Overview of getting your printer connected to the Polar Cloud via WiFi:
Details on getting your printer connected to the Polar Cloud via WiFi:
1. Unpack the build plate; it is a mirrored glass disk, that will arrive detached from the printer, shipped in its own slot in the foam padding material.
Apply a generous quantity of Aqua Net Extra Hold hair spray (included in the shipping box with your Polar3D printer) to the build plate of your new printer. You should apply a smooth and heavy coat, so that the surface looks milky; for a video demonstration, see:
https:/www.instagram.com/p/BJBaWwrjCwF/
This will put a slightly sticky, but water soluble, layer on the build plate, giving better adhesion when objects are printing.
2. The printer arrives in its shipping box with the print head completely lowered, and the build plate (which is made of mirrored glass) not installed on the printer build plate shuttle. You will need to raise the print head in order to have room to place the build plate on the printer build plate shuttle.
Twist the threaded Z rod clockwise to raise the print head. Raising the print head one to two inches will give you room to install the build plate.
After you have unwrapped the build plate and prepared its surface by applying a coat of hair spray (see step 1 above), and raised the print head to make room for installing the build plate, you are ready to install the build plate on the printer build plate shuttle.
The bottom center of the build plate has a gear affixed. Place the build plate so that the center of the gear seats over the bearing on the build plate shuttle, and the gear teeth engage with the geared axle of the printer build plate shuttle.
Hint: pull the build plate shuttle out towards the front of the printer to give yourself more access. Tip the build plate slightly and engage the gear on its bottom with the drive gear on the shuttle; then push the build plate down onto the shuttle so that it seats onto the center bearing of the shuttle. For a video demonstation, see:
Polar 3D youtube video: WWBD - Plate and Filament Installation
3. Insert the power cord into the adapter, and the adapter plug into your Polar3D printer. Note: Do not force the adapter plug; it will not be flush with the printer.
Plug in to a power outlet.
4. When the printer has finished powering up, the POLAR3D LED lights along the side of the printer will be entirely blue.
5. From your device (computer, tablet, or phone), select its WiFi network controls. From the list of WiFi networks your device displays, select the network named after your printer’s serial number, as found on the back of the printer (see Figure 1.2); for example, “P3D02259-WIFI”. You will be prompted for a password: that password is the 8-character serial number consisting of P3D and five digits, in this example “P3D02259”; (Figure 1.3 shows an example of entering this password on a Mac computer).
6. In your browser (Chrome, Internet Explorer, Safari, Firefox, etc.), enter 192.168.0.1 into the navigation bar. You are now connected to the printer and should see the printer’s web interface, as in Figure 1.4.
At this stage, in the printer web interface, note that there is no blue highlighted network shown under Configured Network, meaning that the printer is not (yet) connected to any local WiFi and through that to the Internet, but rather is in HotSpot mode. (Aside: The Polar3D WiFi listed, which your printer is not on, is the Polar 3D corporate WiFi.) Once you connect to your site’s local WiFi network, then instead under Configured Network you will see your local WiFi highlighted in blue (seen later in Figure 1.7).
7. Click the “Add WiFi” tab and choose the WiFi network to which you would like to connect the printer; see Figure 1.5. You will need to tell your printer the name of the local WiFi network you wish to use, and (likely also) its password; see Figure 1.6. (At some sites, local networking may require some additional configuration work here: if you know that your site uses static IP addresses or requires configuration assistance by the network administrator to allow your printer’s MAC address onto the local network or allow your printer access to outgoing HTTP ports, this is the time to perform such steps: see Section 1.4. Also, please note that captive portal network access is not supported.)
Once you have configured the printer to know about your local WiFi network, go back to the “Existing WiFi” pane; as shown in Figure 1.7, your local network should now be listed, highlighted in blue, under Configured Network.
While not strictly necessary, we recommend that you remove the “Polar3D” WiFi network from the Configured Network list by clicking on the X mark right of it; see Figure 1.7. (Removing the “Polar3D” network will prevent your printer from attempting to connect to that network after power cycles; you want your printer to attempt to connect first to your local network when it powers on.) After removing Polar3D WiFi network, your Existing WiFi screen should look similar to Figure 1.8.
You have now configured your 3D printer with a network profile for your local network. But incorrect values, such as for the local network password (see Figure 1.6), won’t be detected until your printer attempts to actually connect...
