OctoPrint is an awesome piece of open-source
software that, on a basic level gives you the ability to monitor and control your 3D
printer. But over the past few years, OctoPrint has
gotten much more sophisticated. It now has a whole suite of plugins that include
a mobile app to monitor and control your printer from anywhere, mesh bed level visualization,
Ai failure detection, awesome timelapse video creation. With OctoPrint you can customize your workflow
just about any way you like. I’ll show you how to set it up on a raspberry
pi, and then we’ll install some of my favorite OctoPrint plugins. Let get into it. As I mentioned, OctoPrint is a great free
and open-source software created and maintained by Gina. I would consider it one of the best upgrades
for your 3D printer. Once connected to OctoPrint, you’ll be able
to easily monitor and take advantage of the awesome plugins I mentioned earlier. Hardware requirements: So what do you need to get started? First you’ll need a raspberry pi. While just about any pi will work, it’s
best to use a raspberry pi 3 or 4. The new zero 2w also works as well. OctoPrint can also be run on other devices
like an old computer or android phone, but a raspberry pi, assuming you can get your
hands on one, is the easiest way to get started. Today, I will be using a raspberry pi 4b with
2 gb ram. You will also need
An SD card, class 10 or better and you’ll want at least 8gb of storage. I’d recommend more if you plan to store
a lot of gcode files or time-lapse vidoes. A 5V, 2.5A power supply and it needs to be
a high quality one. . The raspberry pi 4b uses a usb c. You can also use your printers power supply
to power the raspberry pi, but we won’t cover that in this video You will also need a usb cable to connect
the raspberry pi to your printer. One probably came with your printer. It is also recommended that you get some heat
sinks to prevent overheating the pi. You might want a case as well, but of course
you can always print one! Lastly, you will want a camera. A USB webcam or raspberry pi camera is recommended. Both of these options work quite well, but
one option may be better than the other depending on your use case. I am planning to make another video specifically
covering the best camera options and how to set them up, so be sure to let me know if
you want to see that. I’ll be using a logitech c920 for this video. First, lets get the software setup. Take the SD card, and insert it into your
computer. Download the Raspberry Pi Imager from raspberrypi.org/software
The software is available for both Windows and Mac. Install and run the imager Once it finished downloading, open the program. Select Choose OS,
Select other specific purpose OS, Select Octopi. This will automatically download the latest
version of the Octopi image from octoprint.org Under Choose Storage, select the SD card that
you want to install OctoPrint on. Make sure you don't have any important files
on this SD card as it will be wiped. Don't click write yet You'll want to secure
your Pi and configure the wifi first. Secure your Raspberry Pi
By default, the password to SSH into your Octopi instance is raspberry and the username
is pi. This is not very secure. You'll want to change the password to prevent
possible attacks from malicious users. Press Control+Shift+x (CMD+Shift+x on mac)
to bring up the Raspberry Pi imagers advanced options menu. Click enable SSH and enter a secure password
for the raspberry pi user. The username is pi and the password is the
one you just created. Connect your Raspberry Pi to the internet
If possible, connect your pi directly to your wireless router with an ethernet connection. This will give you the best possible connection. I’ll show you how to setup the wifi since
I assume most of you don’t have an easy way to get a wired connection. Configure Wifi with OctoPrint With the Raspberry Pi imager, wifi configuration
is a breeze. Simply enter your username and password under
Configure wifi. Be careful, this entry is space and case sensitive,
so enter the username and password exactly as it appears on your router. Under the country code section choose the
country that you are in. Click save and then click write. Once complete, eject the SD card from your
computer. Connect to OctoPrint
Put the SD Card into the bottom of the Raspberry Pi (upside-down). Plug the power cable into the Raspberry Pi
and the outlet. It will take a moment for OctoPrint to connect. Tip: Watch the green "ACT" led on the Pi. It will flash on and off for a while and then
it will turn off. Once solid, your pi is connected to the internet
and OctoPrint. Connect the Hardware
Step 1: Connect the heatsinks If you have them, place the heat sinks on
the Raspberry Pi. Remember, the heat sinks should all face the
same direction. Step 2: Put the Raspberry Pi in the case
Place the Raspberry Pi into the case if you have one. Step 3: Plug the printer cable into the Pi.
Plug the printer cable (micro USB, mini USB, or standard printer cable depending on your
3D printer) into the Raspberry Pi. Step 4: Plug the power cable into the Pi.
