Use Any 3D Printer on the Polar Cloud

Which printers work on the Cloud?

With the recent expansion of consumer grade 3D Printers and new models being developed and released all of the time, maintaining a list of 3D Printers that will work would be exhaustive. If your printer manufacturer hasn’t worked the Polar Cloud into the native firmware of your printer, it has to be “enabled” after the fact using the community’s Octoprint Plugin.

Your 3D Printer purchased in the last decade will work on the Polar Cloud unless it has a proprietary slicing software or USB connection protocol. The most common printers that do not work on the Polar Cloud are:

• Makerbot Replicator +, Z18, Makerbot Mini

• Afinia / UP 3D Printers

• 3D Systems Cube series

• Cetus 3D

• New Matter

• XYZ

• Markforged

If you’re still not sure, search for your specific printer at Polar3D.com in our “Printer Compatibility” tool.

My slicer works just fine.. Why should I use the Polar Cloud?

Remote Print Control & Monitoring

Bring your 3D printer into the modern day with the ability to start, stop, and pause your 3D printer from anywhere you can access a browser. Want to add a camera? Use a phone, tablet, or laptop to view a live-feed or generate print timelapses of your objects.

Retain Your Preferred Slicing

As always - You can slice any STL or OBJ you upload directly on the cloud. Our “Build Plate” environment is iPad and Chromebook friendly and is meant to simplify your slicing by only giving you what you need. And you’ll still get great looking parts.. thanks to Cura, which is preparing your objects behind the scenes.

If you’ve tried that and are still more comfortable with your current slicing workflow, you can upload .GCode, .gx, .g, .g3drem, .upf, and other print-ready formats, and start them from anywhere.

Print Queueing

Already know what you’re going to print next? Line up a queue of print jobs and knock them all out, one-by-one.

Printer History

Want to go back and watch a timelapse, view your final print, or check out how long that one print took? You can even go re-queue any job from your printer’s past! Nothing is lost with the Polar Cloud.

Simple Lab Management (School Only)

Expand access to your printer through use of the Polar Cloud Job Request system. No more disorganized forms, passing of USB drives or emailing files. Your friends and family can send you their 3D object, any modifier requests (color, material), and allow you to process and print the object.

Quick Expandable Access

Quickly share your 3D printer with multiple users through the use of Groups. Preferred slicing configurations can be saved for use by all group members.

Uniform Experience

Working with multiple printers that require different slicers can be confusing and time consuming.  Connect them to the Polar Cloud for a uniform workflow and simple monitoring across the board.

Connecting Your Printer via Octoprint

NOTE: You’ll need to install Cura Engine Legacy Octoprint plugin to slice and print from the Polar Cloud! More info here. Fresh installs of “Octopi” that are version 0.18 or later will need to download and compile cura_engine manually by SSH connection to the Raspberry Pi and running the following commands, in order.

After you do this, the path will be valid at /usr/local/bin/cura_engine