Polar Electro Polar3D User manual

Polar3D Printer Guide
Kristin Hubner
January, 2018

Copyright ©2017, 2018, Kristin Hubner.
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Contents
List of Figures .............................. iv
1 Get connected to the Polar Cloud ................ 1
1.1 Connecting the Polar3D printer to the Polar Cloud via WiFi . 3
1.2 Connecting the Polar3D printer to the Polar Cloud via Eth-
ernet cable ............................ 19
1.3 Errors at ADD A PRINTER screen ................ 20
1.4 Network issues and solutions .................. 23
1.4.1 Static IP address for printer ............... 24
1.4.2 MAC address for the printer ............... 28
1.4.3 Open HTTP ports .................... 28
1.4.4 Solving network connectivity problems ......... 29
2 Start printing ............................. 31
2.1 Load filament on the Polar3D printer .............. 31
2.2 An object to print ........................ 37
2.2.1 Find an object in the Polar Cloud ............ 38
2.2.2 Experiment with adjusting object placement and print
settings .......................... 43
2.3 Start the print job ........................ 49
2.4 Monitor the printing ....................... 51
3 The Polar3D printer local web interface ............ 57
3.1 Navigating through the Polar3D printer local web interface . . 59
3.1.1 The Print File tab and the Project Details screen 61
3.1.2 The Controls tab and the Manual Printer Controls
screen ........................... 62
3.1.3 The Calibration tab and Calibration screen . . . . 63
3.1.4 The Camera tab and Camera screen ........... 64
i

CONTENTS ii
3.1.5 The Network tab ..................... 65
3.1.6 The Update tab ...................... 68
3.1.7 The Restart tab ..................... 69
3.2 Security of access to the local web interface .......... 70
3.2.1 The Security pane and setting a password for the local
web interface ....................... 73
4 Operational tips for Polar3D printers .............. 78
4.1 Loading and unloading (and changing) filament on Polar3D
printer ............................... 79
4.1.1 Loading filament on Polar3D printer .......... 80
4.1.2 Unloading filament from Polar3D 2.0 or 2.5 printer . . 82
4.1.3 Unloading filament from Polar3D 1.0 printer ...... 83
4.2 Removing objects from the Polar3D build plate ........ 84
5 Updating the Polar3D printer .................. 86
6 Polar3D printer maintenance ................... 91
6.1 Cleaning your build plate .................... 91
6.2 Lubrication ............................ 92
6.3 Clean filament drive gear .................... 92
6.4 Replace a corrupted SD card .................. 93
6.5 Printer calibration ........................ 93
6.5.1 Polar3D 1.0 printer zand xcalibration ......... 96
6.5.2 Polar3D 2.0 or 2.5 printer zand xcalibration ..... 99
7 Troubleshooting for Polar3D printers ..............108
7.1 Polar3D printer LED lights ...................108
7.2 Polar3D printer clogged or leaky nozzle .............110
7.3 Polar3D printer camera color balance ..............110
7.4 Polar3D printer stepper motors locked in place ........111
Appendices ................................113
A Polar3D printer specification sheet ...............113
B Polar3D printer diagram ......................114
C Connecting the Polar3D printer directly to your device . . 115

CONTENTS iii
C.1 Wireless direct connection and printing .............116
C.1.1 Wireless direct connection ................117
C.1.2 Wireless direct printing ..................119
C.2 Cable direct connection and printing ..............122
C.2.1 Cable direct connection ..................123
C.2.2 Cable direct printing ...................134
Glossary ..................................137
Index ....................................151

List of Figures
1.1 Printer in shipping box ..................... 2
1.2 Back of printer: serial number and spool holder arm ..... 6
1.3 Mac prompt for printer hotspot WiFi password ........ 7
1.4 Use the printer’s WiFi hotspot to connect to the printer’s
web interface ........................... 8
1.5 Select local WiFi network .................... 9
1.6 Enter local WiFi password ................... 9
1.7 Local WiFi configured as network ............... 10
1.8 Printer Configured Network configuration completed . . . . 10
1.9 Printer Restart for local network connection attempt . . . . 11
1.10 First time login to Polar Cloud ................. 13
1.11 First time log in with Google credentials: classroom permis-
sions screen ............................ 14
1.12 Polar Cloud home page ..................... 14
1.13 Polar Cloud expand top menu and click PRINTERS ...... 15
1.14 Polar Cloud printers TILE display ADD printer button ..... 15
1.15 Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER: enter serial number ....... 16
1.16 Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER printer found: security color check 17
1.17 Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER congratulations ......... 18
1.18 Polar Cloud added printer listed in TILE view ......... 18
1.19 Polar Cloud ADD A PRINTER printer not found error ..... 21
1.20 Polar Cloud printer ADD attempt when Add Allowed is disabled 22
1.21 WiFi static IP address ...................... 25
1.22 Ethernet static IP address .................... 26
1.23 Polar3D printer CONNECTIVITY GUIDE sheet: MAC ad-
dress ............................... 27
2.1 Load filament onto the Polar3D printer ............ 32
2.2 Snip end of filament ....................... 33
iv

