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Showing posts from April, 2016

Printrbot Control with OctoPrint and Pi Link

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I've been a big fan of Printrbot since the beginning. I've owned a Printrbot Original, Printrbot Simple, Printrbot Simple 1405, and currently a Printrbot Play. After becoming a fan, I even got to "moonlight" on their support team for a year. As with just about any 3D printer, Printrbots connect to a computer with USB, and the commands for the print are fed to it serially throughout the duration of the print with a program like Pr0nterface, Repetier-Host, or Cura. Interrupt that stream of commands, and your print stops, which means you have to start over. The stream can be interrupted by letting your computer fall asleep, closing the print software, or even by plugging in another USB device (like an iPod). The solution is a $35 Raspberry Pi and an open-source program for it called OctoPrint. The Raspberry Pi takes the place of your computer (being a tiny computer itself), and OctoPrint is accessed via a web browser over the network. Not only do you minimize the