OctoPrint... thoughts?

[Farr0wn3d]

I've ordered an Astroprint box, and a logitech c920 webcam. I've also designed a nice webcam mount that sits on the front left upper corner of the M2 and has a great vantage point in case anyone wants the STL

[Farr0wn3d]

AAAAND I'm returning it because it has hardly any functionality...

sure it views a webcam, and sure it will control temp for bed and extruder, and directional moves, but thats about it. I'm better off using a remote desktop app to access my computer when I'm not there and then I have my webcam AND all the functions of S3D at my fingertips.

my 2 cents

[Quark]

my 2 cents:

I run Octoprint from an old HP mini laptop running win7 that I had no other use for (to slow for doing anything productive). Once you get Octoprint installed on windows (that is a challenge in itself), turn off all the power saving features, and turn of the laptop lid action, autoupdates, etc, it runs like a champ. Oh and I converted the octoprint executable to a service, so the laptop doesn't have to be logged in, just booted to windows. I can run prints from anywhere and don't need to be connected to my printer. Here is my workflow:

1. Design/download stl's from anywhere.
2. Run it through Slic3r from any pc at home. (I run Slic3r with the --datadir option to centralize my configs)
3. Watch my print from anywhere through USB camera hooked up to the laptop running Octoprint (on windows this runs via YAWCAM)

If i need to manual control, ex, change filament, etc I just do it through the mini laptop that is already there. This could be easily done the same with OctoPi on a rasberryPi and say an old android phone for the interface.

Downsides?
None other than I can't print directly from SD via Octoprint. Some reason, this doesn't work and I haven't been able to get it going. Alternatively, I just loaded pronterface on the laptop and run prints from SD for testing only. I've never had any issues with Octoprint sending the gcode to the printer via USB. The laptop does sucks more power than a Rasberry Pi though.

[Vandal968]

Has anyone tried astroprint?

I started on Astroprint then moved to Octoprint. I like Octoprint a lot better, AStroprint is kind-of dumbed down and some functions are hidden or not configurable.

cheers,
c

[3dPrintingMD]

Honestly, I love Octopi. It found it to be fairly easy to setup. Yes I had some difficulty but it was due to my router, verse due to Octopi.

$35 bucks gets you a Pi2, $10 bucks or less gets you a 16gb MiniSD Card. Print yourself out a nice case.
Download the image. Once its up and running you get the IP address from the Pi, and you are basically done.

I should note, that I only have it running internally, that is all I needed it for. It doesn't tie up my laptop, and the prints run smooth.

[Pekish79]

I use it too is nice i am upstair and i left the printer in a small room downstair i set up the camera and i added some leds to it (pi-camera and pi-lights http://www.mindsensors.com/rpi/83-pi-light-for-pi-pan) so i dont even need to keep the light on in the room

overall it was not so easy to set the lan as i was totally new to raspberry pi but it toke me only one morning of messing around before i got lucky (and mostly toke me so long because office have security stuff going on and is a pain to set those up)

other then that I printed a holder for the pi-camera+pi-light with the right angle and now i just have to go down stair to get the piece when ready
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1118377 < if you need a holder for the cam+pi-lights