Hey everyone, Tom here, and by now, you probably
know what OctoPrint is and why using it is
better than sacrificing an entire computer
just for running your printer.
But OctoPrint is pretty rapidly evolving,
thanks to Gina Häuge’s and BQ’s commitment
to the software, so my 2014 guide for setting
it up is kind of outdated and, frankly, incorrect
at this point.
So today, i’m going to walk you through
the easiest way of getting going with the
current version.
So just to recap, what OctoPrint does is to
hook up your 3D printer to your local network,
so instead of having to move SD cards back
and forth or tying a PC to your printer with
a USB cable, you can access all of your printer’s
controls with any computer, phone or tablet
on the same network and through WiFi.
OctoPrint also comes with the CuraEngine pre
installed, which basically means that you
won’t even need to slice your files on a
computer anymore, you can just send over the
stl model and the printer will do the rest.
And since you can now expand OctoPrint through
the new plugin system, you can add pretty
much as much functionality as you want.
So let’s get going!
For this guide, i’ll be using the Raspberry
Pi 2, since, out of the available single-PCB
computers, it’s both the easiest to set
up ,the most common one, and generally the
platform i’d currently recommend, but any
other Raspberry Pi all the way from the original
model A up to the most current Zero works
as well, albeit with a small speed penalty,
or with a manual install, you can also use
most other mini computers like the Beaglebone,
the LeMaker BananaPi or Guitar, or even a
full x86 computer.
For any of the compact one-board computers,
you will also need a decent micro USB cable
for power, i can personally vouch for Anker
cables, since those are both cheap and available
worldwide in a consistent quality, but if
you have a spare cable from a non-Apple phone
or tablet, you can probably use that one as
well.
Then, as a power supply, most USB phone chargers
work well as long as they are rated for more
than about one amp of current.
Also, you will need a microSD card with at
least 4GB capacity, preferably 8GB or more
for the operating system, and for the older
Raspberry PIs you’ll need a full-size SD
card or use an adapter.
Most brand-name cards work well, but i’d
still recommend sticking to known-good models.
I’ve put a link to full list of “approved”
SD cards in the video’s description.
And if you don’t have one, grab a USB card
reader while you’re at it, you’ll need
it to write the image to the SD card.
And lastly, for actually connecting all this
to the outside world, you can either use the
Ethernet jack and connect your PI to the network
that way / or, which is probably more convenient,
use a USB wifi adapter.
Many models work well, including the specifically-made
WiPi, which i’ll be using, and many Edimax
and Asus models.
Again, the full list is linked in the description
below.
An optional accessory that is going to make
your life much easier is a Webcam.
Most common webcams work with no extra configuration
at all, like pretty much the entire lineup
from Logitech or Microsoft, i’ve personally
got the Logitech C170 and C270 in use, which
both get the job done equally well.
Trust me, that “HD” upscaling on the C270
doesn’t do anything.
I’ve also put Amazon affiliate links to
the the full set of components i’m using
in the description, so i’d really appreciate
it if you use those to buy your next Raspberry
Pi as, that way, Amazon will share some of
the revenue they make with that sale / with
me at no extra cost to you.
*Thumbs up*
Now, the software image we are going to use
is Guy Sheffer’s OctoPi, which is basically
a preconfigured image with everything that’s
needed to get OctoPrint going.
Again, the download is linked in the video’s
description, but you can also find it on the
OctoPrint.org website, where you should download
the newest stable version.
Now, the Pi is going to read everything from
an SD card, so to get the image file onto
one, grab your card reader, and, for Windows
users, the Win32DiskImager tool, Linux and
MacOS users can find instructions on how to
use the dd utility to do the exact same thing
/ on the Raspberry Pi website.
Once you’ve written the image to the card,
you are going to see a “boot” partition
pop up in your file manager.
And there’s really only one file of interest
on there, and that’s the octopi-network.txt
one, where you can configure your wifi, or,
if you’re only using wired networking you
can completely skip this step.
Open that file up with a decent text editor
like Notepad++, the Linux and MacOS default
editors also work well while Windows’ Notepad
does not, and head down to the Wifi configuration
section.
Modern networks use WPA and WPA2, if your
network still uses WEP or no encryption at
all, you should really upgrade.
So fill out the SSID, so your wifi’s name,
as well as the pre-shared key, basically its
password.
Keep the quotation marks around your SSID
and password.
Also don’t forget to remove the octothorp
at the beginning of the relevant name and
password lines as well as the single line
above them to enable them all.
Hit save and you’re ready to safely remove
the SD card from your card reader and insert
it into the Raspberry Pi.
