Toshiba Flashair SD Card Mapped in Windows

[ServiceXp]

So I've been using this wireless SD Card (w-03) for a while now, and I've always wanted to map the card as a network drive in Windows for easier use and control. Up until now, Ive just used this experimental FlashAir web UI, which works well, but it wasn't convenient for me, and has little control.

So I went searching to see if someone else has figured out a way to make this happen, and surprisingly I could not. So I found the API for the card and thankfully version 3 has WEBDAV capabilities. This made this SO incredibly easy.

1) Setup the Flashair SD card as specified here, but here is what my CONFIG file looks like. You must have WEBDAV=2 and UPLOAD=1 in your settings file.


2016-01-08_11-50-21.jpg

2) Using the windows USB Safely Eject tool to remove the SD card from the computer, install SD Card in Printer and turn your printer On. Once the printer is running make sure you can navigate to the Web UI with no problem. (this can take a few minutes)

3) Using the 'Wndows Key' + 'E' keyboard keys (opens file employer), navigate to "This PC" and select "Map network drive" at the top, under the Computer Tab. (This will depend on which version of Windows you are using, Windows 10 here)

2016-01-08_12-11-13.jpg

4) Assign a drive letter, (I used P: for Printer ) Enter the IP address of the SD Card: \\192.168.1.14 that you previously setup and click on the finished button. You will end up with a mapped network drive that looks like this: (Not sure why the drive size is incorrect)

2016-01-08_11-37-04.jpg

Congratulation; your Flashair Wireless SD Card is now mapped. If you use Simplify3D; once you navigate to the card for the first time and write to it, it will remember that location for the future.

The only problem with using this method with S3D, S3D will also create a .gcode file on the SD card. It's not a problem for me because the advantages FAR out way this minor inconvenience.

So now you have super easy control of both file structure and upload paths.. and it's pretty darn fast also....

[EagleSeven]

How is this setup better than just connecting a computer directly to printer thru USB ???
(with the SD plugged into computer as an external drive, if needed for something else)

[Mjolinor]

USB is host processor controlled. In ordr to be sure that communications take place within the time slots required for successful handshaking the host computer must have lots of power or it will mist the slot that it needs.

Most other communications do not require this for example Ethernet where the control for the comms is inherent in the protocol and the host computer does not need to concern itself with it.

You may never have problems with USB but a lot of people will and it is not a good thing to rely on.

[EagleSeven]

You may never have problems with USB but a lot of people will and it is not a good thing to rely on.

!!! Are you saying "a lot of people" have Defective computers ??
I don't think So !
If the USB port does not do a simple slow-speed data-transfer, like a 3d-printer needs,
then there is a Problem with the computer, printer or port connections.

[Mjolinor]

I'm sorry, you are so far away from understanding what I am saying that I cannot explain it to you. You need to go and read about USB , particularly the technical specifications of the protocol and the way it is handled by the host processor.

It is not a fault with anything it is merely the way USB is specified and what it can and cannot do. Real time critical communications over USB are outside the specifications of the protocol and this is made worse by the fact that the Windo$e core is also not capable of real time communications. Most operating systems cannot handle real time communications properly. Linux can, under special circumstances, if you use a real time kernel but even with that USB is still not suitable for real time critical stuff. Linux by default does not use a real time kernel but it is available if you need it. LinuxCNC uses a real time kernel for control.

It is most likely that you will not see the problem from the Windo$e end anyway. The problems will originate at the printer end where resources are extremely limited and the processor is working hard.

[EagleSeven]

But why worry about it, if 'It Works' !
And it 'Does Work Great' with Real, modern computers, printers and software!
Try it, you will Like it !

I forgive you for being insulting !

[Mjolinor]

Sorry, I missed the bit where I was insulting. If you perceive that I was then you are mistaken. Do not make the mistake of education being insulting. Not knowing something is not a crime it is simply not knowing something, no one knows anything until they learn it or are told it.

Relying on things working that are outside the specifications is one of the biggest mistakes you can make when dealing with technology. It is the reason for standards being specified to death, this allows us to makes planes that fly, cars that are safe and a whole host of other things that are everywhere. If they are correctly designed then they are not expected to work outside the specification of the parts within.

There are examples of things designed outside the spec and the problems that occur because of it. Probably the most recent being the balancing scooters that are bursting into flames from China. They fail because they work even though they are not designed correctly and when they get a few charges under their belt the batteries become unbalanced and they have no protection circuitry. I hope you do not believe that "they work so they are OK" is a reasonable statement there.

[ServiceXp]

How is this setup better than just connecting a computer directly to printer thru USB ???
(with the SD plugged into computer as an external drive, if needed for something else)

I do not print from USB, and USB transfer from S3D to my FFCP is painfully slow. This setup allows the flash card to act as a hard drive on my machine and solves many transfer problems.

[EagleSeven]

I do not print from USB, and USB transfer from S3D to my FFCP is painfully slow. This setup allows the flash card to act as a hard drive on my machine and solves many transfer problems.

USB is So much Faster and Easier for us.
And the file types that can be read directly from a SD is very limited
I don't think our CTC's USB port is any faster or more reliable than it is in a FF, but maybe it is ??

[ServiceXp]

USB is So much Faster and Easier for us.
And the file types that can be read directly from a SD is very limited
I don't think our CTC's USB port is any faster or more reliable than it is in a FF, but maybe it is ??

What slicer are you using? For those who use the 2015 FFCP with S3D it's almost useless for file transfer, nothing new very common problem.

Now if you are talking about printing from USB, using a computer that's a different animal all together. As I said before, I don't print via USB. I like many others don't want to have a computer connected to and running all the time to print.

What do you mean by ".... file types that can be read directly from a SD is very limited"

The solution I proposed above has no limitation that I've found (except file names over 15 character limit), and solves a specific problem for me.