Using a Raspberry Pi + Octopi to manage your printer

[kd7eir]

Are you certain that you are connected to the printer when you are trying to load the files?

[andyschneider]

Are you certain that you are connected to the printer when you are trying to load the files?

Almost certain, yes. I can change the temperature and move the axis and such from OctoPrint, so I think this means I'm correctly connected to the printer.

[kd7eir]

Sorry if I'm asking the obvious, but have you rebooted Raspberry? I have had several strange interactions with OctoPrint that were resolved by rebooting the Raspberry or at the very least restarting OctoPrint. Twice in three months I have been forced to re-image the SD card and start new with OctoPrint.

[andyschneider]

Sorry if I'm asking the obvious, but have you rebooted Raspberry? I have had several strange interactions with OctoPrint that were resolved by rebooting the Raspberry or at the very least restarting OctoPrint. Twice in three months I have been forced to re-image the SD card and start new with OctoPrint.

No problem, thanks for your help. But yeah I've tried that. I've already re-formatted the SD card and reloaded OctoPi once. I feel like there's an issue with my browser but I don't know why... Are you just using octopi.local?

[kd7eir]

I am using the IP address. I had an issue once where custom system commands were not showing, and it never went away until I cleared the cache in my browser. Also, make sure that you are not using plugins in the browser - A plugin that helps with one page can wreak havoc with another.

[clough42]

I've been having similar problems, but it seems to be related to chrome or the naming on my network. I've seen the same reboot-several-times kind of behavior, but I recently discovered that if I use the IP address, it comes up reliably. I still haven't tracked down the issue.

[clough42]

Ha ha!

Out of curiosity, is anyone use a non-USB camera with OctoPi right now?

Yes. I'm using the raspberry pi board camera. It's really convenient with this mount (shameless plug): http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:489717

2014-10-05 22.49.19.jpg

The performance of the camera isn't that great, and the colors can be a little weird--especially under fluorescent lights, but it works.

[clough42]

First off I'd like to thank you guys for this wonderful thread.

Unfortunately, I'm having issues with my files using OctoPrint. I can upload files to both the local and the SD card and I've tried .gcode and .gco extensions. I have no problems with this part.

When I click 'load' or 'load and print' under "Files" nothing happens. This happens with any file I try, regardless of how I uploaded them or if they were already on the SD card. Delete doesn't work either.

I can change temperature and control the axis and the extruder through OctoPrint. I can also start .gco files from the LCD on the printer which I uploaded earlier through OctoPrint.

I've tried using Chrome and Firefox and I'm in octopi.local. I feel like there might be a simple solution to this, or at least I'm hoping there is.

Any suggestions?

First, I just stopped trying to use the SD card. It's slow and I've had mixed results. I just upload the files and print from Octoprint.

Second, there seems to be some kind of defect in the state of the Octoprint UI with respect to selecting files. Sometimes the file is selected, the printer is connected, but it just won't respond to the print button.

When this happens, I select another file (click the file icon) and then reselect the file I want to print. This clears the state and then I can print.

[clough42]

I have Octopi setup on both of my printers, and I'm loving it. I'm powering the Raspberry Pi from the 5VSB bus of the power supply, so it is always on, and I can turn the 12V power on and off with GCODE using the power supply output on the RAMPS board.

Here's the wiring:

Raspberry Pi:

• Powered through the GPIO port (be careful--there's no reverse polarity protection)
• One +5v pin to PS 5VSB
• One GND pin to PS GND

RAMPS:

• D1 cut or removed
• Both + power terminals to power supply+12V
• Both - power terminals to power supply GND
• VCC to power supply 5VSB
• 5V to power supply 5V or 5VSB
• PS-ON to power supply green wire

This way, the Pi is always on, and I can turn the 12V power to the printer on and off with GCODE M80/M81. I have buttons defined in the Octoprint UI to do this, and I also do it in the start/end GCODE generated out of my slicer.

Some notes:

Because of the USB connection to the RAMPS board, it's always going to be on, too, so I just go ahead and connect RAMPS VCC to 5VSB as well. No point trying to turn it on and off with the power supply--especially since you need it to handle the M80/M81 commands. I also wouldn't count on the USB power from the Pi to power it (and the LCD). Depending which version of the Pi, the RAMPS LCD, the WiFi dongle and the webcam, the internal fuses in the Pi can be overloaded and cause resets and lockups. Running separate power to the RAMPS solves this.

The 5V bus on the RAMPS (used to power the Z probe servo) can be connected to 5V or 5VSB. It doesn't matter.

I ran separate 5V conductors (20AWG) from the power supply to the pi and to each point on the RAMPS to try to keep noise (especially from the Z probe servo) from messing up the Pi.

[clough42]

Some photos of my setups:

2014-12-29 10.24.09.jpg2014-12-29 10.25.04.jpg