Good behavior in the 3d fab space and the use of bubba

I’ve been up to the space twice over the last week to print on bubba, a large project that I can’t print on another printer. The first time, someone was using multiple printers at the same time even with a queue present and this last time someone was printing something that would fit on a standard printer.

so, what is the policy? if all the printers are busy, should you use bubba for a small print?

I know that using 2 printers at once is a no-no and the person in question knew as well, so I suppose that doesn’t need to be communicated, but perhaps clarification on bubba would be useful.

Therr is no restriction on the size of you print for Bubba, it was voted on at one of the 3d fab meetings several months ago as well as the issue with using more than one printer, current policy is you can use as many printers as you like as long as there is no queue, if we go on a queue you must give up a printer. To be clrar Phil is not violating any of the current policy’s.

I am not saying I agree with the current policy but there is no rule violation here

I mentioned usage of more than one machine to the dept chair a few days ago and was told the rules have changed and folks are allowed to use more than one, however if someone comes in to use a machine that you can call and boot them off one of the machines. It’s the risk taken if you choose to use more than 1. I was also under the impression that bubba was only to be used on large projects and am unaware if that rule changed either.

Edit- looks like he beat me to the answer by 1 minute :slight_smile:

I believe it was the June or July meeting, I don’t agree with it and think both rules need to be change in one way or another

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I find it interesting (and horribly confusing) that the wide printer (“Bubba” – what a terrible name) literally says “not for small projects” right on the cover.

It’s also unwelcoming to have Byzantine rules that regulars know and can take advantage of that passively inhibit outsiders from utilizing the tools.

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When was it changed to you can use more then 1 printer at a time? When I took print class it was very clear I printer per member and you must stay at the space while printing.

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When was this policy changed where is it on the wiki

Mitch was the one who wanted Bubba to be used by anyone and the motion passed several meetings ago, along with the updated rule about more than one printer being used at a time.

I agree that Bubba should only be used for parts that cannot fit into the smaller polyprinters and I hop I get the chance to change this rule soon.

As far as I know the official rules of 3d fab are not posted anywhere anymore, I took down the old set of riles I had made for 3d fab and I made up the current set of rules for Mitch to approve but nothing ever came of it.

We have a spot on the wall for the new rules and our new queue.

As in… You have to pick one of your prints to stop mid print? What if there are two people running multiple printers?

Was it to be more in sync with the laser rules? Nothing prevents someone from running a job on the thunder even if it would fit on the other two. If all the small printers are all in use, would you then be ok with someone using Bubba for a smaller print?

To be unfront I don’t use the 3d printers often and hadn’t even noticed the multi printer change. Just curious on what you think the policy should be.

I am OK with a multiple printer rule but only after midnight and to 8 am

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That was my understanding, yes. If you run 2 machines and someone calls you out, then you have to pick one to stop.

I understand the logic behind this. However, the last time I was there, all the smaller printers were in use printing multi-hour jobs. Bubba wasn’t in use. I had a part that took - no exaggeration - only a couple minutes to print, and someone helped me run it on Bubba so I wouldn’t have to wait hours.

My point is that I’d like to see an exception made on Bubba for “express parts” that take less than some specific amount of time, when all the other printers are busy.

Or possibly designate one of the smaller printers as the “express printer” for jobs that take less than 15 minutes or 30 minutes or some other TBD time limit …

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And maybe fit said “express printer” with a faster extruder like an E3d Volcano (if they’re reliable enough for our use).

The potential problem with designating one printer as the “express lane:”

The reason the use of Bubba is even a question in the first place is that it’s a printer with a special capability (aka large prints) – so the two sides are, 1) it is the only one that can do certain things so it should only be used for those certain things and 2) having a machine sit idle when 3dfab is one of the most heavily used resources in the space seems like a waste.

If we take another printer and make it a “special case” too, we haven’t helped the problem – we’ve doubled it.

If Bubba can do regular stuff but is the only one that can do larger prints – and let’s not kid, it’s rarely used for prints that only it can do (especially ruling out prints that could be done on other printers with about 5 minutes’ worth of CAD work with zero loss of quality and minimal if any loss of time) – it’s effectively the handicapped bathroom stall of the 3d-fab space. So it seems both simpler and a far better use of resources to me to say:

  1. Bubba can only be used for smaller prints if it is the only open machine.
  2. Bubba cannot be used by anyone also using another machine (assuming the “multiple machines at a time” thing doesn’t go away).

Those two solve 90% of the problem. If you want to solve 99% of it: I imagine we’ll need a Rostock-specific queue at some point in the future, right? (What with ever-increasing membership, a decent stock of PLA in the 3dfab room, and the far higher visibility of the Rostock over the old Printrbot) Well, we can also have a Bubba-specific queue. Do that and add one more rule:
3) If there is anyone in the Bubba queue, Bubba can only be used to fulfill that queue.

So absolute worst case, any folks needing to use Bubba need to wait for one smaller print to finish and then it can be used. (Also gives some good behavioral-economic incentive to solve the “quit being a lazy bum and take the 5mins to lay your project out better” problem.) Meanwhile, the resource can reach as close to 100% utility as possible rather than sit idle due to its being “reserved” for special use only.

Bubba is open to anyone who needs to use it, if you have a large print and need bubba and it not available go on the queue like everyone else, but note that you want Bubba and its yours the next time its free. Its the same system that’s in place for the thunderlaser in the Laser Area.