52 posts tagged with "Tech"

OctoPrint interface/Courtesy: The Spaghetti Detective

OctoPrint is widely known in the maker community as one of the best 3D printer remote monitoring, management, and control software applications. It was created in 2012 by Gina Häußge, a German software engineer, and has since been improved by its devoted community to include a plethora of advanced features.

With over 277 plugins available in OctoPrint, the features are limitless, as are the ways you can use the software to improve your 3D printing experience. OctoPrint provides a plethora of advantages to its users.

It is difficult to find a single plugin that stands out in this vast library of plugins, but there is one that is likely the most advanced and probably the best OctoPrint plugin – The Spaghetti Detective. This OctoPrint plugin is ahead of its time, with powerful and one-of-a-kind features that no other plugin provides.

You can experience 3D printing like never before by combining your OctoPrint applications with The Spaghetti Detective. But don't just take our word for it; let us paint a picture for you of why it's the best OctoPrint plugin.

OctoPrint has a huge user base that has already realized the benefits of the software, but many people have yet to be introduced to OctoPrint and are unaware of what the software can do for them.

Those who want to learn how to install and use OctoPrint can do so by reading our guide on how to set up OctoPrint and experience the ease of 3D printing.

Failed 3D print/Source: The Spaghetti Detective

3D printing is still a technology that relies heavily on trial and error. It's nearly impossible to master the technology without getting your hands dirty. As there are no globally recognized standards in the 3D printer, material, or software manufacturing, it is vulnerable to a variety of printing problems. A multitude of 3D printer issues results in failed prints, which leads to a loss of business, if not your interest in the technology.

To make sure you don’t feel bogged down by the problems and abandon this revolutionary technology, we list down the most popular 3D printer problems and ways to troubleshoot them.

OctoPrint is a Raspberry Pi-based open-source software application that allows you to monitor and control your 3D printer remotely. It was created by Gina Häußge in 2012, and since then it is being constantly updated and upgraded by its active community of supporters and developers to include a wide range of features.

It is a free tool used by thousands of rookies as well as professionals to enhance their 3D printing experience.

What Is OctoPrint​

OctoPrint, created and launched in 2012 by German software engineer Gina Häußge, has grown to become one of the top remote monitoring, management, and control software applications for your 3D printer. The ease of use and simplicity of the software are the primary reasons for many adopters, and the features and functionality have converted adopters into lifelong loyal users.

While the community is growing, many beginners are still unaware of the benefits OctoPrint provides. So, we've compiled a list of genuine reasons why you should be using OctoPrint and why you need it.

If you are a newcomer who has not yet installed OctoPrint, you can take a brief detour and look at our guide on how to set up OctoPrint to get it up and running.

The Mantis 3D Printer​

All of us at The Spaghetti Detective love 3D printing, OctoPrint, and Raspberry Pi’s, so when we heard about a new 3D printer manufacturer offering a 3D printer with OctoPrint, and a Raspberry Pi pre-installed, we were interested! Mantis 3D Printer is using OctoPrint, a Raspberry Pi, and their own custom software with a goal of offering “the world’s easiest to use 3D printer.”

We connected with Joe a few months back and were intrigued because Mantis is one of the first 3D printers to come with OctoPrint pre-installed and a Raspberry Pi on board right out of the box. According to Mantis, their 3D printer fully automates the repair, slicing, orientation, temperature control, printer settings, and bed leveling process to make 3D printing easier than ever. Subsequently, they give users complete access to dive ‘under the hood’ through OctoPrint to control the Mantis like any other open source 3D printer.

While we haven’t tried the Mantis 3D printers ourselves, we think it’s a cool project, so when Joe offered to provide a special discount for The Spaghetti Detective users, we thought it would be a great deal for any users who might be interested in this printer, and for Mantis to get some feedback from our awesome community who also loves 3D printing, OctoPrint and Raspberry Pi’s!

In this article, we will discuss the benefits of using a camera with OctoPrint and some of the options you can choose from.

