Aftermarket Parts (MINI)

Hi,

I’m considering buying a Mini model and there’s only one catch to doing so.

I want a printer that has the ability to Stand Alone.

So, can anyone who owns this printer tell me if it has a header to connect a display/reader device such as this? https://www.printedsolid.com/shop/printer-parts/smart-lcd-controller-xxl/

Thanks for any replies.
Mike

As far as I know, there is nothing of the sort…
There is this… but I’m a bit skeptical…
http://www.amazon.com/LulzBot-Printer-MatterControl-Touch-Controller/dp/B00U1PIXQ2/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1429928908&sr=8-2-fkmr0&keywords=lulzbot+mini+touchscreen


Since everyone is trying to get away from the SD-Card fuss(SDCards suck)… I would assume that you are trying to remotely print to your printer… and not so much trying to print from SDCard?

This cat does some awesome stuff and will help you through remote printing “cheaply”…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiMGvrokhLM

Pretty much anything with a USB port will suffice as a print “server”(Arduino/Raspberry)…
If you TRULY want a SDCard approach(not sure why), then it’s also do-able, with a little work…

Not sure if you can add an LCD but like the above post you can get a raspberry pi and use octoprint (http://octoprint.org/)
or you can try mattercontrol (http://www.mattercontrol.com/)

The connectors on the Mini use a hard to source LCD panel(Do not know where the posting about this is located on the forum.), so no it will probably not work with that panel.

Keith

I have been using AstroPrint with great success, by installing it onto a Raspberry Pi. ( First thing I did was print an enclosure… )

www.astroprint.com

Guys I never buy a new laptop. All of mine have been Lenovo and the last one I bought was a W500, and it sold new for $1500 or so? When I purchased used 3 years later I paid $330 with 2 power supplies a docking station, remote IR mouse and Windows 7 Pro 64 bit installed. The medical offices around here buy the Lenovo’s by the pallet and use them as networked computers and then they are replaced with new maybe a couple years later. I usually buy from the surplus place for never over $300, this one I paid more because it came with 8 Gb memory.

OMG you say, you can buy a New computer for $300 - $400 or so!! Yes and you are getting what you paid for, a $300 laptop. These Lenovo’s are made for a commercial /industrial market and built to last. Never, ever had one fail. I don’t have to worry about leaving one in my shop where it gets down to 45 or so in the winter. Power surges don’t bother and it keeps on ticking. In the meantime I just replaced a failed HD in a friends 2 year old HP laptop. He lost everything, backups? What is a backup?

I guess the point of all this… for the price of the products mentioned you can have a dedicated laptop.

Get astroprint. Works great with my mini, allows me to have a graphical display and a webcam. I can control things from any PC anywhere or my mobile phone. Best way to do it, IMHO.

-Jim

It’s a valid point for the commercial product, but on the other hand, I’m guessing that they types of people who buy 3d printers, are also the types of people who already have computers coming out their ears. That describes me – I have several up in the attic, laptops and desktops. The last thing I really want is another full blown computer to deal with, especially when the BeagleBone Black is about $50 to $55.

The Beaglebone video linked above (second post – the one about the “cat [who] does some awesome stuff”) really appeals to me. I could take down the iMac currently hooked up to the mini, put it back in the attic where it belongs, and give up all the shuffling back and forth between my nice speedy dual monitor linux box where I do most of this type of work and the computer attached to the mini on which I do absolutely nothing else. There’d be no need to transfer files over the network, then load them up on the computer dedicated to the mini, and then press print. Instead, I’d just press print. When I hear the printer start the print after wiping and leveling, I’d go check on it – maybe keep a small 7" tablet near the printer for canceling the print, and regain a bunch of desk space.

Probably what I’ll do is try out octoprint first, running it on the computer connected to the printer. If that seems convenient, I’ll go for it. The BB Black is so cheap I’d have no excuse not to do it.

BeagleBone Black is certainly interesting and as someone who started with MS-DOS and the TRS-80 would be fun to try, but its something that I don’t really need. Long range I am going to end up with a TAZ 6 or MakerGear M2 for my shop. Thanks for posting.

Octopi - Raspbian OS with prebuilt Octoprint for the Raspberry Pi

I printed the bed calibration and octopus from the laptop. The rest of my TAZ5 prints (6-8 spools of ABS) have been remotely through Octoprint… its awesome once you’re up and running.

Overview of setup: Unzip & transfer the image to an SD card. Stick it into the Raspberry Pi, connect network and power up.

Overview of workflow: Slice the project, drag & drop gcode into the Web interface, preheat the printer bed to ~50C, and Print - which heats up the hotend to 245C, by that time the bed is at 110C and the print starts. Monitor the first layer through webcam and check into the webcam every so often.


The tricky part is getting the network up and running. I use a static address on a wired ethernet, so use a “headless” method of pre-configuring the /etc/network/interfaces before sticking in the RPi. If you’re a Mac or Linux user, the card should mount natively.

I’m going chime in with support for Octopi, as well. I’ve had it running on a model B+ for a few weeks now and it works great. I’m using a 2A power supply, and I have the printer and an old webcam plugged in directly; no USB hub required. Total cost: $50. Of course the next thing I did was print an enclosure. I’m surprised at the dearth of enclosures on yeggi and such.

Set the baud rate in Octopi to 115200 and it should connect really quickly.

The one issue I’m having is that I need to power-cycle the printer if it ever disconnects from Octopi. Not a big deal as it’s turned off when I’m not using it. It’s only an issue if I have to restart a print.

Once again I don’t get it? What is the price for Octopi and then your Raspberry Pi, power supply, wireless and the entire setup? How do you control your TAZ 5 for leveling, changing filament and the rest you need the computer for?
I would rather have my $100 shop laptop acting as the machine control, and yes it has wireless. Built in screen and keyboard… all in one package.
PS I have a Raspberry Pi 2B and the rest but its not on my list.

I have a Mini.

Octopi is free software. RPi: $35 USD. 8GB microSD $8ish. Oh, also a USB WiFi adapter, so $10. Power supply: lying around from an old phone. Webcam: lying around for several years. Total power consumption: <10W. And it’s compact: a few cubic inches attached to the side of the printer.

It provides a web interface. It will slice for you, but you’ll need to provide it all of your printer details and it’s still pretty rudimentary. I just use Cura and save the gcode file, then upload it to Octoprint. Cura adds the same start and end gcode it uses for a directly connected printer, so it still goes through the auto-leveling and head cleaning procedures before starting the print.

It means I can upload gcode from anywhere I have a network connection, an ssh client (I prefer to tunnel rather than port forward), and a web browser, and from any slicer program (caveat: don’t forget to add the start-up procedures, first).

My mini sits on an old nightstand, so there really isn’t room for anything larger than the RPi.

Im really curious, several folks talk about how they printed enclosures for their mini. Link? I would love to do that. My cardboard box with magnetically held in place plastic window/door is ghettofabulous but I would love something I could print.

The enclosures here are for the single board computer running Octoprint (RPi, etc.). I’ll post mine to Thingiverse and link here later.

OH, that makes a lot more sense. I thought someone had figured out a way to like modular print a lulzbot mini enclosure.

That wouldn’t be very hard using puzzle-like pieces about 5" square at a time, but it would be opaque which would be a major downside.