Using a Mac for S3D and Printing

[wmgeorge]

Just purchased a MacBook Pro running El Capitan and other than my iPad its my first Mac. Wanting to get away from the constant security updates and now the annoying upgrade to Windows 10 virus from Microsoft.

Little or no info on the S3D website that is useful anyway about the Mac version. Is anyone here using it on a Mac and running the M2 off the USB port? I plan to print from a SD card but the Mac would be used to prepare for printing.

I find Fusion 360 Mac runs great and I found a decent graphics program from Autodesk both work fine on the El Capitan OS

[mharter]

I have run S3D from both my Mac and my Win7 machine. Both worked great sending prints over USB. No issues.

[wmgeorge]

I have run S3D from both my Mac and my Win7 machine. Both worked great sending prints over USB. No issues.

So is there another download for the Mac version and if so where is it?

[jsc]

https://cloud.simplify3d.com/account/download, accessed from your account page on simplify3d.com.

[wmgeorge]

Yup, its on the download page, wonder how it works with El Capitan? I have heard it has issues with older programs.

[jsc]

I'm using it on El Capitan. It's fine.

[wmgeorge]

I'm using it on El Capitan. It's fine.

Thank you, the plan is to take the MacBook Pro on extended trips, and pack my M2 with a couple rolls of filament. You can never tell when someone might need a 3D print when your on the road

[jimc]

been using s3d on mac since version 1.1.5....thats about 3 years. currently on el capitan. it has always worked great on mac. i run it on a windows 10 machine as well.

[willnewton]

Another El Capitan and Mac user. Runs great off USB, I haven't used a card since the first few days I owned my M2. In the beginning I tried not to run anything too processor intensive while printing, out of fear that I would get some kind of random system crash that would mess up the print, but that fear never materialized.

Now I use an older Mac mini I had around. It is dedicated to the M2 and only has basic system software and S3D installed. It has no mouse, keyboard or monitor. I have a network cable connected to my main Mac and use Apple's Screen Sharing to run my prints and share internet so it can access Google Drive and get updates. This is a very stable setup that has no trouble running long prints.

After thinking about this I realize I don't use El Cap to actually run S3D, but I have typed too much to stop now.

[wmgeorge]

Well I am to the point now where I print anything other than a 10 minute job (do those exist?) off the SD card.

On a printing subject I am working on a project and it was created in Fusion 360. I do my 2D prints in AutoCAD LT 2008 or now in QCAD on the Mac. Anyway I imported the DWG file as usual and created the project, made the STL and off to the printer.
When it was printing I thought something is not right? It was printing the bottom layers almost like there were two sides joined in the middle. Oh well. Print got done and it looked like $rap. What did S3D do wrong!!

Well it turned out to be pilot error. Part of the original sketch outline was still in the drawing, and I did not see it. S3D saw the line as part of the STL and printed around it, leaving a partition. Duh. Some editing and its ready to try again.