Plug the USB C power adapter into the Raspberry Pi. Step 5: Connect the webcam
If you are using a USB webcam, connect the webcam by plugging the usb cable into any
of the USB ports on the Raspberry Pi. If you are using a Raspberry Pi camera, place
the ribbon cable into the camera and the Pi as shown below. Be very careful with the cable. Place the other side of the ribbon cable into
the pi as shown below. The blue side of the cable should be facing
the HDMI port on the Raspberry Pi. How Do I mount the camera? There are many different ways to mount your
camera. 3D printed mounts, tripods, webcam arm mounts,
or even old boxes will all work. In this example, I am using a mini tripid
that came included with the logitech camera Printer Connection
Turn your 3D printer on, if it isn't already. Plug the printer cable into your 3D printer. Plug the power cable into a power outlet. At this point, the Raspberry Pi should be
powered on, connected to the internet and your 3D printer. Access the OctoPrint user interface
To access the OctoPrint interface, open a web browser on your computer and type http://octopi.local
into the url bar. This should bring you right to the OctoPrint
login screen. If octopi.local does not work, you will need
to locate your Octopi's IP address. You can locate your Octopi's IP address multiple
ways. Here are two:
Windows File Explorer On a windows computer:
Open the File Explorer Click the Network tab
Note: If you have Network Sharing disabled, you will need to turn it on in order to see
your Pi in the network tab. Your home router:
Another option is to find the IP address through your home Wi-Fi router settings. You will need your router username and password
(this may be different from your WiFi password), and you will need to know your router's IP
address. If you don't know it, PC Mag has a great article
on accessing your Wi-Fi Router's settings. Once you have your router's IP address and
the username and password for the router, type the ip address into a browser url. It might be , "192.168.1.1" or it might be
something else. You will be greeted by some type of login
screen. Enter your username and password. You should see something like "connected devices." Select it, and you will see all of the devices
currently connected to your router. The once with "Octopi" in it is the one you
are looking for. Once you find it, type the IP address into
a browser window. Complete the Setup Wizard Once you are able to access the OctoPrint
Interface, follow the on-screen instructions to complete the Setup Wizard. You'll want to set your 3D printer's build
volume and nozzle diameter in the printer profile section. Note, this information does not change any
slicer related Gcode settings, only controls within OctOprint. Install Plugins
One of OctoPrints greatest features is its open-source plugin system. In the Plugin Manager you can install plugins
for visualizing how level your bed is, creating magic-like time-lapse videos, catching failures
using Artificial Intelligence or remote monitoring/controlling your 3D printer from outside your home network. Let’s start by installing our favorit OctoPrint
plugin, Obico for OctoPrint. With this plugin, I will be able to monitor
and control my printer from anywhere on any device. There is a mobile app for ios and android
that lets me check the printer’s live webcam stream, start and stop prints, get print status
notifications, and get added peace of mind with AI failure detection. When needed, I can even access the full OctoPrint
interface from anywhere. To install Obico for OctoPrint, open up OctoPrint,
click settings Find the plugin manager tab, click get more,
and then search Obico for OctoPrint. Click install, and let the plugin install. That’s basically how you will install any
OctoPrint plugin. Most plugins will require some sort of configuration
once installed. To configure Obico for OctoPrint, follow the
plugin wizard that will pop up once the plugin is installed. Quick sidenote on pricing as I am sure some
of you are wondering. Obico has a free plan that is 100% free for
one printer. It gives you unlimited print monitoring but
has some framerite limitations for the free version and limited Ai failure detection hours. The pro plan, which starts at $4 per per month
gives you some awesome features that you can try out for free since Obico drops you into
a 30 day free trial right when you sign up. You can try all the features, and upgrade
if you find them worthwhile. If you don’t upgrade, your account will
just get converted to a free plan at the end of the trial. In addition to the different Obico cloud plans,
Obico is 100% open-source, so if you have the technical chops including some linux and
networking knowledge, you can configure and self-host your own Obico server using your
own hardware. I will include a link to the github repository
with more information below. You can install Obico for OctoPrint using
the mobile app or on the obico website. I’ll go with the mobile app. Download the mobile app if you haven’t already. Once downloaded, create an account. Once you have created an account, you can
link your 3D printer with the Obico Cloud. If you are self-hosting, you can still take
advantage of the Obico mobile app and other features by linking your self-hosted server. Click link printer. If this is your first time linking your printer,
Obico will automatically identify your raspberry pi and ask you if you want to connect. If the automatic link doesn’t work, click
link manually. Now go back to the OctoPrint page you had
open. Click next one the setup wizard and a six
digit code will be shown. Enter the code shown into the Obico mobile
app. Once your printer is connected, you can use
the mobile app to check in on your prints, test out the AI failure detection, get print
status notifications. You can also access the full OctoPrint interface
safely and securely from anywhere with OctoPrint tunneling on your phone or desktop computer. Now that we have Obico setup, I will share
a few of my other favorite OctoPrint plugins. OctoPrint’s print time estimations can sometimes
be way off. Print time genius is a simple plugin that
gives you accurate print time estimates that are up to date. Octolapse, one of my favorite plugins, gives
you the ability to make these fantastic timelapse videos. Teaching Tech made an awesome video on getting
started with Octolapse, so I’ll link that above. Another great plugin if you tend to print
plates of parts, or really anytime you are printing with more than one part on the build
plate is the Exclude region plugin. With this plugin, if one part gets knocked
off the bed but the others look like they will print fine, you can exclude the region
where the part fell off and let the rest of your parts keep printing. The first step of installing any of these
plugins will be the same as installing the Obico plugin, but as I mentioned before, each
plugin will have it’s own requirements to get it configured properly. Many of the plugins have really good documentation
to help you get started. You can explore plugins directly in the plugin
manager within OctoPrint, or you can find more details about them in the plugin repository
on OctoPrint.org which is linked below. There are a ton of other awesome OctoPrint
plugins that I haven’t mentioned, so let me know if there is a specific plugin that
you can’t live without, or if you would like a video specifically dedicated to OctoPrint
plugins. Well, thanks for watching, if you enjoyed
this video, please give it a thumbs up and consider subscribing to get notified about
future videos.
