Raspberry Pi3 USB & wifi performance  

Re: Raspberry Pi3 USB & wifi performance

I am planning on adding my Pi3 tonight.. Why would you upload to the Pi via USB? I assumed the Pi could be "mounted" on the PC, so you would simply save the file to the mount point from your slicer?

Re: Raspberry Pi3 USB & wifi performance

Hi BigDogBro1,

I assume you mean that you are uploading files to the MK3 via USB and want to know if it will be the same experience with uploading the file from the Pi 3 (Octoprint) to the MK3 via USB over wireless. Yes it will just as slow unfortunately. This is because the USB on the MK3 isn't true USB. It is serial over USB. You are limited to the serial baud rate on that Einsy port.

There are two ways around this, upload the file to Pi 3 and print over USB. Uploads will be quick over wireless to the Pi 3 and printing from the internal memory of the Pi 3 shouldn’t impact performance. However I think you lose some of the features that you get from printing from SD card. However in turn you gain some features of Octoprint by letting it control the print job. I also remember there being some issues with skipped lines in gcode that affected older MK3 firmware versions when printing this way.

The other way around the serial baud rate limit is to use a Toshiba FlashAir SD card. Effectively the SD card becomes a file share on your wireless network and you simply copy your files to it directly and then initiate the print from SD on the Pi 3 or directly on the MK3. There are lots of guides on how to set this up including this forum and https://www.prusaprinters.org/easy-wireless-printing-with-flashair-sd-cards/ . I hope this helps.

Cheers,

Micheal

Re: Raspberry Pi3 USB & wifi performance

Thanks Guys!

I would WiFi to the RPi3 then USB to the MK3. I was unaware of the loss and benefits of the Pi3 and Octoprint.

When sending the file to the RPi3 does the MK3 start printing on its own once the file has buffered a bit or do you then have to tell it to start printing?

Re: Raspberry Pi3 USB & wifi performance

You tell it to start printing whenever you are ready. It keeps a list of uploaded files on the rPI and you can then reprint any of them whenever you want.

Re: Raspberry Pi3 USB & wifi performance

When sending the file to the RPi3 does the MK3 start printing on its own once the file has buffered a bit or do you then have to tell it to start printing?

No, the RPi3/OctoPi will not start the print automatically... although I think there is a plugin for the OctoPi that will allow this. Think of the OctoPi as a mini computer connected to the MK3 that you connect to remotely. The storage space on the RPi is the space that you have to store the GCode/STL/etc... If you have a cam you can also store Video files of the print job.

Re: Raspberry Pi3 USB & wifi performance

The other way around the serial baud rate limit is to use a Toshiba FlashAir SD card.

I've been running FlashAir on both my Mk2s and Mk3, works perfect on the Mk2s, but sometimes on the Mk3 when first powered on, the FlashAir does not show up on the LAN until I remove and reinsert to SD. Once it's on the LAN and the Mk3 stays powered on, it's there. I assume there's some bug in the Mk3 firmware that causes that because that FlashAir SD card works perfect in the Mk2s.

Initial setup takes a little time, but well worth it. Speed wise, it's pretty fast. I just tested a 10MB gcode upload and it took 18 seconds to both generate and upload...about 12 seconds to just copy the 10MB file to the FlashAir.

Re: Raspberry Pi3 USB & wifi performance

[...] Initial setup takes a little time, but well worth it. Speed wise, it's pretty fast. I just tested a 10MB gcode upload and it took 18 seconds to both generate and upload...about 12 seconds to just copy the 10MB file to the FlashAir.
I've had a W-04 FlashAir going for a while now. The basics work well, but copies regularly fail resulting in a 0 length file. Every file on the card is also reset to the same time & date. I'm having better luck using sync software, but still get the occasional 0 length file. Is this a common problem?

Re: Raspberry Pi3 USB & wifi performance

I've never had/seen those issues on my Mk2s or Mk3... however both printers are in the same room as the router. So the FlashAirs are all of 10 ft. max from the wireless source. I do think that the FlashAir SD cards are somewhat limited in range.

Re: Raspberry Pi3 USB & wifi performance

Thanks for all the comments. I have a Toshiba Flashair W-03 and it's in the same room as the router. It has been running great for months now. I was interested in the new RPi3 B+ as an alternate feed if needed.