Print with Smile uses Spectoda technology in its PWS400K printer. The company primarily sells high-quality filaments for 3D printing. Now they have brought their own PWS400K printer with additional RGB LED ribbons to the market. Our system allows the lights to work as a notification element.
Smart Printing That Makes the World More Colourful
Since 2012, Print with Smile has been selling 3D printing materials of good quality. They used to work with the printers only for testing, and for this purpose they wanted to purchase a Czech-made 400K printer for this purpose. However, the delivery had taken too long and so they decided to buy the production and became suppliers themselves.
"We wanted to take the printer to the next level and in the spirit of our motto 'we make the world more colourful'. So we upgraded it with RGB LED lighting, which was supposed to function not only as decorative lighting but also as notification. The light was supposed to report an error, filament shortage, communication with Orange Pi, show the printing status, etc. We also wanted the user to be able to manage the lights and choose their preferred colour combinations from within Fluid, Mainsail or Karmen software," says Eva Neumannová from PWS.
In addition to the light, the printer itself has many other advantages that set it apart from the competition. It reduces printing times by an average of 30%, which lowers energy costs and increases the production of 3D printed models. The printer allows control via remote management both inside the home network (Fluid, Mainsail) and remotely via a pre-installed plugin to the Karmen cloud service. It detects errors and sends notifications according to the user's settings. You will never come to a printer full of "spaghetti" again.
From April 1, 2023 you can buy the printer on their e-shop.
Spectoda Provides Communication with the Lights
Spectoda made this idea technically possible. Its main role was to mediate the communication between the lights and the programming software. So it supplies the LED strips and, above all, Spectoda Controllers. They provide the connection between the lights and the third-party system – Karmen, Fluid or Mainsail.
As a result, the light in the printer from Print with Smile indicates what percentage of the print is finished or if an error has occurred in the process. It can also make your maker space or home more colourful, remotely.
"We're excited about this collaboration. It is one of our goals to be able to implement Spectoda technology into products and make the lights communicate with a third party system. This in both the classic and creative industries. We hope to see more clients like Print with Smile," shares Anna Veselá, co-founder of Spectoda.
This is not the first time 3D printers and Spectody have been connected. Check out our work at EXPO in Dubai, where we lit up a farm from Prusa Research.
