Raspberry Pi printer control

Vertex 3D Printer Vertex - Your printer, creations, and ideas for im
1

On the wiki there’s an item called ‘Control your printer over the Internet with OctoPi on a Raspberry Pi B+ and PiCam’, coming soon…
Anybody who’s able to make an instruction? Would be nice. Who is going for eternal fame?

2

Hi,

I have been running on a Raspberry PI with Octoprint for about 6 to 8 months now.
I do not have a connection going through my firewall but do have full control at the house from my PC tablet and phone.
You should never leave your printer working alone.
I also have a smoke detector mounted above it.
Makes it very easy to check on the printer and stop it if need be.

Look at this link.
http://octoprint.org/

3

Well I’ve been working on it but lack of time …

I’ll try to write it soon(er). Keep an eye on it.

4

When printing large objects it would be very nice to monitor the printing process. Because of the noise one can’t work besides the printing machine and so there’s always some stress if the printing is going well.
So I would like to give it a try sometime, but as an electronics nitwit I have to use a clear instruction.
I am looking forward…

Thanks WW and Raby

5

I tried Octoprint earlier in the year but had some issues. The latest version looks good. I have moved the Vertex down into the cellar and I have a Pi with the new 7" touchscreen running Octoprint. I access the Octoprint from a room in the attic using the Octoprint web interface, but when I’m downstairs preparing for a print (eg Z-calibration) the web interface doesn’t work so well, neither does the touch functionality on the Raspbian desktop

I am writing a Pi application in Python using Kivy http://kivy.org for the front-end so I can check things when I’m at the printer - the touch interface works well with Kivy. It’s fairly advanced but not bug free. The layout and icons are not quite what I want but I’m concentrating on just getting it working for now.

6

Sorry I can’t get the image to work should be a dropbox link, maybe like this https://www.dropbox.com/s/2yc0z92jd1a7z34/snap1.jpg?dl=0

7

I’ve been using the OctoPi to control my Vertex since I bought it, nearly a year ago.

It’s very easy to do, and you can power the Pi directly from the PS unit with a voltage converter - I used a super cheap one from ebay.

The rest is all basic Pi stuff. Screw mounted to the bottom of the Vertex, it switches on at the same time as my power switch and has worked perfectly, even though I’ve never updated it to a more recent version of OctoPi. I have a little PiCam with a extra long cable to watch the print on my phone when out and about. All I do is get my external IP address, and IP forward the local host address of the Pi server. It’s got a login protection and as it’s the only address that has external access at my home, you are routed straight to it.

Very handy to monitor it during long prints. There’s been a few times where the print detached from the bed where it’s been really convenient to halt the print, lower the head and turn off the fans.

TBH, any other printer I buy I will add this functionality to it if it doesn’t come with it - it’s just not safe to leave an unmonitored 3D printer running for 10-15 hours stretches and hope it will be OK. Chances are one day it isn’t and something bad happens. The OctoPi set up with everything is less than £30, which is well worth it for the peace of mind it gives you.

8

Thanks Biscuitlad for your enthusiastic respons, but for an insider, everything seems to be easy. With great help from Marlark, I managed a heated bed and I think I can do this also. I found some how to’s here and there but they are a bit confusing. I hope someone will write an instruction sometime especiallly for the Vertex.

9

[quote=“svdv”]especiallly for the Vertex[/quote]There are no instructions specially for the Vertex; The installation is the same for every printer.
You can now find an installation guide in the [color=#408040]Wiki [/color](still a work in progress but enough to set up the board).

10

Raby,

I didn’t you guys added the Raspberry Pi instructions to your Wiki page.
Very nice job!

11

The wiki does a great job. The only bit I would add is some instructions and a link to a DC to DC voltage converter to power the Pi, preferably with a micro usb connector (though I used a much cheaper mini usb one, and removed it and soldered on a micro usb fitting).

I guess something like this would be fine for powering it off the spare terminals on the power supply:

eachbuyer.com/dc-dc-converte … 47166.html

It’s nice to have it turn on when you turn on your printer (obviously using your power switch mod!) :wink:

12

Thanks Biscuitlad. I’ll add this to the Wiki (still a work in progress as I did it a bit in a hurry some people asking for it).

13

Thank you very much Raby. I didn’t expect it so soon :slight_smile: You’re great.
On this moment I am busy getting my Vertex enlargened, but directly after that I will use your Wiki for the Pi Control.

14

Hi all,
I am using OctoPrint from the OctoPi image provided by [color=#408000]OctoPi[/color].
This was copied to a SD-card and was set up easily.

I attached an old Logitech Webcam and everything was working without any adjustment (except setting the WLAN profile).
I was actually planning to run the Pi from the K8400 power supply, but decided different, since I want the PI running alone if needed.

So I bought a [color=#408000]fritz.dect-200[/color] to switch the PI and the printer.

So I can manage prints from anywhere in the world.

  1. switch on the power by AVM Home Automation
  2. PI starts on power up
  3. Printer start on power up.

Additionally, the camera shows me the actual print.
I added some Ikea lights to have the different status colored.

[color=#BF0000]RED[/color] = heating
[color=#FFFFFF]WHITE[/color] = printing
[color=#80BF00]GREEN[/color] = finished
YELLOW = cancelled

As mentioned earlier in this thread, I had the chance to restart prints or could stop them, if they are going wrong.
Additionally, I put some buttons to the OctoPi GUI to switch the LEDs independent from the status. In case I need some light.

Works great for me

Best
Frank

15

How can you change the led color?

Im waiting on the k8403 led add on from velleman

16

Hi watch out velleman.eu/downloads/0/user … 403_en.pdf
just call
M420 R1 E0 B0 for RED
M420 R0 E1 B0 for GREEN

[quote=“3Design”]How can you change the led color?

Im waiting on the k8403 led add on from velleman[/quote]

17

Hi,
I want to know how you change your led color, or do you use the velleman kit

18

I actually use the firmware of the printer to change my colors.
The printer has this option included since the last update.
So I use OctoPrint to handle my printer.
For Octoprint I have developed a small software as a plugin which hooks up in the printers communication.
There are several messages, which can be hook on.
I took the defined hooks and placed some logic into this call back function.
If a particular status is reached, the plugin sends out a GCODE sequence.
This sequence is recognized by the firmware of the printer and the LEDs are set.

I used the connector on the “mother board” of the printer to connect my relay to them.
So if the board receives the GCODE M420 Rx Ex Bx, the appropriate relay contact will be activated and the LED lights up.

So in short.
in Octoprint I set some M420 GCODE in the predefined sections (Printing, Finished, Cancelled, etc)
and for the heating period, I use my plugin for OctoPrint.

On the other hand, if using S3D for example, those GCODE sequences can be set under the SCRIPTS tab.

see also: [color=#00BF00]IKEA LED with 4x relay - how I did it now imaged[/color] for a more detailed description of the LED issue

[quote=“3Design”]Hi,
I want to know how you change your led color, or do you use the velleman kit[/quote]

19

hello,

im also willing to control my printer by a raspberry pi, but which one is the best software? astroprint or octiprint?

20

Hey 3Design, at the moment I’m using octoprint (OctoPi) it works for me… But I Chose for OctoPi because i never heard of Astroprint before! I’m definitely going to check out astroprint!
Just looking at the documentation it even seems Astroprint is easier to setup the first time (No need for a keyboard or tv/monitor) I’m going to test it tonight.
Thanks for the tip.

Kind Regards!
JeAfKe