3D Print Volume Maximizer

3D printing has been taking the world by storm for a couple of decades because of the benefits to increase efficiency in testing and part manufacturing. For a large university, serving a large population and promoting projects related to maker spaces, it is necessary to have a 3D printing lab which can effectively manage student and faculty 3D print requests. At the Arizona State University (ASU) print lab there is an efficiency issue which forces all employees of the lab to manage the printing process basically manually. Employees review the list of requests, download individual print files, and then try to fit them onto a print bed of a 3D printer. Downloading individual files causes the employees' computers to become burdened with several files that they do not need and slows down the 3D print job processing pipeline. Downloading and sorting through files is time consuming and employees spend most of their time in the lab trying to figure out what can fit on a print bed instead of fixing printing issues. If the employees had a way to automate some of this process it would allow for employees to handle more difficult work in the lab in a timely manner. This thesis creates a way for employees at the ASU 3D print lab to easily fill a print bed of a 3D printer without looking at each print part file individually improving the efficiency issue in the lab. This thesis uses a greedy algorithm by the press of a button to sort through the submitted print jobs to fill the print bed of each printer effectively and efficiently. The use of an algorithm reduces the time for employees to process print jobs which allows for employees to tackle harder problems.