Step-By-Step Machine Connectivity Guideline

Owned by Dennis Hezel
Last updated: Apr 26, 2024
7 min read

This guide describes how to set up 3YOURMIND’s machine connectivity.

Prerequisites

Steps to connect machines:

  1. Gather a list of machines including: IP address and port

  2. Obtain machine specific connection information, i.e. authentication. The information required depends on the machine model.

  3. Obtain API token and Agile MES Service ID.

  4. Configure the Aggregator.

  5. Start the Aggregator.

  6. Activate Machine Connectivity.

1. Obtaining IP address and port

Ultimaker

Ultimaker connectivity is achieved through the Ultimaker cluster API. At the moment we do not offer Ultimaker Cloud powered connectivity. The only supported deployment option for reaching Ultimaker printers is Aggregator On Windows.

BigRep

  • On the onboard UI of the machine click on the Settings button in the top right corner of the screen. Click on Printer information to see the IP address and port. Also refer to section two in this BigRep support article.

Formlabs

  • See the Installation And Usage Instructions manual that came with your machine on how to connect it to the internet.

  • Create an account on https://formlabs.com and follow the instructions to register the machine with your account.

Carbon3D

EOS

  • Access the machine's API documentation at https://si2381/api, replace si2381 with the actual ID of the machine. Navigate to the OPC UA Documentation and look for the Endpoint URL.

  • You must have purchased the EOSCONNECT Core license (40194). The purchased license will be activated on the machine after its first setup. To acquire additional licenses, or renew existing ones that are about to expire, contact your EOS field service technician.

Stratasys

  • Open the Stratasys Control Center

  • Navigate to the Services tab and click on Manage FDM Systems

  • The IP Address will be in the second column from the right

HP

Either:

Or:

Renishaw

  • Once you log into your InfiniAM app you will be redirected to {base_url}/app/#!/current-status.

  • Use {base_url} as url in the configuration.

2. Machine specific connection information

Certain machines require additional information before they can be connected. The highlighted values mentioned below are needed for the configuration of the Aggregator.

Ultimaker

Option 1:

  • On the onboard UI of the machine go to System → Network → Connection Status to get the printer name. You will need to enter this name as the unique_name during Aggregator configuration.

Option 2:

  • Navigate to http://[IP address]:[port]/api/v1/system/hostname in a web browser.

Example: "ultimakersystem-cc3ad300c4h5a"

Octoprint/BigRep

  • Navigate to the URL of the machine in a web browser, this should bring up the OctoPrint Settings.

  • Obtain either the global api key or a user bound api key:

    • Click on Api in the left menu and note the Apikey.

    • Click on Access Control, create a new user or note the Apikey of an existing one that has at least STATUS permissions.

Formlabs Rest API

  • Obtain developer API credentials in the form of client_id and client_secret by contacting Formlabs at gtl@formlabs.com.

  • Note the username and password of your https://formlabs.com account.

Carbon3D Rest API

  • Generate an API Key at https://print.carbon3d.com/api_keys by clicking the Create API Key button. This will automatically download a secret.json file.

  • The unique_name of the machine is displayed as serial number on https://print.carbon3d.com/queue. In this example it is 2B001W.

    It is also visible on the screen of the machine.

EOS

  • Obtain username and password at https://si2381/gui/auth, replace si2381 with the actual ID of the machine. This page is secured with a login and you will need to use your EOScada credentials to access it. Only EOScada credentials that have the role of Supervisor can add new clients.

MT Connect Stratasys

  • Obtain a (free of charge) MTConnect license from Stratasys support. They will need your machine’s serial number.
    Install the license file provided by Stratasys according to their instructions.

HP

  • No specific information is needed.

Markforged

Renishaw

  • Obtain an account with API access rights on your InfiniAM instance.

  • Use the Email address as username together with your password in the below configuration.

