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Grid: Free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer

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Re: Grid: Free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer

#51

Surprised this hasn't been shared here before. Built by my former colleague, Stewart Allen (Co-Founder/CTO of WebMethods, CTO of AddThis, Co-Founder/CPO of IonQ, et al.). What caught my attention: - 100% free, no subscriptions, no accounts, no cloud - Local-first: all slicing and toolpath generation runs on your machine - Works in any browser, even offline once loaded - Supports FDM/SLA, CNC milling, laser cutting, w…

Any circuit designers? looking to hobby, but what I saw was all proprietary

You mean like PCBs? KiCad is pretty popular.

Re: Grid: Free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer

#52
post #36

OT: Why is that Alphabet, Mozilla, Apple, etc can get together to create web standards that allow anyone to create software that works cross-platform - only a browser is needed, but Microsoft, Alphabet, Apple, Canonical, etc can't get together to create standards that allow anyone to create software that works cross-platform?

Apple ain't getting their 30% when you're running shit in your browser.

this. webkit is intentionally hobbled and years behind the standards. browsers on iOS are forced to use webkit for ginned up security excuses/reasons so that no real browsers that implement full standards can complete with heavily taxed app store spyware.

Re: Grid: Free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer

#53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bambu is great hardware but the software (and the firmware) is just terrible.

Truly. The slicer is able to generate bugs I've never seen before, in around 6 years of printing with several slicers and firmwares. Cura, Flashprint, Orca, Prusa, using Marlin, Sailfish, Klipper. None of them produced the weird stuff I find with Bambu's pipeline. When the bugs don't creep up it's absolutely incredible, though.

The slicer even introduces bugs in things that were working perfectly in the software they ripped off.

For the A1 and P1S you're better off backporting the profile to PrusaSlicer or Orca.

And don't get me started on the network plug-in (the lack of transparency there makes me fairly suspicious that something is up) and the lack of directory structure support on the SD cards. Really, how could you mess it up.

Re: Grid: Free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer

#54
post #9

Am I weird in not being too surprised? It don't have experience with wire EDM but every toolpath generator or slicer I've ever used was just local software.

No, running locally is pretty standard.

Also what's weird is that this project seems to be primarily written in javascript. I can't imagine that's a pleasant user experience for generating tool paths...

Re: Grid: Free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer

#55
post #48

Part of me wants to be wary. The useful life of industrial machinery such as CNC mills is much longer than the lifespan of websites, so locally-installed software you own is usually a better choice. But another part of me realizes that everyone is using Fusion360, despite the fact they have a history of taking away features to force people to migrate to paid tiers. So it probably doesn't matter.

of Kiri? it's in its 14th year. CAM was added in 2016, but the major work on that mode really kicked in around 2024.

I have a CNC mill made in 2006. It's still perfectly fine. It should still be fine in 2036. The most significant threat to its existence is the compatibility of OS drivers and software support in CAM tools. That and USB ports getting replaced by something else, which was a problem for earlier-generation machines that used RS-232.

Re: Grid: Free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You answered the question yourself: There is already a standard that allows anyone to create software that works cross-platform: the browser.

The browser is an extremely poor medium to deliver applications. It works, but barely , is a huge resource hog, fragile and it breaks way too often due to a lack of backwards compatibility between browser versions of the same manufacturer. I have a small app that I support and it's been fun to get it to work in the browser (instant cross platform support was indeed the driver) but the experience is still sub-par comp…

this does not track with my experience, so possibly it's the nature of your app or the way it's coded. frameworks like react are notoriously crap. stick to pure html5/css/js and it can be extremely fast and light.

Re: Grid: Free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer

#57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any circuit designers? looking to hobby, but what I saw was all proprietary

You mean like PCBs? KiCad is pretty popular.

second KiCad. just had my first board printed a few months back. its an esp32 stackable daughterboard. first time doing anything like that outside of breadboarding, and it worked great.

Re: Grid: Free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer

#58
post #9

Am I weird in not being too surprised? It don't have experience with wire EDM but every toolpath generator or slicer I've ever used was just local software.

No, running locally is pretty standard. Also what's weird is that this project seems to be primarily written in javascript. I can't imagine that's a pleasant user experience for generating tool paths...

it's a combination of JS, WASM, and WebGPU. the JIT engines are so much faster than you would imagine, especially if you tune your code right. workers allow for parallel processing on all of your CPU cores. WebGPU, at least in Chrome, is kind of amazing.

Re: Grid: Free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer

#59
post #17

Great tool for a Makerspace - really appreciate the ability to use the same tool for laser cutting, 3d printing, and CNC. These are big jumps for people typically - having a familiar tool would help people transition from one area to another.

Makerspaces and education are two areas of focus. no SW install, fully loads in under a second. through the Onshape integration and ability to run on Chromebooks, it's made its way into high school and university STEM curriculum.

Re: Grid: Free, local-first, browser-based 3D printing/CNC/laser slicer

#60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://youtu.be/kS-9ISzMhBM They’re trying to introduce legislation that would require 3D printers to be online so that if you try to print a firearm, it won’t let you… Granted, today, you can print offline. Tomorrow? A firmware update might just brick it the next time it goes online or won’t be able to read the grbl

These people are so ridiculous. It'll fail on 1A and 2A grounds, not to mention challenges implicit from 4A and 5A considerations. They can't ban arbitrary information, even dangerous information, and there's a presumption of regularity - you're presumed innocent of wrongdoing absent evidence, so they can't legislate the assumption of criminality by default. They can't ban private creation of firearms and weapons, so…

They are just stupid. The WA state has a problem with a growing number of shootings, so the reps need to show that they are "doing something".

Meanwhile, the legal system in WA requires 5 (five) arrests for juveniles to be given _any_ jail time for gun crimes. And the laws regarding the unlawful possession of a weapon are almost completely unenforced.

Sigh. I'm pretty pro-gun-regulation, but I just can't stand our legislators' furious virtue signaling.

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