Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread  

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

1 day of printing down.  Just test prints to date.  I think I prefer it over the MK3S.  It will print most of what I need to print.  

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

My Oct 13th Order (Black, Filament Sensor and both sheets) shipped Yesterday (4th Feb)...

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Posted by: @jweaver

My Oct 13th Order (Black, Filament Sensor and both sheets) shipped Yesterday (4th Feb)...

Congrats.  You are gonna love it.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Posted by: @charles-h13

Posted by: @jweaver

My Oct 13th Order (Black, Filament Sensor and both sheets) shipped Yesterday (4th Feb)...

Congrats.  You are gonna love it.

Cheers.. I am sure I will although i don't think its going to get much use until the Network features are released as its location will make it much harder to use than my MK3.

i am still not clear if there is any way to use it with anything other than an SD... OctoPi is an option and I may go down this route.. But I need to find a way to get my GCODE files to the SD without physically moving the card back/forth between the Mini and my PC... FlashAir isn't going to work as its out of range.. my only option is a physical Ethernet connection.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@charles-h13

This is giving hope to us doomed to rot in the queue 😀

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@jweaver

It doesnt have an SD card reader. only USB. However, with my MK3s units, I use a Toshiba Flashair card, which is an SD card with a built in Wifi card. Once properly configured you can map it as a network drive so that you can just drag and drop GCODE directly to the printer.

I have been looking and it looks as though there are some USB storage drives that have similar features however, they are MUCH more expensive. I may look into those until the network features are available on the mini.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@littleneutrino

Why not just run Octoprint?

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Posted by: @littleneutrino

@jweaver

It doesnt have an SD card reader. only USB. However, with my MK3s units, I use a Toshiba Flashair card, which is an SD card with a built in Wifi card. Once properly configured you can map it as a network drive so that you can just drag and drop GCODE directly to the printer.

I have been looking and it looks as though there are some USB storage drives that have similar features however, they are MUCH more expensive. I may look into those until the network features are available on the mini.

No SD slot? So how can use a FlashAir card (which is an SD)?

I am more than familiar with FlashAir as I have one in my MK3... But thats located next to my Wifi Router and works flawlessly.. But the Mini is the other side of the house, so an Ethernet cable is my only real option... At worse I could use a Wifi extender and a FlashAir.. or just use a PiZero and go down the Octopi.

But ideally I would like to use ethernet to drive it so wonder what options I have until Prusa release their Network features.

Edit: So you mean a USB/SD reader.. With the FlashAir card in that? If its takes a USB stick, that might be OK until the Network features are available...

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@jweaver

Sorry for the confusion, I meant to say on my MK3s Units I use the Flashair, I have not received my Mini yet, but Yes i plan to use a Usb SD card reader and a Flashair until the firmware allows for network control.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@kristoffertell

I have octoprint on a few of my MK3s units, especially helped with the nylock upgrade however, I started doing the Flashair cards before I started doing Octoprint, so I already had the cards.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Posted by: @littleneutrino

@kristoffertell

I have octoprint on a few of my MK3s units, especially helped with the nylock upgrade however, I started doing the Flashair cards before I started doing Octoprint, so I already had the cards.

Same here.. When i got my MK3 I bought a FlashAir and also setup OctoPi.. I alternated between them and liked both solutions.. But now days I just use the FlashAir.

I would be more than happy to use the same solution on the Mini, but its way too far from the router for FlashAir to work.. So other than a Wifi repeater, I am going to have to use an Ethernet cable and OctoPi may be my only option.. I have a spare Zero (which I originally bought for the Mk3) so it woudn't take much to get up and running...

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@jweaver

Wifi repeater/mesh?

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Posted by: @towlerg

@jweaver

Wifi repeater/mesh?

