What is octoprint exactly? Is it just a wifi receiver that takes the gcode and stores it for the printer and sends back camera images if you wish? Could you use Pronterface with a cable connection to do this?
“Pronterface is a GUI host for 3D printing: It can manage your printer as well as prepare, slice, and print your STL files. As such, you can use its graphic environment to easily configure and control your 3D printer through a USB cable.”
From what I’ve seen/read, OctoPrint is more than that. It isn’t necessarily a WiFi receiver. That is something that can be added, but isn’t required. As I understand it, OP controls the printer, sending gcode commands to the firmware for execution, much like what happens with Cura over USB. OP also connects via USB. It is possible to send multiple jobs to OP, have it store them, and print them in turn, although I don’t know how that helps all that much because printed models still need to be removed from the bed, filaments may need to be changed, etc.
Pronterface can indeed send gcode to a printer over a USB connection.
When you use Cura to control the printer do you have a cable connection?
You just answered my last question. I like the sd card way. I don’t need another cable to trip over.
I like printing via USB because it let’s me control the printing remotely. If I was in an apartment like you, I might not find remote control all that appealing.
OK I understand. Do you have a camera setup too?
Having a raspberry pi mounted on the printer has multiple advantages. The multiple print job stuff you mentioned is quite handy. Since you use OP on a 16GB or bigger SD card you have tons of storage on there. All sliced models stay on the printer and you can sort them in folders. It is possible to search for a print and simply start it over the web interface.
This is very handy when you have a part you need to print frequently. Just search and print. Done.
About your print removal argument. If a print finishes at night and I notice that, I simply pick up my ipad, log into octo print, remove the print and start the next using just my ipad. No need to a PC wasting energy all night to feed the printer. I also can check on my print using the ipad. The camera is shown in octo print, so I can terminate a print, too if needed.
Second is that the computer (most likely) won´t crash/shutdown/restart during print and kill it. With a system like windows this can happen as it even restarts when you burn a CD/DVD using windows itself.
It also has basically all features Pronterface has, build in, too. And the plugins allow basically an unlimited range of new cool features. I never printed via SD card or using Cura/Pronterface or something like that. I used a raspberry pi since I got my first printer, because it is so much less hassle, work and total secure. I never had an issue of octoprint causing a print to fail.
You can connect to the Pi using wifi or LAN, while the printer is connected via USB to the Raspberry Pi.
If you have a Pi around, print a case and mount it to the printer. Best enhancement ever.
I do. I was using a Microsoft Lifecam Cinema, but just a few days ago I configured a spare smart phone with DroidcamX and, for the moment, until I get an adjustable arm printed, I’ve clamped it lightly to the front crossbar of the printer. Here’s a photo capture from DroidcamX I took yesterday:
[ATTACH=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“custom”,“height”:“415”,“width”:“738”,“data-attachmentid”:5605}[/ATTACH]
DroidcamX is its own web server & streams the video over my LAN, so I can view the stream using a web browser. The stream is very smooth & real time.
That should work out pretty good for you.
I installed Pursa. Seems like a nice slicer. I like the UI better than Cura.
Question: If an stl file is slice with Cura or Pursa. Is the end result the same or is it possible that the print could be better from one?
It cannot be equal. It always depends on the setting you make. Thats why you cannot compare slicers regarding the print results. The only thing you could do is compare the print results when using the slicers defaults. But only on a print and not file wise.
Slicing is like painting a picture of a fruit bowl. There are no rules and the end result from each person looks different.
I find Prusa much less confusing than Cura but I am not an expert on either.
In a sense, slicers are the heart of 3D printing. Think of it like a computer. You have the physical computer. Then you have the computer’s firmware. Then, you have the Operating System. Arguably, the Operating System is the heart of the computer: it’s what makes the computer do things. Likewise, I think of slicers as the heart of a 3D printer. And just as different Operating Systems can drastically alter how a computer performs, slicers can affect how a 3D printer performs. So, for me, it’s a “yes” to your question. Slicers can make a difference. In fact a slicer showdown is 1 of my suggestions to DrVAX for his request for ideas for videos.
That would be interesting. Many things could be considered. Versatility being one of them.
I do not think anyone mentioned meshmixer.
This is a free program from Autodesk that allows you to manipulate mesh (stl) files. It also has sculpting tools and excellent tools to repair damaged stl files.
Good point Irv, although I think most of us were trying to answer the original question: can it be done in Cura?
Prusa says it repairs stl files. It doesn’t always work.