Hi guys…
Thinks are not looking good at all…Today i tried to use my printer and the cloud splicer is not working…AND worst of all is not changing to the internal slicer…Meaning…The printer is useless… And we definetly need help from users like KingMartin to connect them via USB and using other methods of uploading G-CODE.
I´ve sent and email to Emily Hodges a couple os days ago and no response whatsoever…
Great!
Well that’s not a very cordial way to treat those of us that gave them money 
I’d hope they would at least give one of us the option to host the server.
Pedro, did you try waiting a couple of minutes for the cloud slicer connection to complete? I just tried my printer, and it is working as well as it has for the last several weeks. About 3 weeks ago they made a switch to a different server or something. It started taking about 50 seconds to connect and upload, and then another 50 seconds more to finish the slicing. During this time the printer no longer prints the status of the slicing, it simply shows a “cancel” button. It is still working, it just takes a long time. This can be confirmed by blocking ports 443 and 4443 on your firewall, and the printer will revert to “internal slicing” after the 50 seconds or so. I performed a trace route on the server at one point, and found it was connecting to a server in France on one port and in Germany on the other. Also a lot of failures along the way, so I presume they switched off the Microsoft server they appeared to be using before and lost some performance in the process.
I can confirm the cloud slicer is dead.
After some waiting time it switches to internal slicer.
Its understandable that companys go out of business. But no message at all?
Shame on you Zeepro for not even one message about this and this silent decline in services.
So lets count the hours until this forum is dead as well.
Those are bad news. And my usb port is nor working or i cannot get it right. Removing the USB plug is REALLY dificult. I might have screw it in the process. Im guetting error 43. Device unrecognized or malfunctioning. Did anyone tried uploading the Gcode on pronterface? We need to figure out how to do it…voiding warranty dont seem to be an issue now…
Anyone?
I’m sure Zeepro is dead - but if anybody is willing to ask the guys directly:
Webarchive:
http://web.archive.org/web/20130914145933/http://www.zeepro.com/t/team
Some link to (also former) ZIM staff I found:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/guglielmetti
https://www.linkedin.com/in/draregerreip
https://be.linkedin.com/in/fcogneaux
https://uk.linkedin.com/pub/cyril-orgelot/2/2b4/797
https://www.linkedin.com/in/draregerreip
for those concerned about trying to get past the dead cloud slicer you do have the upload your g-code route.
127.0.#.###/advanceduser
Thanks so much for that. But too late. It cannot be activated anymore. At least I cannot. Nothing happens after entering the serial number.
Any other tips for own G-Code?
This is interesting. Cloud slicing is clearly still working for me, just very slow.
Today I performed an experiment and timed slicing with a relatively simple model. It took 60 seconds to upload, and 2:04 to slice. No status showed while slicing except the cancel button.
I then blocked ports 443 and 4443 from the printer and performed the same test with the same model. It took 60 seconds to upload and 5:10 to slice. This time it printed “Starting local slicing. Please wait…” and the slicer percent status showed up while slicing.
The 60 second periods seem to be repeated each time the Zim performs a network function on ports 443 and 4443. I would guess this it the TCP timeout they have set on those sockets, and the printer then reverts to a backup connection. If I were to remove 60 seconds from each operation, I’d say my Zim is just as fast as it ever was at uploading, slicing, connecting afterward, etc.
Seems clear to me the cloud slicing, such that it is, will be going away soon. It also seems clear they switched out some infrastructure. It is curious why it would be working for some and not at all for others though.
Confirmed: Just tried it. Can’t enter gcode mode, unless someone can hack the driver.
The least they could do was to make avilable the cloud slicing to users. Im betting its really easy to set your own computer like the server where the slicing takes place…
I believe this page still works for gcode upload:
http://zim/zeepronterface
also,
zim/rest/gcodefile
Also, it looks like they didn’t intentionally remove the advanced user page - it just queries their server, and right now their server isn’t responding, it should be possible to bypass it because it has all the information and instructions in the javascript.
Theoretically you could create your own cloud slicer server. But why the effort?
Better skip that crap and user Zim via USB or use it with something like Octoprint. Better Slicer, more options, faster and probably better results.
If someone bypasses the not working G-Code Serial number activation prerequisite, that would be great.
The G-Code via zeepronterface did not really work with me. But maybe I did something wrong.
But the same G-Code via USB did work fine, althoug my initial print result was not so great. I have to tinker with the many settings of the slicer.
i have just contacted all of them i will let you know what happens
If you want to call them maybe try the CEO, Philippe M. Guglielmetti? His number as of March 23rd is 408-431-2462.
ok thanks i will call him today
so i called him today and he is no longer accepting calls so i sent him a text i will keep you updated
Oh no really? this is very disappointing. i guess we’re all learning a few lessons here. Although on some other kick-starter projects I’ve seen companies go through financial troubles and go dark as they get bought out by other companies. I suppose I’m just being optimistic.
I just did some slicing and it appears that the cloud slicer is working. For a while it seemed like there was a timeout and it would switch to local slicing, but today it was uploading slicing and downloading. Maybe there’s hope yet.
Edit: Or rather, maybe they’re not completely dead. Not sure there’s any room for hope here.
I talked to Jim a couple weeks ago. He says the cloud slicer will work for six more months.
Philippe was in a serious car accident in France and is pretty much out of the picture, which is essentially why the company suddenly ran out of steam.