Hi - new member with an Anet A2

[RogerR]

True enough. I would have been able to claim that never happens with a laptop....but mine rebooted this morning just after starting a print (I didn't turn on it's A/C charger and it ran out of juice).

I'm thinking of going that route so I can also use it as a local server to store files for printing. RIght now, I edit inside and have to leave that computer on while I go slice the file out in the shop for printing. But I have a bad habit of putting the inside computer to sleep, so I need to come back in just to wake it up. With an always-on Pi, I could send the files before heading out to the shop.

Would one PI run two printers?

RR

 

[The Hat]

I ran my CR-10 direct by USB from my PC (9 metre cable with Hub), it was a trial using Benchy just to see how it would behave, the results: it took much longer to print and stopped printing just as it finished the roof section, no cigar this time.

I never figured out why it didn’t finish, so back to the trusty Micro card...

 

[FryingSaucer]

Would one PI run two printers?

I've not tried (unlike others on this forum one printer is quite enough for me). But yes, you can for example. I just use an old Pi I bought a few years ago and never used. It works fine at the speeds I use on one printer. Whether it would do so with >1 printer at higher speeds I don't know, but recent models have a lot more processing power.

I'm thinking of going that route so I can also use it as a local server to store files for printing

I tend to store my prints on my computer, just because it's easy to organise and access them from there. Also I slice on the computer, not the Pi. However when I print from the computer the model is first copied to the SD card on the Pi, and I could keep and access the models there if I wanted.

There's lots of things can be done with OctoPrint. There's a very active user community. I just installed the basic configuration (which was quite easy), and it just worked. That's one of the things I like about it.

 

[Nifty]

I'm lazy, so I take the risk and basically print anything under 2-hours direct USB from CURA. Anything longer and I'll usually stick it onto the SD card.

 

[The Hat]

I started to use the USB stick with a Micro card in the bottom of it,

but found the micro card was difficult to get out to put in the printer, and I then found this type of USB stick which can take SD and Micro cards.

Now I leave the Micro card in the stick all the time and transfer my images using the standard USB plug and then use the other end of the stick to plug into the printer, it’s fairly handy...

 

[Nifty]

There should be a way to write to the SD card left in the machine FROM the usb port. That would be a perfect / easy solution.