Setting up your PolyJet printers for GrabCAD Print

This article explains the extra steps required to connect GrabCAD Print with your Stratasys J7-Series (J750, J735, J700, J720), J8-Series (J826, J835, J850), J5-Series (J55, J35, J5 Dental), Connex3, Objet30, or Objet1000 Plus. If you don't have one of those, skip ahead to  Connecting your FDM printers. 

1

Choose your setup

First, let's define the elements: 

• GrabCAD Print — The software you will use to prepare print jobs for your PolyJet printer. This replaces PolyJet Studio and Objet Studio, which were sometimes referred to as the "client." 
• Printer PC — The computer inside of the printer which runs the Embedded Software. Sometimes this is referred to as the "Embedded PC."
• Embedded Software — The software which displays the current state of the printer and runs on the Printer PC. 
• GrabCAD PolyJet Job Manager — This handles the connection between GrabCAD Print and the Embedded Software. It receives the job from GrabCAD Print, slices it, and sends a few slices at a time to the Embedded Software. There is no user interface for this program. This replaces the Job Manager from the legacy software. (For PolyJet Studio this was called "PolyJet Studio Server" and for Objet Studio it ran as a background process.) 
• Host PC — A separate PC is often included on printer installation dedicated to running some software. For Connex and Objet machines, it's needed for the Job Manager, while for J-series machines without network connection, it's needed to run GrabCAD Print. Usually this is a separate laptop or desktop placed near the printer, while for the Objet1000 Plus it is inclosed within the printer. This was sometimes referred to as the "Server PC." 

Please refer to the table below. For the J5-Series, Scenario 1 is used because the Job Manager and the Embedded Software are updated in tandem. For J7-Series and J8-Series setup, it is recommended to use Scenario 1. Having the GrabCAD PolyJet Job Manager installed on the Printer PC increases speed and reliability of the connection. However, if your IT department restricts which computers are allowed to be connected to the LAN, you can use Scenarios 2 or 4. For Connex3, Objet30, and Objet1000 Plus Setup, Scenarios 2 and 3 are recommended, because the Host PC is more powerful and can handle large jobs. GrabCAD Print should never be installed on the Printer PC.

	GrabCAD Print	GrabCAD PolyJet Job Manager	Embedded Software
Scenario 1 For J-Series	Any network computer, not Printer PC —Connected to LAN	Printer PC —Connected to LAN	Printer PC —Connected to LAN
Scenario 2 For Objet1000, Objet30, and Connex3	Any network computer, not Printer PC —Connected to LAN	Host PC (2 network cards) —Connected to LAN —Connected to Printer (not over wifi)	Printer PC —Connected to Host
Scenario 3 For Objet1000, Objet30 and Connex3 without network	Host PC —Connected to Printer	Host PC —Connected to Printer	Printer PC —Connected to Host
Scenario 4 For J-Series without network	Host PC —Connected to Printer	Printer PC —Connected to Host	Printer PC —Connected to Host

2

Stop the old Job Manager

If you are setting up a new printer, you can skip this step. If you are currently using the legacy PolyJet software, called Objet Studio or PolyJet Studio, you do not need to uninstall it in order to use GrabCAD Print, but you do need to manually stop the Job Manager associated with it.

For Connex3, Objet30, and Objet1000 printers, there should be a shortcut on the desktop of the Host PC called "Stop Job Manager." Double click on this shortcut to stop the Job Manager associated with Objet Studio. 

For J7-Series and J8-Series printers, the process is a bit different. The GrabCAD PolyJet Job Manager automatically closes the old job manager associated with PolyJet Studio, but a service called the Watch Dog will attempt to restart it. Therefore, you need to manually stop the Watch Dog process before installing the GrabCAD PolyJet Job Manager. On the Host PC, open the Task Manager and stop the service called JobManager.WatchDog. This may be running on the Printer PC, if your J7-Series or J8-Series was installed without a Host PC. 

3

Get the IP addresses of the computers in the setup

Scenario 1: If you are connecting the Printer PC to the LAN for the first time, the image below describes how to give it a new IP address. Go to the Printer PC and follow these steps to give it a network IP address.