LIST OF FIGURES v
2.3 Polar Cloud printer dashboard LOCAL UI button ....... 35
2.4 Printer local web interface Controls tab ............ 35
2.5 Manual Printer Controls screen: set the temperature . . . 36
2.6 Polar Cloud top menu OBJECTS tab .............. 37
2.7 Polar Cloud PUBLIC OBJECTS screen .............. 38
2.8 Searching for “calibration” on the PUBLIC OBJECTS screen 39
2.9 PUBLIC OBJECTS listing of William Steele’s CalibrationKey 40
2.10 CalibrationKey object detail screen .............. 41
2.11 Build plate screen for CalibrationKey object ......... 42
2.12 Build plate PLACEMENT:MOVE object .............. 44
2.13 Build plate PLACEMENT:MOVE to center CalibrationKey . . . 45
2.14 Build plate PLACEMENT:SCALE object .............. 47
2.15 Build plate PRINT SETTINGS: check the print temperature . . 49
2.16 Printer dashboard: job submitted to the print queue ..... 50
2.17 Printer “homing” when the temperature reaches 175°C. . . 52
2.18 Printer dashboard: print job extrusion has begun ....... 53
2.19 Printer dashboard: print job in progress ............ 53
2.20 Printer dashboard: print job extrusion completed ....... 54
2.21 Printer dashboard: print job completed ............ 54
2.22 Printed object CalibrationKey on the build plate ...... 55
3.1 Polar Cloud printer dashboard LOCAL UI button ....... 58
3.2 Printer local web interface as viewed from Polar Cloud . . . . 59
3.3 Printer local web interface Print File (Project Details)
screen ............................... 62
3.4 Printer local web interface Controls screen .......... 63
3.5 Polar3D printer v1.0 local web interface Calibration screen 64
3.6 Polar3D printer v2.0 and v2.5 local web interface Calibration
screen ............................... 64
3.7 Printer local web interface Camera screen ........... 65
3.8 Printer local web interface Network screen showing Existing
WiFi pane ............................ 66
3.9 Reset Printer on the Polar Cloud confirmation check . . 68
3.10 Printer local web interface Update screen ........... 69
3.11 Printer local web interface Restart screen ........... 69
3.12 Printer local web interface Security pane ........... 73
3.13 Printer local web interface Security pane: initial password
entered .............................. 74

LIST OF FIGURES vi
3.14 Printer local web interface: Password updated, restart re-
quired ............................... 75
3.15 Chrome: user name and password prompt to reach printer
local web interface ........................ 76
3.16 Firefox: user name and password prompt to reach printer
local web interface ........................ 76
3.17 Opera: user name and password prompt to reach printer local
web interface ........................... 76
3.18 Safari: user name and password prompt to reach printer local
web interface ........................... 76
3.19 Chrome: entering user name and password to reach printer
local web interface ........................ 77
4.1 Loading filament onto the Polar3D printer ........... 79
5.1 Polar Cloud printer dashboard UPDATE button ......... 86
5.2 Polar Cloud printer manage screen UPDATE button ...... 87
5.3 Printer local web interface shows Update tab ......... 88
5.4 Polar Cloud UPDATE PRINTER confirmation screen ....... 89
5.5 Printer local UI update description and confirmation screen . 89
6.1 Printer local web interface landing screen (Network screen
with Existing WiFi pane) ................... 96
6.2 Printer local web interface Calibration screen ........ 97
6.3 Printer local web interface Controls screen’s Home and Center
button .............................. 98
6.4 Polar3D 2.0 or 2.5 printer Calibration screen ........ 99
6.5 Manual Printer Controls screen: Change Filament button 100
6.6 Change Filament button: confirm screen ...........100
6.7 Manual Printer Controls screen: temperature 185°C. . . 101
6.8 Calibration screen: zcalibration wait screen .........102
6.9 Calibration screen: zcalibration Done Calibrating button 103
6.10 Calibration screen: zdone confirmation screen . . . . . . . 103
6.11 Manual Printer Controls screen: Raise Print Head button104
6.12 Calibration screen: xcalibration wait screen ........105
6.13 Calibration screen: xcalibration Done Calibrating button 106
6.14 Calibration screen: xdone confirmation screen . . . . . . . 107
7.1 Printer camera color balance gets strange ...........111