OctoPrint is one of the best free and open-source software options for remotely monitoring and controlling a 3D printer. Thousands of users use OctoPrint daily to take advantage of its features and create higher-quality products on their 3D printers. The software is easy to learn and simple to use, so beginners using the most basic 3D printers can also benefit from using OctoPrint.

It will not be an overstatement to say that users, both new and old, recommend using the software because of the numerous benefits it provides to the overall printing experience.

More About OctoPrint​

OctoPrint, despite being marketed as remote monitoring software, does much more than that. It can simultaneously monitor and control multiple printers or print farms, capture pictures and videos, create viral OctoLapse videos, schedule jobs, set print parameters, control bed, and extruder movement; adjust temperatures; control extrusion, edit G-codes, update firmware, and even change display themes to create a personalized environment.

OctoPrint is relatively simple to set up. If you haven’t already set up OctoPrint you can check out our OctoPrint setup guide.

Why Use A Camera With OctoPrint?​

Remote Monitoring​

OctoPrint can effectively monitor 3D printers using its wide range of impressive plugins. However, having a camera adds a whole new dimension to the printing experience. The camera is mounted in and around the printer enclosure such that the printhead and print bed is sufficiently captured. The camera is connected to the OctoPrint software and so the feed from the camera is visible to the user who can then operate the printer as he wants. Adding a camera makes it much easier to monitor and control the printer altogether.

What is OctoPrint and why do I need it?​

OctoPrint is the most popular 3D printing software for wirelessly monitoring and controlling your 3D printer.

Hundreds of thousands of printers rely on OctoPrint's awesome snappy web interface daily to manage their workflows. In addition there are a ton of awesome plugins that take the power of remote 3D printer monitor and control to a whole new level. In this guide, we will tell you what you need to get OctoPrint set up with your 3D printer and how install it.

Prefer to watch a video to guide you through the process? Check out our video on setting up OctoPrint and getting started with OctoPrint plugins!

OctoPrint is one of the best tools you can get for your 3D printer. It provides you with a convenient way to send G-Code to the printer, kick off the print, monitor the print via webcam, and pause/cancel the print all in a beautifully structured user interface. There is a downside though - OctoPrint can only be accessed on your home network, not anywhere else.

Imagine: you just set up a print, turned the printer on, and see everything is perfect. You have some spare time so you leave the house, but one thought lingers – what’s going on with my print? Did it fail, how much time there is left for it to end?

No need to panic. Although you can't directly use OctoPrint outside your home network, there are plenty of ways to let you do that indirectly from anywhere as long as you have an Internet connection. It may be hard to choose which option is the best for you. In this article we try to help you with that, presenting the pros and cons of all possible ways to access your printer remotely.

We have made some important changes to how you can help The Detective get better at her job:

1. We launched a new feature called the "Focused Feedback". As the name implies, you tell The Detective if she got things right in a more "focused" way - snapshot by snapshot, rather than time-lapse by time-lapse.
2. Every time you finish a Focused Feedback, you will earn 2 Detective Hours!
3. You can, and should still give feedback at the overall time-lapse level. However, you will no longer earn Detective Hours from doing so. Instead, you are highly encouraged to give the Focused Feedback to earn Detective Hours.
4. Similarly, you can still upload your own time-lapses to help The Detective learn but you will no longer earn Detective Hours from doing so. Of course you can also give the Focused Feedback on the time-lapses you upload (will be implemented in a couple weeks).

Why did we make these changes?​

In the past several months The Detective team has done a lot of experiments to figure out how we can improve the accuracy of the detection algorithm. We have tried tens of different ways. Most of which didn't work - just like any other Deep Learning projects. But more importantly, we learned through those failed experiments why they didn't work, and applied those learnings to the experiments that did work! The end result of those several months of work was 2.5x improvement on the accuracy.

In this article we will give you a behind-the-scenes glimpse on how those crazy Deep Learning technologies are used to catch 3D printing failures.

Readers be aware: very geeky content ahead.