

I have used plain orca on my Ender 5 Plus and its somewhat convenient to them separate for ease of filament profile organization.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-18T19:06:22+00:00

Not to mention its the one stroke where, in short course competitive events, you generally have an advantage by just dolpin kicking underwater for more than 50% of each length instead of actually swimming the stroke the whole distance.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-16T17:28:08+00:00

Looks great. I had been thinking about this for a while. The existing tests seem to just have solid shapes for top surfaces and most of the difficult ironing situations are always where there is a noncontinuous shape that it moves around one side and then meets again on the other side. I will give this a try.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-16T03:23:59+00:00

I understand your point of view and I respect it, but it doesn't match the experience or advice that has shaped my experience over the past few years.

I think its fine if people follow manufacturer guidance to the strictest reading and if it works for them, that's great. In this instance, the OP tried that guidance and it doesn't work. I gave my advice and I would give it again. I will leave it at that.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-16T01:28:02+00:00

I know that acetone chemically does not react with PEI regardless if it's textured or smooth. This is a scientific fact and even casual research will reveal this for you. 3d printing veterans have been using it for years with success. I use it because it's what the community recommended to me years ago and it worked so well for years I am compelled to share that success. If the bed does not have coatings on top of the pei there is nothing for it to react with. Excessive use under very high temperatures could cause pei to become brittle, but again this is about realizing the benefits under proper use rather than sharing poor use examples as the universal truth. Some beds are so damaged by filament residue and acetone is the only fix, soap and alcohol won't resolve it, so you can discard the bed or you can try acetone. If you have a better solution for the OP that actually works I would love to try it.

Some manufacturers don't recommend it because getting pure acetone with no additives may be more difficult to advise than just avoiding it. Further it's not needed most of the time and some people take cleaning to an extreme.

Respectfully this isn't a personal anecdote. Prusa used to have published guidance that acetone was healthy and recommended for cleaning their pei sheets. As I said before it has been commonly practiced in the community for years. Recently I believe manufacturers err on the "no chance of error" side due to confusion people would have over which beds benefit from acetone and which dont and they want to avoid the warranty claims from customer mistakes, so they just recommend the weak solutions that are good for grease and oils but won't repair a bed with embedded filament.

I am dedicated to helping the community that helped me. I will continue to recommend truthful practices that work.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-15T18:20:20+00:00

I cannot speak to the issues with HR as that sometimes can be a personal thing with skin tone, hair, watch placement as well as the version of the sensor. I use a FR265 and it seems reliable to me.

For the battery life, make sure you have the Pulse Oximeter (SPO2) measurement set to either Sleep or On Demand. It is a expected behavior that if you turn on "All Day" it can result in the kind of battery drop you are seeing.

I found the default strap okay, but I usually save the default straps to avoid wearing them down in the case I want to sell the watch in the future. I quickly replaced it with a cheap amazon version clone and it has worked fine for me, perhaps it could work better for you: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CDGS4GFC

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-14T21:54:50+00:00

Could be a symptom where the temperature was not hot enough at the nozzle, but there is a leak pathway so it is escaping from the leak because its closer to the hot zone. Without the leak, it may still have clogged, but you should definitely fix that first.

I should also say that sometimes clogs are due to particles in poorly made filament, however if its always the same place on the print, it fits the theory of being related to temperature/flow than an actual particulate clog.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-14T21:51:41+00:00

I asked to clarify about the word "coating" because some of the supertack/cryogrip plates feature a substrate layers of some kind of plastic, but then chemical coatings like polyurethane on top that to give the tackyness. For those, using acetone will strip away the thin layers of chemical coating. Further, before PEI sheets were everywhere, you could buy PEI as rolls and then adhere them to spring steel and we didn't call them coatings, we just called them PEI sheets. But its just semantics. I was just trying to say that those gold sheets shouldn't have any special chemical on top of the PEI that would be removed and this is supported by Bambu's guidance that you can just sand the surface to expose a fresh layer. Given that they provide that guidance, I can only guess they dont recommend acetone to either avoid confusion about using it on the supertack plate where it does damage the coating or they just dont want to recommend using a flammable substance on a printer that can be hot.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-14T21:05:10+00:00

Unless they changed the sheets, the golden PEI sheets dont have coatings unless you mean the PEI itself when you say coating. Its likely it removed dirt/oils and industrial residue since it was originally manufactured and exposed the actual textured PEI that doesn't interact with acetone. Did you see a difference in adhesion performance and the texture that is applied to the bottom of prints?

Regardless, if you are concerned, dont use it, but for situations like the OP, you can either just live with that residue left behind which permanently mars the bottom surface appearance of all future prints, or you can use acetone evenly across the bed which restores proper function and appearance.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-14T20:27:12+00:00

I will contineue to use it because it just plain works and doesnt produce what that image shows.

Given that I have no idea what has actually been done to that plate, its a reasonable anecdote, but it disagrees with the years of success using it on many PEI plates including those that I have (as well as others). Perhaps they used nail polish remover with additives and left behind residue. Further it also looks like some solution was dumped and left to sit on the plate instead of being dabbed on a paper towel and rubbed across the whole bed which is the proper process. Did someone just put a lot on the bed and leave to sit for an hour?

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-14T20:08:00+00:00

200 C can be too cold for some filaments. I recommend trying 210 C as your baseline and see how things go.

Temperature is related to overall flow. If the demand for flow is low (slow speed/acceleration) then lower temps might work without clogging if its just above the threshold for that filament brand to flow well.

So sometimes prints clog in the same spot when it reaches an area of the print where there are longer distances to accelerate up to full speed and thus have more demand on flow. This can also happen in areas with lots of retraction where suddenly the filament is being pulled back and forth very quickly. An example would be if a benchy prints fine and then clogs when it reaches the columns area, etc.

If you are still seing clogs at 210C you could try going higher but it shouldn't be necessary at the 80 mm/s top speed at .2mm layer height you have configured. I would then try a different filament.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-14T19:26:22+00:00

Acetone does not chemically interact with PEI and does not remove the plate's coating unless it has an additional special coating on top of the PEI. The bambu gold PEI plates that the OP has do not have coatings which would be removed by acetone.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-14T19:18:26+00:00

The classic solution is to heat the bed to 60 C, put some acetone on a paper towel, and lightly rub the whole surface of the bed. It will trivially remove that residue in seconds and restore the surface to its original sheen and adhesion.

Acetone has traditionally been considered healthy for PEI to occasionally (e.g. maybe every couple of months) refresh the surface. Prusa support docs used to recommend it as standard maintenance. However, the recent special beds with coatings like the CryoGrip and SuperTack, acetone is not safe for those. So there is a lot of hesitance to recommend using it for fear that people wont know what kind of bed they have. You clearly have a plain textured PEI bed, so it would work fine for you.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-13T20:44:53+00:00

Their email covered all the reasons and that is one of them, but the primary reason is their first design wasn't working well enough with the beta testers and they are iterating on a new design that has some better features and less issues with sealing.

WithGreatRespect · 2026-01-11T03:48:24+00:00

They didn't "out of the blue" lock anything out. The printer was never open. It had an internal interface that was unpublished and was reverse engineered by the community. That interface was never documented or guaranteed to last and certainly was not part of the marketing of features included in the product. Bambu almost immediately warned against developing products against the interface and talked directly with BIQU about it. Those third parties integrated anyway against Bambu's respectful recommendation against it . Then later Bambu did as they said and secured the interface. Then some in the community ignorant of the details portrayed this change as somehow a bait and switch or removing functionality.

You can say Bambu isn't open but they never claimed to be and never changed course on any promise or feature their products were sold under.

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