My print quality is very decent atm. Really happy with the results I’m having now.
So therefor I’m actually tempted to try some larger projects which take quite some printing time, but I’m probably almost never able to be at home near the printer for more then 6 hours. I have been googling a bit and found some topics about it with almost no people who had any issues and of course a few who had their houses burned down.
What I’m planning to do is adding the feature to remote control it and with a cam included. But if 2 hours away from house, not much to do when having an issue except for calling the fire department.
I also read some stuff about the printer automatically shutting down when the nozzle is above a certain temperature, when the heat sensor is not detecting any heat at all, smoke detector, … Any of you guys that have experience with this? What does Velleman say? Is there already some predefined coding in the software that will automatically shuts down the printer when issues are detected?
Or does anybody build himself a fire proof casing where you can put the printer in it, however this looks quite pricy to me.
My print quality is very decent atm. Really happy with the results I’m having now.
So therefor I’m actually tempted to try some larger projects which take quite some printing time, but I’m probably almost never able to be at home near the printer for more then 6 hours. I have been googling a bit and found some topics about it with almost no people who had any issues and of course a few who had their houses burned down.
What I’m planning to do is adding the feature to remote control it and with a cam included. But if 2 hours away from house, not much to do when having an issue except for calling the fire department.
I also read some stuff about the printer automatically shutting down when the nozzle is above a certain temperature, when the heat sensor is not detecting any heat at all, smoke detector, … Any of you guys that have experience with this? What does Velleman say? Is there already some predefined coding in the software that will automatically shuts down the printer when issues are detected?
Or does anybody build himself a fire proof casing where you can put the printer in it, however this looks quite pricy to me.
Thanks a lot for your feedback![/quote]
I think that it comes to you, if you feel comfortable to leave your printer alone, then you probably can. I don’t think there are that many things that can go wrong. Of course, there are things, but the biggest risk is a failed print, and waste a lot of filament. The vertex machines are very strictly quality controlled as far as I know. This doesn’t happen with most Chinese printers. Those are the ones that have a (relatively) high risk level.
I would be comfortable leaving my vertex alone, but that is something you have to decide for yourself.
I have a Raspberry Pi with a webcam running OctoPrint.
I have not done any port forwarding but I can check my printer and control it with my phone tablet or a computer.
You can also configure Cura so you can upload an STL file and it will be sliced on the Pi.
Although I would not recommend leaving the printer alone.
I have also mounter a smoke alarm above the printer as well.
If you want to know more check this link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwsxO3ksxm4
I would NOT leave the printer alone printing as is. Whilst I do not believe there are any obvious reasons for it to catch fire and certainly Velleman has done all they can to minimise combustible parts near the hotspots, I would not bet my home on it - or the printer itself for that matter.
So my solution has been to construct a fume-hood encapsulating the printer entirely, ventilated with both inlet and outlet fans equipped with air-filters to get rid of the smell and not to let combustible dust inside. Noise from the printer goes down markedly as the base is covered with an absorbing material and there’s no uncomfort from working in the same room. The airflow keeps the printer at a perfect 33-34 degrees Celsius and an unused print-head keeps a reasonable 38 degrees. No need for a heated bed, the BuildTak almost never needs replacing. Inside the top of the hood, I’ve mounted a network-connected fire-alarm (heat/smoke), which, besides from sounding an alarm when detecting smoke or high temperatures (above 65 degrees) and alerting me wherever I am, also immediately shuts down all power to the printer including the ventilation. On top of this, a network-camera is mounted outside of the hood (with separate power) and a small electronics-compatible fire-extinguisher is situated in the entrance to the room and with all family members briefed on its usage…
Total cost is about half of the base price of the printer itself, could probably be cheaper if you opt out of a 5/5-sides-and-top see-through hood.
Hope this helps. I’m fine with printing 24/7 and my largest project to date include a 43-hour part, which had to be printed eight times over.
I have a Raspberry Pi with a Picam running OctoPrint and use port forwarding. Bit of a faff having to transfer stuff via the SD card after slicing, but it all works pretty well and means I can leave the printer and head off to work.
Provided I find out my dynamic IP address before leaving the house, I can then check my printer from anywhere using OctoPrint. As soon as I see it failing for whatever reason, I can halt the print and lower the bed. I leave it for a few minutes with the fan running to cool and then stop them. There are mods that will let you turn everything off using the Pi, but I don’t think that’s really necessary.
But whatever system you use, you do have to keep checking it, so bear that in mind if relying on your phone and heading somewhere where the signal is unreliable (trains!).
I banned the printer to the cellar, using Octo Print with web cam,
having a AVM-DECT-switchable outlet, where the PI and the Printer are connected to.
I can see everythng what happens to the printer by cam and can switch off the power if required from remote.
But having a fire alarm, is a nice idea, so I will mount that to my Smart Home PI and get an email if the fire alarm goes off.
I got a central heating system in the cellar, so it is about 18°C in general…
That is because I got all my machinery (tools) in there as well.
But you are right, under normal circumstances, it would not be a good idea
I think the risk is limited. Of course, you have electronics, you have a source of heat and you have combustible material, so there is a possibility for it to catch fire. But so can many other things that we generally leave on without thinking twice. Or at least I do.
Like many others, Im also using octopi so I can remotely monitor it, I have a smoke detector nearby and I have a good fire insurance :). As with my previous printer, it takes a while to build trust in it, but after a few months of fire free printing, Im almost getting to the point where I dont mind leaving it unattended for a few hours, or while I sleep.
I have recently run several long jobs overnight and even during a few hours away from home without any issues, so I was also going to add a positive comment about unattended printing.
Until last night…
I started an overnight job, which would have finished around 4-5am.
For some reason I (fortunately) woke up about 3:30 and found this
At some time in the night the z-axis stopped moving.
Today I have been dismantling the Z stage and found the following:
One of the Z-linear bearings was sticking and the others didn’t run smoothly. I have tried to oil frequently but yesterday I ran several 1 hour jobs prior to this one and thought afterwards that it was probably time for oil.
The Z-motor still made terrible noises when nothing was attached.
First I suspected the motor and changed that, but that gave the same result, so I then moved to the mainboard & Z-axis driver and found a burn mark on the z-axis connector
I think the sticking linear bearing(s) caused the motor to jam causing an overload (is that possible?). I changed the driver & connected the X-axis to the Z connector and that works so the driver & mainboard seem to be OK. I suspect the Z end stop may still be broken - when I tried an auto home before dismantling, Z didn’t stop and rammed into the nozzle…I don’t understand why the blowout on the stepper would blow the end stop though
I’ve ordered a full set of linear bearings and a stepper motor cable, but I wonder if that will solve everything.
So under certain circumstances it may not be wise to leave jobs running unattended.
The moral of the story is, once more, ‘keep everything well-oiled’
[quote]I have a Raspberry Pi with a Picam running OctoPrint and use port forwarding. Bit of a faff having to transfer stuff via the SD card after slicing, but it all works pretty well and means I can leave the printer and head off to work.
Provided I find out my dynamic IP address before leaving the house, I can then check my printer from anywhere using OctoPrint. As soon as I see it failing for whatever reason, I can halt the print and lower the bed. I leave it for a few minutes with the fan running to cool and then stop them. There are mods that will let you turn everything off using the Pi, but I don’t think that’s really necessary.
But whatever system you use, you do have to keep checking it, so bear that in mind if relying on your phone and heading somewhere where the signal is unreliable (trains!).
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