Once your printer is configured to know how to connect to the local network (and if necessary, the local network has been configured by your network administrator to permit your printer to connect), click the “Restart” tab on the left navigation pane, and then click the “Confirm” button, see Figure 1.9, to have your printer attempt to connect to the local network, and through it to the Polar Cloud; upon success, the LED lights on the side of the printer will go through a progression of colors ending as blue over white: POLAR3D.
If the connection attempt does not succeed, check that you properly entered the local WiFi password (see Figure 1.6), and attempt connection again. If the connection attempt still does not succeed, then at your site local networking may require some additional configuration work, such as configuring static IP address information rather than use of DHCP, and possibly assistance from your local IT administrator to permit your 3D printer onto the local network and permit it access to outgoing HTTP ports: see Section 1.4.
8. Once the printer is connected through your local network to the Polar Cloud, its POLAR3D LED lights will be blue over white.
You may now close the browser window that had been used to connect to the printer’s local web interface (the browser window connected to 192.168.0.1, opened in step 6).
9. Creating a Polar Cloud account is a first step in establishing your Polar 3D environment, as the Polar Cloud is the central hub and command center of the environment.
For Polar Cloud, you will need a Google account, a Facebook account, a Microsoft Live account, or a Microsoft Office 365 account. If you do not already have any such account, you will need to make one. (For instance, a Google account is very easy to create: go to www.gmail.com.) The Polar 3D support article Linking Your Current Email Address to a Google, Microsoft, or Facebook Account has additional details.
Go to polar3d.com on your device (computer, tablet, or phone); see Figure 1.10.
Click on the account that you’re going to use for Polar Cloud access (Google, Facebook, Microsoft Live, or Microsoft Office 365). That will create your Polar Cloud account.
If this is your first time signing into the Polar Cloud, you may next see a screen asking for permission to access Polar Cloud sharing and classroom features. The exact screen and questions will depend upon what sort of account you used to create your Polar Cloud account; Figure 1.11 shows an example where log in was done with a Google account.
Once you’re signed in, your home page should appear, looking similar to Figure 1.12.
10. Now, with the printer turned on and connected to the Polar Cloud, and with you logged in to your Polar Cloud account:
(i) From the Polar Cloud main menu, expand the menu lines at the upper left, click the “PRINTERS” tab, as shown in Figure 1.13, and then click the “ADD” (“+”) button (towards the upper right), shown in Figure 1.14.
(ii) On the ADD A PRINTER screen shown in Figure 1.15, at “SERIAL NUMBER”, enter the printer’s serial number (the same “P3D” and five digits that you entered in step 5).
Once you have entered the printer’s P3D... serial number, the Polar Cloud will automatically presume that this is a Polar3D printer and automatically change the “MAKE” to “Polar3D”.
(iii) If the Polar Cloud located the printer with the serial number you entered, a message will appear, see Figure 1.16, saying
Printer was found. Please select the colors to register the printer.
(If you instead see an error message, see the trouble-shooting in Section 1.3.)
Once the Polar Cloud detects a connection to the printer with the specified serial number, the color of the LED lights spelling out “POLAR3D” along the side of the printer will form a security check. On the “ADD A PRINTER” screen, at each of the three drop down menus, enter the color that your printer’s lights are showing for the corresponding letters, for “PO”, “AR”, and for “3D”, as for instance shown in Figure 1.16 corresponding to printer LED lights POLAR3D; then click “ADD”.
Note that you have a limited amount of time (several minutes) to enter these colors; if you do not enter the colors properly, you will be “locked out” of adding the printer for a short time.
If you entered the colors successfully, you will get a confirmation that your printer was successfully added, as shown in Figure 1.17.
Click “OK” to dismiss this confirmation and return to the printer “TILE” list-by-image screen, now updated with your newly added printer, as shown in Figure 1.18.1
11. The printer is now connected and ready to print! See Chapter 2 for an example of performing a first print through the Polar Cloud!
Note that if you wish, you may use the Polar Cloud printer management interface to change the printer’s name and enter a longer text description and location for the printer: perhaps describing the printer’s location, its primary intended purpose, the class for whose use it is intended, etc.; see Section 9.2.2: Printer settings: name, description, location, and make of printer of the Polar Cloud Guide.
1If you added the printer by clicking the “ADD” button on the printer “LIST” screen, instead of by clicking the “ADD” button on the “TILE” screen as shown in this example, than at this point you will return to an updated printer “LIST” screen instead of to an updated printer “TILE” screen such as shown in Figure 1.18.
