Planning timetable for the printer queue#124

Showing a timetable based on print time of current print + estimated print time per scheduled gcode + a bed cleaning time thats a variable of for example 1 hour (only within a certain timeframe for example office hours).

So a table would show per printer, what prints are ahead in time for example

|————-| 09:00………. | 10:00………. | 11:00………. | 12:00………. |
| Printer A | box.gcode ….| change | lid.gcode…………………….. |
| Printer B | maskgcode …………………………………………. | change | next.gcode |

Also the bed cleaning time can be a ‘smart’ or ‘recommended’ cleaning time, based on ‘learned from history’, printer X took usually X min or hours between X and X to change the bed.

This is a feature we have thought a lot about, trying to figure out how we could implement it.

In theory, it’s quite easy with all the data we have, to be able to display an “itinerary” for a printer, until the last queue item is done. Even with variables such as working hours and “time to clear” taken into consideration.

The issue, though, comes with more printers.

The SimplyPrint print queue is a centralized print queue, so your whole account has 1 queue - each printer does not have their own.

If each printer had their own queue (or if you only had 1 printer), it’s be easier, but with FDM being a technology where time estimation can be difficult, and a record number of issues that make the next print unable to start, can happen (previous print failed, lost internet connection, lost Pi->printer connection, spaghetti, heating up taking longer or being faster than imagined, and much more), without the ability to be more precise, we’d at best - as it is right now - end up with a rather inaccurate and very-often-updated timetable.

Imagine you have 2 (or more) printers where you start them at the exact same time; they’re both set to finish at the same time; which one gets the next print in the queue? Answer: the one that downloads the file the fastest.
Now complicate it further by saying one of them loses internet connection for a couple of seconds.

Suddenly the entire queue timetable moves for all printers, because we move one “brick” from the puzzle.

What we could do more easily, would be to provide more tools for general estimation per printer, but for the entire queue; saying “We estimate that this print job will be finished at [xx:xx] time”, but unless there’s only 1 printer assigned for this job, we wouldn’t show which printer would print it, due to the issue described above ^.

We believe the strength of our queue comes from it being central; queue first, printer second; as long as you apply the right tags, you shouldn’t have to care about which printer prints it; as long as the file is printed.

The “provide general queue-file-focused timeline” feature would be great, it’s moreso within reach than a printer-specific timeline at the moment.

Live in the print queue now.