Maintenance

The Maintenance page has two lists. A schedule is recurring upkeep for one printer, such as lubricating the Z rods every 200 print hours or replacing the nozzle every 30 days. A log entry is one completed service, with the date, downtime and what was done. Add schedules first, then log each service against them so the page can tell you what is due. Three figures sit at the top: Downtime this month, Downtime this year and Schedules due.

New schedule asks for the printer, a task name (for example Lubricate Z rods or Replace nozzle), an interval type (Every N print hours, or Every N days) and a description of what the service involves. A print-hours schedule compares the printer's cumulative print hours against the hours at its last service; a days schedule counts calendar days. A schedule can be set inactive, and an inactive schedule never falls due. Delete removes it; its past log entries stay in the log.

A schedule is due once the interval has elapsed since the last service logged against it (or since it was created, for a new schedule). Due schedules are flagged on the page, counted in Schedules due, and raise a Maintenance due notification on the bell. Logging a service against the schedule clears the flag and starts the interval again. Until a service is logged against it, a schedule shows Never serviced and No service logged yet rather than Up to date. To start the count from the last time you did the job, log it with that date. For a print-hours schedule, also type the printer's hours at that service in Printer hours at service (it starts at today's hours). Otherwise the next service comes due late.

Log service asks for the printer, an optional schedule the service was against, the date, downtime in hours, the printer's hours at the service (filled in with its hours now), a task description (Replaced nozzle, cleaned bed), notes, and what the service cost. With a cost filled in, tick Also add as an expense (Maintenance) to put that cost on the Expenses page as well, dated the day of the service; it is added once, and the entry then says the cost is already on the Expenses page. Linking the entry to a schedule is what resets that schedule's due clock, so pick it when the work matches: a days schedule counts from the entry's date, a print-hours schedule from its hours. The newest entry against a schedule always decides, so an older entry logged later does not move the clock back.

Entries can be deleted after a confirmation. Deleting an entry, or changing Against schedule to None, puts the schedule back to the service logged before it (or to when the schedule was made), so undoing a mistaken Mark done makes the schedule due again if it was.

Downtime hours on log entries add up into Downtime this month and this year on the Maintenance page, and into the Downtime by printer and Downtime by month reports. Log the hours a machine was out of action, not the minutes spent on the task, if what you want to see is lost capacity.

Search on the Maintenance page matches printer names and task descriptions in both lists. The printer detail view on the Printers page does not repeat the log; open Maintenance and search for the printer's name to see its history.