Nothing starts on a plate nobody has cleared.
When a run ends, SpoolSwift asks your crew whether the plate is cleared. The answer decides what counts as done and what prints again on another printer. It is answered on a phone at the printer, with no extra hardware.
Three moments on every run.
The run ends
Finished, failed or stopped, the printer is marked Needs clearing. Nothing else can start on it until someone answers.
Someone answers
From the website or a phone at the printer, Collected or Not collected. SpoolSwift records who answered and when.
The queue reacts
Collected counts the plate. Not collected adds one plate back to the job, ahead of other jobs of the same priority.
Both answers mean the plate is clear now.
If the plate is not clear yet, leave the question open. The printer waits, and so does the queue.
Collected
- The parts are good and off the plate.
- The run counts as a success.
- For product jobs, the parts go into stock.
- The printer is clear for its next job.
Not collected
- The parts failed or were rejected, and the plate has been cleared.
- The run counts as a failure, with an optional reason.
- The job gets one more plate, back in the queue.
- The printer is clear for other work.
A failed plate runs on a different printer.
The requeued plate goes to the next eligible printer and avoids the one that just failed it. That printer keeps running other work.
If a second printer fails the same plate, the problem is more likely the file than the printer, so SpoolSwift lifts the avoidance.
The rules the loop follows.
No timeout
A finished print never assumes an answer. The question stays open until a person answers it, however long that takes.
The answer decides, not the printer
A run the printer calls failed, such as one cancelled from its screen, still asks the question. Your crew knows what is on the plate.
Print again from the printer
Reprint from the printer's own screen and SpoolSwift links the run to the same job. If the plate was already requeued, the reprint takes its place.
Never stops a print by itself
If a job ends up running on two printers, SpoolSwift tells you and offers to stop one. It never decides for you.
The guard lives on the bridge
Your bridge refuses to start a printer whose plate has not been answered, whatever the cloud asks. Security
Reasons you can use
Spaghetti, adhesion, layer shift, AMS jam or wrong colour, with a note if you want, so a bad file or a tired printer stands out.
About the plate loop.
Do I need ejection hardware or a camera?
No. The plate loop is a question your crew answers by hand, on a phone or the website. Nothing extra is fitted to the printer.
What if nobody answers?
The printer stays Needs clearing and nothing starts on it. The floor and your notifications show which printers are waiting for an answer.
Can I undo an answer?
Yes, straight after you give it. Undo puts the question back the way it was.