3D printing pioneer Prusa Analysis has introduced a plan to undertake a “good spool” system utilizing near-field communication (NFC) expertise, however it’s taking a considerably totally different method to a lot of its opponents: it is releasing the system, dubbed “OpenPrintTag,” beneath an open supply license.
“We’re upgrading the Prusament spool,” the corporate introduced of its plans. “The brand new spool comes with a well-recognized but totally different design and several other cool options you will love. This contains improved thermal resistance when drying, simpler refills, and slimmer dimensions. However the greatest function is one you may’t see at first look: a completely reusable and open supply NFC Tag. With the OpenPrintTag NFC, we’re setting the usual for all good spools — it is designed to work throughout manufacturers and ecosystems. It’s free to make use of, free to increase, and open for anybody to construct upon.”
Prusa’s reprogrammable, reusable OpenPrintTags purpose to open-up the “good spool” ecosystem. (📷: Prusa Analysis)
Conventional 2D printers are ceaselessly bought beneath the so-called “razor blade” advertising and marketing mannequin, the place the price of the printer itself is closely backed on the understanding that earnings will comply with from the sale of consumables. That very same mannequin is creeping into 3D printing, with producers more and more turning to low- and high-tech approaches to lock their printers right down to first-party filament spools — all the pieces from customized spool sizing to embedded radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags.
Prusa’s new OpenPrintTag is near the latter, however the firm says it isn’t about proscribing third-party consumables however growing flexibility — and to show it, the entire thing is being made obtainable beneath an open supply license. Spools that includes OpenPrintTag expertise will, the corporate guarantees, present all the benefits of rival “good spool” techniques similar to computerized materials and colour detection plus extra, together with the power to scan spools with a smartphone.
The tags might be learn by the printer itself in addition to by any NFC-enabled smartphone or pill. (📷: Prusa Analysis)
The corporate has launched OpenPrintTag beneath the reciprocal GNU Common Public License, with Python implementation already obtainable and {hardware} specs to comply with quickly. The system works solely offline, Prusa explains, with no cloud dependencies, the tags are reusable and rewritable, might be peeled off previous spools and utilized to new ones, and blanks can be found for anybody so as to add to current spools. Plans are additionally afoot to broaden the idea to different 3D printing supplies, like resin.
Extra info, together with a hyperlink to the challenge’s numerous GitHub repositories, is on the market on the OpenPrintTag web site; all new Prusament filament spools will function an OpenPrintTag, Prusa has confirmed, whereas firms together with 3D-Gas, Filament PM, Filamentum, and Voron Design are stated to be “in dialogue” to undertake the usual for their very own filament spools. Clean tags, in the meantime, can be found on the Prusa retailer at $5.99 for 10.
