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17 Dec 2019

Long gap since my last update.

Geeetech A10 and OctoPrint

Life has been busy. Besides that, I got my Geeetech A10 3D printer and have been experimenting with that.

More doco to come on the 3D printer later, but here are the highlights:

  • OctoPrint:
    • OctoPrint is excellent Open Source software for controlling the printer.
    • It controls most 3D printers via USB "serial" commands (which look like they are in G-Code).
    • Most people use it with a Raspberry Pi, but it can be manually installed quite easily on Ubuntu or Debian.
    • I installed it under a fresh install of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS 64-bit on an old Intel Core 2 Duo desktop machine with 4GB of RAM.
    • I got a Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000 webcam to use for remote video monitoring.
    • I set up an OpenVPN server and UFW to help me restrict and firewall remote access to OctoPrint.
    • By using an OpenVPN client on my phone, I can now remotely connect and control my Geeetech A10, and view its webcam.
    • I did find that sometimes there would be a delay in OctoPrint sending control commands to the 3D printer, and sometimes it would stop responding completely. I can't remember if I power-cycled the 3D printer, restarted OctoPrint, or restarted the whole server in order to get around that.
    • I was able to successfully upload a simple .gcode file to OctoPrint and have it print. I haven't tried using OctoPrint for slicing yet, though.
  • I've done a couple of simple test prints and I think I've got the bed leveled well, now. I positioned it very close to the print head because it seems the glass plate is very slightly uneven. Seems to work OK.
  • I designed a very simple model in SketchUp Make and exported it as a "COLLADA" (.dae) file, which I then imported into Cura. Cura got the scale wrong, and I'm not exactly sure why. I was able to rescale and print it by comparing measurements in SketchUp with the reported model dimensions in Cura.
  • I tried the Heges 3D scanner with an iPhone XS mirror attachment but it was frustrating: It's very hard to remain stable enough that Heges won't abort the scan or corrupt it. For AU$13.99 I was not impressed with Heges, and so I might try Scandy next, and I might also try this rotation stand.
  • I should try printing some test models.

Digispark USB under Linux

The next project I want to work on is related to the 3D printer.

Goal: A simple command-line-based way that I can turn the mains power on and off to the 3D printer. This will allow me, remotely via OctoPrint, to switch on the printer only when required. This should include addition of LED strip lights, too, but that can run from the same mains power switch.

I figure the easiest way to do this is to use a Digipark, with DigiCDC - Examples: 1; 2

Other code examples, inc. DigiUSB RubyGem: http://digistump.com/wiki/digispark/tutorials/debugging

NOTE: For testing DigiCDC on Windows, FTDriver might be required...?

There's also the option of using DigiUSB but apparently this is older and might require extra overhead to get it working on Linux.