LIST OF FIGURES vii
B.1 Polar3D printer diagram .....................114
C.1 Printer local web interface network status ...........118
C.2 Printer local web interface Project Details screen . . . . . 119
C.3 Project Details screen: Select file drop-down ......120
C.4 Project Details screen: Select file choices ........121
C.5 Printer local web interface Project Details screen: Print
File button ...........................122
C.6 Cable direct connection to printer: installing device . . . . . 124
C.7 Repetier-Host start-up screen ..................124
C.8 Repetier-Host Printer Settings screen ............125
C.9 Repetier-Host Printer Settings screen: Port ........126
C.10 Repetier-Host Connect button .................127
C.11 Repetier-Host Printer Settings:Printer Shape,etc. . . . 128
C.12 Repetier-Host Slicer tab ....................129
C.13 Repetier-Host Slicer:CuraEngine ..............129
C.14 Zoomed in view of Slice with CuraEngine:Configuration
button ..............................130
C.15 Repetier-Host Configure Settings screen: Import button . 131
C.16 Repetier-Host Configure Settings screen: Filament,Import132
C.17 Repetier-Host Printer Settings:Run on Kill script . . . . 133
C.18 Repetier-Host Load button ...................135
C.19 Repetier-Host Slice with CuraEngine ............136

Chapter 1
Get connected to the Polar
Cloud
When you open up your Polar3D printer shipping box, you will
see contents such as shown in Figure 1.1: the printer frame (with
print head mounted), a spool of (blue) PLA filament, a power
adapter and cord, a can of Aqua Net hair spray, a build plate,
and a sample object test-printed on this printer at the factory
(namely, a yellow boat).
There are two ways to setup your Polar3D printer to connect
through a local network to the Polar Cloud:
1. Wireless (WiFi): see Section 1.1.
2. Ethernet cable: see Section 1.2
Setting up your Polar3D printer as a network printer con-
nected to the Polar Cloud is strongly recommended, as it per-
mits full access to the power of the Polar Cloud interface and
features; see the Polar Cloud Guide. However, for times when
you don’t have an Internet connection (or even access to a local
1

CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 2
network), the Polar3D printer can instead be controlled directly
from your device for printing: see Appendix C.
Figure 1.1: Printer in shipping box

CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 3
1.1 Connecting the Polar3D printer to the
Polar Cloud via WiFi
Overview of getting your printer connected to the Polar Cloud
via WiFi:

CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 4
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 ma-
terial.
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 print-
ing.
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

CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 5
1above), 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.

CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 6
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 se-
rial 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).
Figure 1.2: Back of printer: serial number and spool holder arm

CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 7
Figure 1.3: Mac prompt for printer hotspot WiFi password
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 un-
der 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 lo-
cal WiFi network, then instead under Configured Network you
will see your local WiFi highlighted in blue (seen later in Figure
1.7).

CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 8
Figure 1.4: Use the printer’s WiFi hotspot to connect to the printer’s web
interface
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

CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 9
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.
Figure 1.5: Select local WiFi network
Figure 1.6: Enter local WiFi password

CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 10
Figure 1.7: Local WiFi configured as network
Figure 1.8: Printer Configured Network configuration completed
While not strictly necessary, we recommend that you remove

CHAPTER 1. GET CONNECTED TO THE POLAR CLOUD 11
the “Polar3D” WiFi network from the Configured Network list
by clicking on the Xmark right of it; see Figure 1.7. (Removing
the “Polar3D” network will prevent your printer from attempt-
ing 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...
Figure 1.9: Printer Restart for local network connection attempt
Once your printer is configured to know how to connect to the
local network (and if necessary, the local network has been con-
figured 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