Could do... It was an option, but its a bit drastic just to get to get a FlashAir card working.. i am sure i can come up with a solutoin.. It would be helpful to know how long the Network features are going ot take to develop/release to work out how much time to spend on this.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

Posted by: @charles-h13

1 day of printing down.  Just test prints to date.  I think I prefer it over the MK3S.  It will print most of what I need to print.  

Congrats on finally getting your mini. Can you confirm that PR adequately addressed the various issues many were having from failed parts to poor assembly? Also, would you say the print speed and quality are on par with your MK3?

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

I will post more on speed tonight.  I think it is actually faster.  I am going to print the same item with the same filament and confirm speed tonight.  

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@jweaver

There is no need to spend  a lot of money and try to interface a FlashAir card with a printer. Especially since we have not seen the network interface yet.

But if you feel like getting your hands dirty you can hack around something similar and better cheaply with the following components:

• A raspberry pi zero W ( the one with the wifi model ) (5-10 euro)
• A pi zero USB Stem (5-10 euro)
• An 32 GB SD card U3 (5-10 euro)

Then the implementation is software based and can be made to fit your needs.

1. Flash the default raspbian lite.
2. Set up a Samba share for windows networks or an NFS share for Linux.
3. Set up a watchdog event monitoring for file creation/modification on that directing using Python3 and the watchdog module. The idea behind it that you can set it to automatically do something when a new file is added in that network exposed directory.
4. Enable the USB Gadget functionality on Linux, following the guides for usb-stem to set it up as a mass storage device. This will require that you create a file to act as the storage container ie usb-cool-prints.bin.
5. Each time the watchdog detects a new file to the networked folder, it should stop the usb gadget, mount the storage and copy it over, then restart the usb gadget service. As far as the printer is concerned it will be the equivalent of unplugging a usb-stick and re-plugging it.
6. Then feel free to extend the functionality for other cool features.

I have been using this approach to distribute firmwares in a variety of devices and it never fails.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

I've used a raspberry pi with octoprint for years.  The pi also doubles as a VPN so I can remote in to my home network under an encrypted channel.  I highly recommend it, although I'd go raspberry pi 4 if you're doing the VPN like I am.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@jweaver

Toshiba FlashAir works great with the Mini - I use it now. Same setup as MK2.5/MK3 with an USB adapter.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@area51

I have no doubt it works.. My problem is one of "range".. When i got my FlashAir card I had a lot of problems and did some tests and found that it was only useable 1/2 way across my house.. And my Mini is not going to be close enough to the router.

I was going to use the Pi-Zero that I bought for my MK3 (before I used a Pi3), but have now realised it doesn't have Ethernet... So I will either have to buy an ethernet adapter or just stump up for a full sized Pi.

So I need to have a think about what I am going to use in the short term.. There are many solutions for not a lot of money, but I think I need to wait and see when I get it (late this week or early next) and then work out a plan then.

For now I will just use a USB stick and swap it in and out so its not the end of the world... Cheers all.

RE: Unofficial Prusa Mini Wait Thread

@munkisquisher

these shock stickers are essentially like Burst disks for pressure, they are set at a pre determined impact rating, could be a membrane, glass, plastic ect and when the required energy to break the thing hits it, then it breaks and indicates that the shock has been reached, they come in many different ratings and are often used on crash tests and deliveries.

a long time ago we used to use a impact system that utilised a inked rubber sphere inside a paperlined metallic box that is mounted to the package, when the package has an impact or sufficient G force a mark is left on the paper, a bigger mark is bigger energy, at the end of the journey the paper is inspected and put against a chard depicting the required energy to cause the ink mark!

an American company used a flat plate like object similar sized to a coaster, this had a channel inside that looked like a pyramid, which opened up to a smaller upside down pyramid ontop. it had an inked line and above the line was a sticky surface. the theory was if the sand/glitter stuff (which is in the bottom pyramid) got stuck to the glue in the smaller one then it was handled incorrectly considering that it was a £30k 3D printer 5 years or so ago it was deemed ok!