3D printing

Space Works runs 3D printing as a service queue: members ask for something to be printed, staff accept the job, print it, record what it used and hand it over. Printing is a machine type on top of the general machine service queue, so the same ideas apply to laser cutters and other machines.

What you need

Requirement	Why
`machines` module	Registers your printers as machines
`machine_service` module	The job queue itself
`printing` module	Print-specific intake, the public print page and the printer console. Installing it pulls in `machine_service`
`manage_printing` or `manage_machines`	Staff who run the queue (Machine Managers and Space Managers have them)
`collect_service_request`	Front-desk staff who only hand finished prints over

The Machines setup area in the installer turns all three modules on.

Set up your printers

Open Machines → Machines and add each printer as a machine of a printer type. You can attach documents, operators and warranty details to each machine.
On the machine type page, review Machine types and pricing (see Pricing).
Add your filament as consumable pools (below).
Optionally turn on Certification gating in Feature settings so only trained members can request work on a machine type.

Filament and spools

Filament is tracked as consumable pools, measured in grams.

To add filament:

Open the printer’s consumables, or the shared consumables on its machine type page.
Choose Add filament and pick the material and colour, with a colour swatch for the staff console.
Set the scope: one specific machine, or a whole machine type. A type-wide pool lets one roll of PLA serve every printer of that type without entering it twice.
Choose Visible to requesters or Hidden from requesters.

A visible pool appears on the public print form as material and colour name only, and only while it is active and has stock left. Lot codes, remaining grams and the swatch value are never public.

Filament low-stock threshold in Admin → Settings sets when staff are warned that a pool is running low. The Local material catalogue feature lets you define the materials and colours your space offers per machine type, instead of the built-in printer list.

Public print requests

Members request prints at /m/<slug>/print.

Who can submit:

With the Membership module installed: active members who have accepted the current waiver and are checked in at the space.
Without it: anyone signed in with an active account.

The print form asks for:

Field	Notes
Title and project brief	What they want made
Model, CAD or toolpath files	STL, 3MF, STEP, OBJ, AMF, PLY or G-code
Estimated print-time screenshots	A screenshot of the slicer’s time and material estimate (the form mentions Bambu Lab)
Slicer settings / personal preferences	Free text: layer height, infill, supports and so on
Filament / material and colour	From the visible pools, or no preference
Source link	Optional

After submitting, the requester gets a private status tracker showing Requested, Accepted, Printing, Ready to collect and Collected. The link is kept in their browser and should not be shared.

Under Settings → Public print status recovery you choose whether a lost status link can be recovered from an email address (Email lookup) or only with the original link (Token only).

Run the print queue

Open the printer type’s page under Machines to reach the printer service console. Its job is summed up on screen: accept jobs, reserve filament, start work, reconcile actual grams, then complete, fail, collect or reprint.

A job moves through these states:

State	What happens
Pending	Newly submitted. Accept or Reject (with a reason)
Accepted	Assign the printer and filament pool, and record the planned grams and estimated minutes
In progress	Started on a printer. You can record percent complete
Completed	Record the actual grams and minutes. The filament is deducted from the pool
Failed	Record a failure reason. Reprint starts it again
Collected	Handed to the requester

Log usage records printer time that did not come through the queue, such as a staff test print, so usage reports stay accurate. Printer reports shows completed hours and failures per printer (the Reports module adds the full printer-service report).

Pricing and charges

Prices are set per machine type, per makerspace, under Machine types and pricing:

Rate per unit: the price per metering unit. For printers that is per gram of filament actually used; for minute-metered machines it is per minute.
Flat fee: added to every job.
Enable payment: off by default. Nothing is charged until you tick it.

When a priced job is completed, Space Works records a charge against the requester for rate × actual quantity + flat fee, in the makerspace’s default currency. This needs the Track machine job charges feature, which is on by default. A failed job creates no charge.

The charge is money owed, not an online payment. Staff with record_payment settle it in person (cash, bank transfer, card machine and so on) and the receipt is kept on the ledger. If the payments module and the Machine payments feature are on, the member can pay online instead. See Payments.

Hand prints over

Finished prints wait in Operate → Job handover, which lists everything awaiting collection with a Unpaid or Waived badge where a charge applies.

To hand over a print:

Find the job in Job handover.
Settle any charge first if your space requires payment at collection (staff with record_payment can record it from the Payments tab).
Mark it collected.

A front-desk role with only collect_service_request can do this without any other machine access.

Connected printers

With the devices module, printers on your network can be enrolled with their own signing key, so staff can send a scoped job command to a bound printer and receive its status. This is an advanced, opt-in feature; see Devices.