Ability to change printer name on Form2

Feature Requests & Ideas
41

Being forced to use a network name set by the vendor is a BIG mistake.
Formlabs can do whatever they want with the serial number, but this should not
dictate the network node name. I have spent many hours getting exceptions from the
corporate IT department.

I have developed many network attached products. This BUG would not be accepted.

42

Its Not a bug- its a strategy.
Its how your printer can be networked with support services online directly thru formlabs dashboard website.
having the serial number be the name is actually a direct benefit to running multiple machines.
It saves having to separately keep track of obscure and easily mistyped serial numbers and associating them with specific machines.
And if they tries to offer web services based on user defined names- literally half of all machines would have the same name ā€œForm 2 Printerā€

The problem seems to be with your own IT bureaucracy.

Its JUST a dang name.

2 Likes
43

I just got my Form2 today and was not happy to see I canā€™t change the name on the network. I read the posts here and it doesnā€™t seem Formlabs will be changing this, but it really is sort of dumb that I own this printer and I have no control over what itā€™s called on my network. I really donā€™t need any reason beyond that, itā€™s my printer and I want to call it what I want to call it.

44

I got my Form 3 and have it set up and running. It makes the funnest sounds ever. Much much more vocal than the Form2. But he sounds are low pitch and melodic even. Keep in mind that unlike the form2, the new printer has two axises moving all the time. The y-axis is constantly speeding up and slowing down.

If I could rename it, it would be MoaningMyrtle.

4 Likes
45

Its extremely short sighted to not be able to rename your printer. There is not great mystery or complex algorithm that is needed to rename the printer. just seems lazy from the manufacturers.

46

Ever send one of those emails or make one of the posts that looking back on it, you wished you hadnā€™t??

Well starting this post is that for me. My original complaint is now long lost in other debates and I apologize for leading us down this path. I will, however, add some more context since this post is still lingering after a few years.

  • I have a great relationship with Formlabs and think they are an excellent company in every way. No complaints there at all.
  • As has been stated their printer names and serial numbers are intentionally matched and they will refer to them for servicing or just about anything. This convention continues for the Form3 and likely beyond. They are not going to change that (I have asked repeatedly).
  • As most have figured out the naming convention is an adjective followed by an animal (to the best of knowledge and having now seen 7 total). Yes, sometimes the names are wacky.

But there is some goodness and this really gets to my original point. In multiple printer and especially multi-vendor printer environments, unique, logical, easily identifiable, and yes even customizable names are pretty useful. Seems hard to argue with that logic to me. Whether it is naming printers by capability (which is what I do), location, or just because, there are plenty of good reasons to want to name a printer. The story is more complex though:

  • Unlike other vendors that I have seen (at least 4 major ones in my lab) including ones that do allow customization of printer names, Formlabs is the only vendor where the name is attached to the DHCP lease should you use DHCP.
  • Again many may not care about this but if you have 30 printers on your network, being able to see them correctly and easily on your network has very distinct advantages. Same applies if you want to remotely access them. For what it is worth Formlabsā€™ unusual naming convention does allow this. Other vendors that I have seen return either no name for the DHCP lease (leaving you only with the MAC which while usable is challenging) or return a variant of the the serial number of the printer. I have not seen a single network printer that will return the user changed name and I am sure someone IT smarter than me could explain how this would be challenging to do.
  • I know their are workarounds to this as well. You can create aliases or handle MACs in your DNS to assign names however you want.

So while I still am not super excited that I have ā€œAmazingWrasseā€ and ā€œJustTarsierā€ (look them up, those are both animals) on my DHCP list at least it is handled correctly.

Maybe someone should close this thread and save me from myself :slight_smile:

2 Likes
47

Being able to change the name would be so nice in our office.
Everyone has a great time trying to remember ā€œFurtiveGundiā€ and ā€œElementalCavyā€. So dumb.

48

Our machine is named Viciousbeast! our IT guys thought we had a cyber attack on the network! such a stupid naming convention.

49

Time to change the IT guys?

50

Maybe it started for fun when formlabs was a small company and they now stick to it.
I havenā€™t seen it in any other company and itā€™s totally useless.

When two forms meet:
-Hi MightyBeast
-Hey SmallPeanut
-Letā€™s go to TreeSquirel for a drink

51

Do those ā€˜otherā€™ companies run the equivalent of Formlabs Dashboards?

If so how do they deal with 10,000 people not bothering to rename their printer from ā€œForm3ā€?

52

This thread is hilarious. For many reasons. I wonā€™t bore anyone with the reasons.
Butā€¦
I also hate this serial number scheme.
I think it would be super easy for them to simply add a nickname option for the user interface.
I canā€™t imagine any practical reason not to do that. Itā€™s a bizarre choice given how helpful it would be.
Being able to give it a short name and or a number would reduce possible confusion and aid in organization.
This is not vanity or quibble.
An easy fix for a useful feature.
These people engineered this amazing tech but canā€™t add a text field?
Itā€™s very strange.

1 Like