Now you need to find out the IP address you just made. To do that, hit the Start button, type cmd to find the Command Prompt program and run it, then type ipconfig /all and hit enter. The IP address will be labelled "IPv4 address..." 

Scenario 2: On both the Host and the Printer PCs, hit the Start button, type cmd to find the Command Prompt program and run it, then type ipconfig /all and hit enter. It's most likely that the Host PC has two network cards, so it should have two IP addresses listed. One is 10.0.0.2,  and the other is what you will use for Step 5. 

Scenarios 3 and 4: Most likely the IP address of the Printer PC is 10.0.0.1 and the Host PC is 10.0.0.2. To double check this on each PC, hit the Start button, type cmd to find the Command Prompt program and run it, then type ipconfig /all and hit enter.

4

Install GrabCAD PolyJet Job Manager

Now you're ready to install GrabCAD PolyJet Job Manager. Click here to download the installer. 

Scenarios 1 and 4: Run the installer on the Printer PC and enter 127.0.0.1 for the Printer IP.

Scenarios 2 and 3: Run the installer on the Host PC and enter the Printer PC's IP address that you got in Step 3, which is most likely 10.0.0.1. If this computer does not have internet access, you will need to download the installer elsewhere and transfer to the Host PC via the network or a USB drive. 

5

Add the printer in GrabCAD Print and start printing!

In GrabCAD Print, open the printer panel and click "Add."

All Scenarios: Click "Add a network printer" and select the printer. If you do not see the printer listed, use the IP addresses as follows:

Scenarios 1 and 4: Enter the IP address of the Printer PC you got in step 3.

Scenario 2: Enter the IP address of the Host PC you got in step 3. 

Scenario 3: Enter 127.0.0.1 for the IP address. 

Updating the Job Manager

When GrabCAD Print updates, GrabCAD PolyJet Job Manager must also be updated. See also:  GrabCAD Print Release Notes.

When the Job Manager is out of date you will not be able to connect to the printer, and GrabCAD Print will automatically switch to the template instead. 

When you go to the printer panel, you will see this message: 

To update the Job Manager open the Printer Panel and click on the printer, then click the Settings button. 

You may need to restart GrabCAD Print at the end of the update.

Limitations and known issues

• The Printer PC must have the latest graphics card drivers. You may see an error message if the drivers are out of date. 
  • Graphics driver for J7-Series Printer PCs

  • Graphics driver for J8-Series Printer PC

    If you see this message for a Connex3 printer, it's important to note that it refers to the graphics driver of the computer which runs the Job Manager (see table above). In most cases this refers to the Host PC. Since the Host PC is not supplied by Stratasys, you will need to consult the Windows device manager to update the graphics drivers. 

• If your print job stopped without an error message and you cannot resume, it is likely that the Job Manager has encountered a problem. Uninstalling and reinstalling the Job Manager should resolve this issue. Please send your .PRINT file to print@grabcad.com so that we can investigate the crash. 
• In some cases, the time and material estimations can be quite different from the actual print time. This is currently under investigation, so if you hit this issue, please go to Help > Give Feedback and attach the project file to your message, along with proof of the actual elapsed print time.

Software details

These are the programs that run in addition to those related to GrabCAD Print:

• GCP.JobManager.MainService.exe - This is the Job Manager installed in Step 4. It manages jobs, slices the model and sends this to the Printer PC. It has no user interface.
• GCP.JobManager.Service.WatchDog.exe - This monitors the above service, and restarts it in case of a crash. There is no user interface.
• STRATASYS_J750.exe - This is the printer control application on the J750 that takes the slices, moves the motors, controls the heads, etc. This program is the user interface for controlling the J750. Similarly named programs run on the other printers, such as Stratasys_J700.exe or Objet1000.exe.

Switching back to PolyJet Studio or Objet Studio

You do not need to uninstall anything to start using PolyJet Studio or Objet Studio again, you just need to switch Job Manager watch dog processes mentioned in Step 2. 

In Task Manager, end the process called GCP.JobManager.Service.WatchDog and resume the process called JobManager.WatchDog. Note that these processes might be running on different computers, depending on your scenario.

For the Connex3, Objet30, and Objet1000 Plus, you also need to undo Step 3 and restore the IP addresses to their previous values. 

Next step: Connect your printers or Take a quick tour