Jan 9, 2016 | By Andre
Just about anyone that has worked with the FDM style of desktop 3D printers on the market today will likely agree that the transfer process from file to printer can be a bit cumbersome at times. Whether you’re walking back and forth between machines with an SD card like you would with a 3 1/2” floppy disk or forced to dedicate an entire computer to your 3D printer at all times, a more convenient solution might soon become the new normal.
Matterhackers, a 3D Printer / Filament distributer based out of Orange County, California seems to be on the right track with their just announced MatterControl Touch T10. The Touch T10 is a 10-inch touchscreen tablet that acts as a dedicated 3D printer control console.
Connecting via USB to any compatible gcode using 3D Printer, the tablet runs the open-source MatterControl print software. It’s the combination of this full-featured software and convenient touch-screen interface that allows the device to shine. Complete with a wide range of preloaded 3D printer configurations, integrated slicing, remote print monitoring, automatic print leveling, sms/email print notifications and the option of an onboard camera, it doesn’t hold back.
While a USB cable and a dedicated wall-outlet is still required for 3D printing, the wifi capabilities of the MatterControl Touch ensures that you can download, prepare and preview any and all of your files in one convenient place.
Additionally, the list of compatible printers is fairly extensive (basically any printer that runs G-code). This unfortunately means popular 3D printers like the FlashForge Creator Pro or anything by Makerbot don’t make the cut for the time being. But don't fret, x3g file-format compatibility is being worked on by the MatterHackers team.
With a price-tag of $299 (complete with a 30 day-money back guarantee) the MatterControl Touch may just be a worthy investment if you’re finding yourself strutting back-and-forth with a SD card or inconvenienced by the need to commit a PC to your 3D printer.
All said, it is likely a niche market item and will likely only scream “Buy Me!” to a select few print enthusiasts out there. While slightly inconvenient, swapping SD cards and finding an old computer to commit to printing has never been a huge challenge to me or anyone in my maker community. I sort of see this being a great tool for first-time 3D printer owners that may be unaware of the additional and necessary hardware requirements that are typically needed to run a 3D printer.
Hardware Specs Below:
RAM: 1GB
GPU: Quad Core 4x1.4GHz
Internal Storage: 8GB
External Storage: SD Card
Camera Included
Voice Capable
Touchscreen
Wifi-Connectivity
Standalone Control
Web Monitoring
Web Control: Coming soon
Controller Does Not Contain Battery - Must Remain Plugged In
Posted in 3D Printer Accessories
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Has the computers sleep function been disabled? You can buy a small tablet with windows 10 and Android for £80 Why not just put Matter control on one of those?
3D cinic wrote at 1/10/2016 6:00:55 AM:
NOTHING NEW!! OctoPrint, AstroPrint, Peer2Print etc... on a 5$ raspberry pi zero. Connect with the screen you already have, pc, laptop, tablet, phone, watch...
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