Earlier this year Valarm got a MakerGear M2 3D Printer. We’ve been pretty happy with it and were able to print with it almost immediately after receiving it!
Lorenzo started by printing accessory parts for the printer itself and some nice designs from Thingiverse like a batman buddha and a Yoda buddha. Have a look at our Thingiverse page for designs and other 3D printing resources for your organization’s Industrial IoT and remote monitoring needs.
But why’d Valarm really want a 3D printer? First off, they’re really cool! Also, we wanted to print custom sensor enclosures / pagodas / housings! We’ve now got a variety of weather sensor housings, Stevenson screens, pagodas, and snap-together enclosures available at shop.valarm.net that we’ve sold and shipped all over the world.
Printing the first couple layers of an outdoor sensor ‘pagoda’ or Stevenson Screen.
Some review notes on our experiences with the MakerGear M2 3D printer so far: Lorenzo found online that spraying hairspray on the 3d printer’s glass bed helps your prints stick to the glasses and not smear, we can confirm and recommend this! We also found that printing objects that come close to the edge of the glass surface can have warped corners where the plastic peels back a little bit. Not sure if this is because the glass bed is too hot or cold at the corners, but it’s something we’ve learned to watch out for. Our overall review of the 3d printer is positive and we’re happy to be using it for Valarm’s Industrial IoT (IIoT) sensor and monitoring solutions!
Next we’re designing a sensor enclosure to put on the roofs of vehicles to collect air quality and other environmental data in real-time and share it with the public through Valarm Tools Cloud – Tools.Valarm.net. The sensor enclosures are printed with PLA and are available in multiple colors. Below are some examples of things we’ve printed with our 3D printer for remote environmental monitoring solutions.
White sensor pagoda with sensor inside for field deployments
White sensor pagoda attached to OtterBox, ready for field deployment
Medium-sized sensor pagoda / stevenson shield attached to dry box for remote environmental monitoring deployment
How do Industrial IoT / IIoT customers use this stuff? With Valarm software your organization can see all of your remote sensor telemetry information in real-time on 2D maps and 3D earth globe maps, with alerts via SMS text message and email alerting. All this IIoT info on webpage dashboards that you can view on any web browser like the 1 on your phone or tablet!
Also have a look at the Valarm Customer Stories page for details on how our customers around the world in various industries use Valarm Tools Cloud for remotely monitoring their valuable assets. Industries and customers include:
- Government organizations
- Oil & gas & mining
- Agriculture & viticulture
- Water resources management
- Environmental consultancies
- Air quality like PM1, PM2.5, PM10, and specific gases like NO2 and Ozone
- Fluid and water usage
- Tank levels and volumes
- High tech transportation with vehicles, trucks, and trailers that have industrial equipment like pumps and vacuums