At this point, also connect your Wifi Dongle
or Ethernet cable, your 3D printer and, if
you have one, your webcam before plugging
in the microUSB power cord.
The Raspberry Pi should now boot up and connect
to the network, as indicated by the blinking
status LED on the Wifi adapter or the Ethernet
section on the Pi.
If it does not, try writing the image to the
SD card again and double-check your Wifi configuration
in the octopi-network.txt file.
If it has successfully connected, you will
now be able to access the Raspberry Pi at
octopi.local or, through the Raspberry Pi’s
IP address, which you can look up in your
router’s interface.
Each router is a bit different, so i can’t
explain it for every single one, but it’s
typically either on the front page or in the
“network status” menu.
And one last way that works on surprisingly
many computers is the network autodetection..
configuration upnp thing that you can find
in the network environment browser of your
operating system.
Before you go dive into the web interface,
there are two more things you will need to
configure on the Pi.
To do that, connect to it via SSH, for Windows,
you can use the Putty tool, Mac OS and Linux
come with SSH clients included.
This is what putty looks like, but the process
is the same for any other tool.
Enter octopi.local or the Pi’s IP address
directly and hit connect.
Accept the PI’s encryption fingerprint,
and it will then ask you for a username and
password, which, by default are the exact
same “pi” username and “raspberry”
password on every single Raspberry Pi, which
is why that’s the first thing we should
change.
Once you’ve logged in, enter passwd and
hit return, this will ask you for your current
password and a new one of your choice, try
to pick a reasonably safe one there.
If you’re unsure about what is generally
a good password and what is not, there’s
yet another link in the description to Intel’s
site, where they’ll grade how secure your
password is.
Pretty scary stuff, and it will become relevant
again in a minute.
Once you’re through the passwd tool, run
“sudo raspi-config” and hit return on
the first option, expand file system, to allow
OctoPrint to use the entire space on the SD
card for your print files, updates and log
files.
Then hit tab twice to select “Finish”,
and confirm the reboot.
Now once that reboot is done, you can go ahead
and open up the OctoPrint web interface with
your favorite browser as long as it’s not
Internet Explorer 6.0, and again, at octopi.local
or the IP address directly.
On the first time you open it up, OctoPrint
will show you its first run wizard.
Which, realistically, isn’t much more than
the point where you will get to decide how
secure you want your OctoPrint setup to end
up.
So by default, OctoPrint will want you to
set a username and a password.
Which makes sense, because everyone who can
access your OctoPrint setup, also has the
power to burn your printer down.
Or at least very seriously damage it.
So if a) your printer is on a network where
you don’t absolutely trust everyone one
there or, b) if you’re even planning to
make your printer accessible from the internet,
i can’t stress this enough, enable access
controls and pick a decent username and a
safe password.
You’d be surprised how many unsecured OctoPrint
instances Google finds with the right search
terms.
Now there is a use case where disabling the
security features makes sense, and that’s
when you’re connecting the PI only to your
home network with no insane relatives around
and have a decent firewall/router thing handling
your internet connection.
In that case, feel free to disable the extra
security, but keep in mind this is in fact
the only layer of security between someone
with access to your network and full control
over your 3D printer.
Reload the page, and you should have the full
interface available.
At this point, OctoPrint is likely to offer
you an update, which you should do right now
to get all the updated features right from
the start.
If the update does not work or anything else
about the interface still feels off at this
point, a reboot through OctoPrint’s menu
would be a good idea.
As a general note, try not to power off the
Raspberry Pi by simply yanking the power cord
out or turning off the power supply, because
while it’s likely that it’s going to boot
up just fine the next time, there is a small
chance of some part of the Linux system breaking
when you do it and you’d have to do the
entire setup again.
Instead, always use the menu to shut it down
first, then wait for the status LEDs to stop
flashing and you shouldn’t run into any
issues down the road.
And that’s it for the setup process, OctoPrint
is now fully ready to use.
You can go ahead and connect to your printer,
upload a gcode file and start printing.
Alright folks, i think i’ve brabbled long
enough about this entire process.
There will be more videos on OctoPrint, exploring
its features, so stay tuned and subscribed
for those, and leave this video a like if
it was helpful to you.
And, again, if you want to support my channel
more directly, don’t forget about using
the amazon or ebay affilate links from the
video description for your shopping needs,
now that it’s that holiday season of the
year, it’s kind of obvious, isn’t it,
and while using them doesn't cost you a single
penny, it really help me out a lot.
Linus Tech Tips actually does a great job
explaining how all that works, check out their
video linked in the upper right corner of
the video right now.
So as always, thanks for watching, and I’ll
see you all in the next one.
