1

Topic: stand alone solidoodle with the raspberry pi

normally you need to connect your printer to you computer for it to work
i did not really like the idea of using my computer intensively while its printing so i came up with a solution

so instead of connecting my printer to my computer i connected a very small and cheap computer to my printer
the computer im using is the raspberry pi:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/92329746/2013-04-06%2015.14.23.jpg

some of you might be familiar with this very small and low cost linux operated device and i have to say it works perfectly with the solidoodle

the latest model of the raspberry pi costs only 35 dollars!!
and here are some specs

Broadcom BCM2835 700MHz ARM1176JZFS processor with FPU and Videocore 4 GPU
GPU provides Open GL ES 2.0, hardware-accelerated OpenVG, and 1080p30 H.264 high-profile decode
GPU is capable of 1Gpixel/s, 1.5Gtexel/s or 24GFLOPs with texture filtering and DMA infrastructure
512 MB RAM
10/100 BaseT Ethernet ports
HDMI socket
(2) USB 2.0 socket
RCA video socket
SD card socket
Powered from microUSB socket
3.5 mm audio out jack
Header footprint for camera connection
Size: 85.6 x 53.98 x 17 mm

im using a wireless keyboard/mouse combination to control it.
at the moment its connected to my TV but im looking for a small maybe 7 inch monitor or a car monitor so i can make it truly stand-alone
i use my main computer to slice the files which i put in a network folder so i can download them from my raspberry pi

once i have found a affordable monitor i will update this tread to show my final layout
i also added 3 attachments one of my tv screen running pronterface, one of my printer and one of the rapsberry pi next to a small printed figurine

Post's attachments

2013-04-06 14.59.33.jpg
2013-04-06 14.59.33.jpg 1.73 mb, 2 downloads since 2013-04-06 

2013-04-06 14.59.38.jpg
2013-04-06 14.59.38.jpg 1.92 mb, 2 downloads since 2013-04-06 

2013-04-06 15.56.02.jpg
2013-04-06 15.56.02.jpg 1.91 mb, 2 downloads since 2013-04-06 

You don't have the permssions to download the attachments of this post.

2

Re: stand alone solidoodle with the raspberry pi

You're a 3d printer enthusiast and your pi had a molded case?  You should be ashamed.  smile

Seriously though, if you look around the forum you will find threads where folks are running some kind of server software on the pi.  You can run the pi headless and control your printer through a browser.

3

Re: stand alone solidoodle with the raspberry pi

sorry... XD

i have read about it but it all looked pretty complicated
im new to linux and setting up solidoodle and even the network map already was a challenge for me smile

and on the other hand it might look really good to have a small screen on the solidoodle with all the stats showing

either way i will probably try them both smile

4

Re: stand alone solidoodle with the raspberry pi

Here's a nice 1280x800 HDMI 7" display at Adafruit that I've been considering for a RaspPi on my printer. They've got one in NTSC resolution for about half of that one's price too.

Don: Folger Tech 2020 Kossel Rev A + Borosilicate + Snow Effector
        Davinci 1.0 + Repetier : Filastruder
        SD3 + RAMPS + Lawsy Carriages + E3D + Borosilicate + ... : Cupcake

5

Re: stand alone solidoodle with the raspberry pi

they look good but i think they are a bit too expensive for my needs

6

Re: stand alone solidoodle with the raspberry pi

got the vnc set up and it works really well

7 (edited by Books 2013-04-08 16:56:14)

Re: stand alone solidoodle with the raspberry pi

Looks great! I just got my RPi over the weekend and plan on doing this as well.

My plan is to also slice on my main PC and push the gcode up to RPi. I'm going to keep it headless and will have to see if Repetier Host or Pronterface has a terminal interface. I'm also going to try to put plug in a Wifi Dongle, should be cool.

8

Re: stand alone solidoodle with the raspberry pi

Can you just install a Wi-Fi module and remote desktop? Just A Thought

9

Re: stand alone solidoodle with the raspberry pi

it should work with a wifi dongle but that depends on the dongle i think
and im using tightVNC for the remote desktop which works perfectly
its a little hassle to install it on a pi but there are enough tutorials on the net

i can even use my phone to connect to the pi and give commands to the printer

10

Re: stand alone solidoodle with the raspberry pi

Wifi dongles are fussy on a Pi in terms of whether or not they need a separate, external power supply.

I have one running as a media centre with Raspbmc and use an Edup dongle. Low power and drivers on board with raspbmc.