3. Obtain API Token and Agile MES Service ID

API Token

Setup a user

  1. Login to the 3YOURMIND Platform as a user that has access to the organisation and admin panel.

  2. Go to User Panel > Users.

  3. Click on Invite User.

  4. Fill it with those infos (Make sure that “Send invitation via E-Mail…” is unchecked):

    (The E-Mail Address does not need to exist)

  5. Click on Save.

 

Provide access to the organization's fulfillment partners

  1. Go to the 3YOURMIND admin panel.

  2. Go to Fulfillment partner.

  3. Open each service under the Fulfillment partner List.

  4. Add the user you created to the list of users.

  5. Click on Save.

 

Create API token

  1. Go back to the homepage of the admin panel.

  2. Go to Users under Authentication and Authorization.

  3. Search for the user you created.

  4. Click on Create Token.

Note that this is sensitive information.

Service ID

Login to the 3YOURMIND Platform with a user that has access to the service panel.

Option 1:

  1. Visit the dashboard of the service panel

  2. The number in the URL represents the service id. E.g. https://[your-domain]/service-panel/1/dashboard/ (service id would be "1")

Option 2:

  1. Visit https://[your-domain]/api/v2.0/service-panel/services/.

  2. Note the id of the service.

4. Create a configuration

Create a text file with the content as shown below. The file must follow the JSON notation (with comments). We recommend using a text editor like Visual Studio Code or Notepad++.

{ "machines": [ // ... please visit the machine configuration pages below for details ], "mes_services": [ { "id": 1, "url": "https://print.3yourmind.com/api/v2.0/machine/730/", "token": "28c1610a1240ecc5e9eae9b2e3a0554e64e8eeaf" } ], "aggregator_id": "my aggregator" }

If you are planning on deploying our Aggregator on a Windows server then you can use the config.sample.json that come with the download as a basis for your configuration.

Machines

In the machine section, you will need to configure the URL(s) of the machine(s), give them a name of your choice, define their type, and provide a list of mes_service identifiers you want to send data to. Please refer to the tables below to see the configuration details of our supported machines/interfaces:

BigRep PRO Machine Configuration

Carbon3D Machine Configuration

EOS Connect Machine Configuration

Ford MQTT Configuration

Formlabs Machine Configuration

HP Machine Configuration

Markforged Machine Configuration

MTConnect Machine Configuration

Octoprint Machine Configuration

Renishaw Machine Configuration

Ultimaker Machine Configuration

Umati Machine Configuration

MES services

Each mes_service contains the Agile MES URL, a service ID and an API token. The following data must be set:

  • id : This identifier is used to match Agile MES services and machines within the config.json. You can use any positive number, as long as it is unique.

  • url: This is the Agile MES URL in the format https://[your-domain]/api/v2.0/machine/[service ID]

  • token: This is the API token of the user in the 3YOURMIND software created in step 3.

Example:
with 730 as serviceId:

{ "id": 1, "url": "https://print.3yourmind.com/api/v2.0/machine/730/", "token": "28c1610a1240ecc5e9eae9b2e3a0554e64e8eeaf" }

5. Deploy the Aggregator

For shared-cloud customers

Aggregator On Windows is the only supported option for shared-cloud customers.

For dedicated-cloud customers

  1. Aggregator On Windows covers all connectivity cases, but requires manual installation and maintenance.

  2. Aggregator In Docker is a low maintenance option that can be used if all machines have an internet connection and a cloud API. Reach out to our customer support team to enable the Aggregator for your deployment.

For on-premise customers

  1. Aggregator In Docker is part of our installation package and is the recommended option if the 3YOURMIND MES and all machines are in the same network.

  2. Aggregator On Windows covers all connectivity cases, but requires manual installation and maintenance.

6. Activate Machine Connectivity in the Agile MES

  1. Login to the 3YOURMIND Platform with a user that has access to the Service Panel. If you do not have access to the service panel, please look at Service Panel.

  2. Open the Service Panel.

  3. Go to Settings > Workstations.

  4. Select the workstation that the machine should get connected to.

  5. Select the machine in the Machine Connectivity section.

  6. Click on Connect Machine.