How to 3D print from a Chromebook

Why a Chromebook needs a different route

Printing a file you downloaded takes a slicer, and slicers are desktop programs for Windows, macOS and Linux. ChromeOS is none of those. There are three ways around it, and one of them works on every Chromebook:

1. Install a slicer under Linux. Many Chromebooks can run Linux programs through the Linux development environment, and OrcaSlicer, PrusaSlicer and Cura all have Linux builds. It works when three things line up: the device lets you turn Linux on (school and work Chromebooks often have it switched off by the administrator), the slicer has a build for its processor (most Linux builds are for Intel and AMD chips, which narrows the choice on ARM Chromebooks), and there is enough memory for a 3D program running in a container.
2. Use the printer maker's cloud. Some printer makers offer a web dashboard for their own printers. It covers that brand only, and what it can do, slicing included, varies.
3. Slice in the browser. An online slicer is a web page, so it runs on any Chromebook, managed or not. Slicer for Chromebook sums up this route on one page.

This article takes the third route, then covers the step people get stuck on: getting the G-code from the Chromebook to the printer.

Step 1: slice the file in Chrome

1. Open the online slicer in Chrome and sign in, or create an account (free sign-up, no card).
2. Drop the STL or 3MF onto the page, or click Choose a file. The picker is the Files app, so a model in Downloads or in Google Drive is one click away. Files up to 50 MB open in 3D before anything is sliced.
3. Pick your printer's Brand, Model and Nozzle. The printer is saved on your account, so on a shared Chromebook you sign in and it is already there.
4. Choose the Print profile (the layer height) and the Material that is loaded. In most classrooms that is PLA.
5. For a first print, leave Supports and Adhesion on Auto and Optimise the orientation on.
6. Click Slice and download.

The slicing runs on the server; the Chromebook only draws the 3D preview and the settings. That is why an entry-level Chromebook handles a model that would be heavy work for it in a desktop slicer.

With the file you get the print time, the filament in grams and meters, the number of layers and whether supports were added. On a printer a whole class shares, the print time is the number to check before you queue. If it is too long for the lesson, pick a coarser print profile (0.28 mm instead of 0.20 mm) or lower the infill and click Slice again: re-slicing the same file with other settings within 10 minutes spends nothing.

Step 2: get the file to the printer

The G-code is now in Downloads, in the Files app. The route to the printer depends on the printer.

SD card or USB stick

Almost every printer reads an SD card, a microSD card or a USB stick, and for printers with no network connection of their own, such as the original Creality Ender 3, it is the usual way in.

• Put the card in the Chromebook's slot, or in a USB-C card reader if there is no slot.
• In the Files app, drag the file from Downloads onto the card.
• Click the eject icon next to the card before you pull it out.
• In the printer, choose the file on the screen and start the print.

Keep the file name short and plain: some printer screens cut long names, and bracket-v2-pla.gcode is easier to find than a string of numbers. The same routine works for the Ender 3 V3 SE, the Sovol SV06 and most bed slingers.

A web interface on your network

Many printers have a page on the local network where you upload a file and start the print. Because it is a web page, it works from a Chromebook exactly as from any other computer.

• Klipper printers, including most Voron builds and several stock machines such as the Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro, usually come with Mainsail or Fluidd.
• Marlin printers with OctoPrint: OctoPrint runs on a small computer, often a Raspberry Pi, connected to the printer by USB, and gives it the same kind of upload page.
• Prusa printers with a network connection have PrusaLink on the local network and Prusa Connect in the browser.

Find the printer's IP address on its screen (usually under network settings) or in your router, type it into Chrome's address bar, upload the G-code and start it. On a school network the printers may sit on a network the Chromebooks cannot reach; ask whoever looks after them.

Bambu Lab printers

Bambu Lab printers take a sliced .gcode.3mf, which the online slicer produces for them automatically. From a Chromebook the direct route is the microSD card: copy the file to it, put it in the printer and choose it on the printer's screen. The .gcode.3mf explained covers the file and the other routes.

School and shared Chromebooks

A few things make the browser route fit a classroom:

• Nothing to install or approve. It is a website, so it works on managed Chromebooks that block Linux and extensions, as long as the site itself is not blocked.
• The printer follows the student, not the device. Printers and settings are saved on the account, so any Chromebook from the cart slices with the same profile.
• Nothing is kept. The file goes from the browser straight to the slicing service, is sliced in a temporary folder that is deleted when the job ends, and is not kept.
• Numbers before printing. Print time and grams come with every slice, which helps when the printer is booked in lesson-sized slots and filament is counted.

Every student needs an account (free sign-up, no card). The online slicer gives every account 1 free slice, its first (a free account, no card). After that, a slice uses one slice from a Slicer pack (20 slices for $3, once, never expire) or 5 credits, and slicing is included in Pro and Unlimited. Re-slicing the same file with other settings within 10 minutes is free.

What the browser route will not do

The online slicer covers single-material prints with the settings that shape a part. It does not do multi-color painting, modifiers, custom start G-code, variable layer height or a layer-by-layer G-code preview. A project that needs those needs a desktop slicer on a Windows, macOS or Linux machine. Online slicer vs desktop slicer sets out the trade-offs, and the step-by-step guide covers every setting.

If the model itself needs changing, the same Chromebook can do that too: SpeakCAD's AI editor runs in Chrome, rebuilds an STL as an editable model and changes it from a description.

The short version

Slice in the browser, download, copy the file to the card or upload it to the printer's web page, print. Open the online slicer and try it with the file you have; slicer for Chromebook keeps the steps and the answers to the usual questions on one page.