Students submit files online. Teachers approve by email. Everyone tracks print progress in real time. No more lost requests or inbox chaos.
Email threads, spreadsheets, sticky notes. It works until it doesn't - and students are always left wondering what happened to their print.
Students email STL files with varying filenames and no context. Requests get buried in a busy inbox or simply disappear.
Students have no idea if their file was received, whether it's approved, or when it will be printed. They ask the same questions over and over.
Without a proper system there's no log of what was printed, when, or by whom. Reporting on usage or output becomes guesswork.
A structured, transparent workflow for students and teachers - with no app installs and no student accounts.
Students upload their STL file and email address through your school's unique submission page. No account needed - it just works.
You receive an email with the file attached. Approve or reject with a single click - no dashboard login required to take action.
Download the file, send it to your printer, and mark it as printing. The student is notified automatically that their print has started.
Students follow their print via a personal tracking link sent by email. They get notified the moment it's ready to collect.
When you mark the print as complete, the student gets an automatic email letting them know it's ready to collect. No chasing, no guessing.
Designed to be simple enough for non-technical staff to use from day one. No training required.
Your school gets a single URL - put it on your VLE, display it on a classroom screen, or write it on the whiteboard. Students visit it, upload their STL file, enter their name and email address, and submit. Nothing else required from them.
Every new request arrives in your inbox with the STL file attached and the student's details. Two links in the email: Approve and Reject. One click and the student hears back immediately - no dashboard login required.
The moment a request is approved, the student gets a personal tracking link by email. That page shows their print's status in real time - Queued, Printing, or Ready to collect. When a Bambu printer is connected, they see live percentage and time remaining automatically.
Include the request ID in the Bambu job name - for example PR-42_phone_stand. MakerCommand recognises the ID, links the job, and the student's tracking page starts showing live progress from Bambu Cloud.
When you want more than inbox management, the dashboard shows every pending, printing, and completed request in one list. Assign jobs to specific printers, see what's running on each machine, and co-manage with other teachers from one account.
Every submission, approval decision, and completed print is logged with timestamps and student details. At the end of each term you have a complete record - useful for material usage reporting, budget justification, or safeguarding queries.
When you send a job to your Bambu printer, include the request ID in the job name - for example PR-42_phone_stand. MakerCommand spots the ID automatically, links the job, and the student's tracking page starts showing live progress from Bambu Cloud.
Most teachers use one or the other. Many use both depending on the day. Either way, students experience exactly the same workflow.
If you'd rather not open a separate app, you don't have to. The entire teacher workflow - from new request to completion - happens through emails with single-click action links.
When you have multiple printers running or several teachers sharing the queue, the dashboard gives you a full picture of what's happening across the room.
What teachers and technicians say after switching to MakerCommand EDU.
"We run a 3D printing programme in a secondary school. The EDU mode is exactly what we needed - students submit via a shared link, I approve by email without needing to log in anywhere. No new software for teachers to learn. Really well thought through."
"Our technician used to spend the first 20 minutes of every morning sorting out the print queue. Now students self-serve through the form and we just work through the approvals. Bambu integration means the status updates without any manual effort at all."
"We run an open makerspace at a sixth-form college. Students come in, submit a file, and can track it from their phone. The live progress bar during printing is a surprisingly big deal - it stops them coming up every five minutes to ask."
"I set it up in an afternoon. The trial is genuinely free with no card required. By the next morning I already had the first student requests coming in. It's just a clean, sensible system that does what it says."
Start free with no credit card. Upgrade when you need more.
Purchase orders accepted. Contact us to discuss invoicing for schools.
Takes under 15 minutes to go live. Students can start submitting print requests before the end of the day.
No credit card required - Starter plan free forever - School plan 14-day trial