Automaker Version 1.01 is released!
CEL traditionally is a hardware development company and the Robox project has been treated no differently; with the main focus to date being to get the hardware into the market – i.e. Robox. All the software versions which have been released to date have been focussed on the development of the hardware.
We have just released a new version of Automaker which changes all of this – Automaker 1.01.
All the interactions which happen between the user and the Robox goes through the software, so it needs to reflect the innovation as much as the hardware does. The software is no longer just a development tool for the hardware, it is as big a part of the project as any other aspect of the Robox.
One of the foremost questions we get asked by news user of 3D printers is “what would I print?” And they are quite right to ask this question as most people in the past have bought items for the house, replacement parts, artefacts etc and not even considered making them themselves. This hasn’t stopped people with the ability to draw their own 3D models to do so, but not everyone wants to or can draw in 3D dimensions, so to answer this question we have teamed up with MyMiniFactory, Europe’s largest curated repository of 3D printable designs. This enables people who can’t or don’t want to learn how to design 3D models themselves, to go into the library and select designs to download and print without having to do any of the design work. This puts the Robox project into a new category of 3D printers. We are now amongst the very elite systems on the market, and we are closer to our ultimate goal of everybody and anybody using 3D printers in the future.
Robox’s hardware is so new and innovative there is no existing software package that can drive its hardware, and because of this the quality of prints have not been all that they should have been so far. Although the hardware is ready and able to produce extremely high quality parts, the software and the control has been a limiting factor to date. We have worked hard on Automaker to overcome this and by introducing a new slicing engine we have taken a huge step up in the quality of parts. CURA has been specifically designed to drive bowden tube printers which in its most basic element is what Robox is. CURA’s handling of models and settings helps many aspects of the 3D print results; unsupported structures can be more defined, print speed can be increased, surface detail is improved, imperfections and slicing time are dramatically reduced.
During the integration of this software we have opened up Automaker for all future slicing engines we may want to integrate. So today customers can choose from Slic3r or CURA but Automaker is ready to accept other slice engines as and when we want.
There has been a huge amount of background work inside Automaker; this is apparent with the new readiness for mobile devices, development boards driving Robox units, and remote access, enabling us to start the next development stage of the software.
There has also been a dramatic change to the look and feel of Automaker, the new GUI is easier on the eye and easier to navigate, we have started to introduce an expert system for diagnosing and calibrating the Robox, and the platform has been readied for all future integration and features.
Although most of the work done on Automaker won’t be visible to the user, it has enabled our software engineers to increase the efficiency of maintaining the Robox and adding new features. With these background improvements new features and functions will come thick and fast.
The CEL Robox is currently undergoing numerous reviews with various different people – ranging from journalists who know very little about 3D printing, to those who have experience road testing new technology.
Needless to say, this is a nerve-racking time for us, expectations of the Robox are high and we are being compared to the likes of Ultimaker and Makerbot on a daily basis – multi million pound corporations which function slightly differently to us (we were working from a garage 6 years ago!).
So every time a review comes out, we click on the link or turn the page with bated breath as we wait to see if the reviewer has had a positive experience.
Largely we’ve had pleasing results so far; since reviewing the printer the journalist on The Register has purchased his own Robox for personal use. A glowing reference if ever we had one.
Others at The Engineer have enjoyed playing with the Robox despite never having touched a 3D printer before and admit that while the technology takes some getting used to it is both educational, fun and good value for money.
However, today’s review, conducted by a community road tester ‘dougw’ via Element 14 had us beaming from ear to ear.
He also mentions the fact that “since getting the printer running, it has run essentially non-stop for 20 hours on 7 jobs and it will continue for the whole weekend because I have a long backlog of things I want to print, and I can design them faster than I can print them.” which is music to our ears.
“The Cel Robox 3D printer is phenomenal. It makes a huge difference in transforming my projects from crude and boring rectangular black boxes into aesthetically attractive and interesting systems. The learning curve is well worthwhile and this machine has been designed to keep it to a minimum. So far I have not had to think about or learn about calibration – I just import an STL file and start printing. As far as cost goes, for most of my work this machine effectively replaces a whole machine shop full of far more expensive equipment. The results are far superior to any other home-made solutions both in aesthetics and functionality, and although the printer can take hours to complete a print, the labour of designing the item is actually less than the labour involved in manually hacking some other enclosure together with appropriate mounting and cutouts (both time-wise and physical effort-wise).
“One general note is that clear PLA is an important material in many applications where lighting effects or internal illumination are desired and it also allows you to see internal hidden fit and tolerance of finished parts.
Thank you Doug for a great review….