Basic questions on Fusion 360 to AstroPrint to MK3?  

Re: Basic questions on Fusion 360 to AstroPrint to MK3?

Astroprint is very easy to use and comes with cloud monitoring that works very well out of the box. The part that irked me for initial setup is that they "require" unecessary stuff to setup. They say you need a wifi dongle when, you actually don't. You can program your wifi network the same way you can in octopi, but it isn't mentioned as an option on the docs and installation instructions. If you google it, it does come up on their forums.

Other than that it is incredibly simple, the slicing can be done in their cloud which is much faster than your raspberry pi. Personally, I think slic3r or prusa control are better at support material. PrusaControl is very user friendly for a beginner.

If I would describe the differences:
Astroprint = more user friendly, less plugins (for now, they are going to monetize this eventually), and comes with remote access with minimal setup
Octopi = more tinkerer friendly, more plugins with useful features (like filament runout sensor via GPIO, printjob cost estimator, Slic3r/Cura/dedicated GUI Slicer on the pi). It has remote access support built into the image but you have to manually set it up and doesn't come with a dedicated way to access via remote control (but I use an android app and get the same functionality as Astroprint cloud). Also... they just announced an Astroprint cloud plugin, but I haven't been able to find it yet.

Re: Basic questions on Fusion 360 to AstroPrint to MK3?

How does the "Polar Cloud" plugin for Octoprint factor into this equation in terms of remote access?

Specifically remote viewing to keep tabs on a print?

https://plugins.octoprint.org/plugins/polarcloud/

Re: Basic questions on Fusion 360 to AstroPrint to MK3?

Hey guys!

Dilanka here from AstroPrint :ugeek:

@andrew.4 nailed most of it.. but..

Let me try to clarify some things...

I gather that OctoPrint is another option for printer management software, but apparently it's a little more involved to set up, and AstroPrint might be easier for a noob like me?

In short, AstroPrint is for non-geeks interested in a simple plug and play solution. Although, if you are a geek, there's plenty of advanced settings you can access under the hood.

Octoprint is great, and is generally used by much more technical people interesting in tweaking stuff.

(If you'd like to build your AstroBox Gateway, follow these directions)

💡 Fun fact: AstroPrint originally started out as a fork of OctoPrint, but we have veered too far with a heavy focus on the cloud. So now, AstroPrint can be very much complementary to OctoPrint.

💡 In fact, we JUST released an OctoPrint plugin (in beta) for folks interested in connecting their existing OctoPrint box into our cloud.

I hear that AstroPrint offers slicer functionality, but my friend with the Prusa (MK2) said he's had problems with it and does better using Prusa's version of the Cura slicer. So would the workflow then be to save an stl file from Fusion 360, run it through Prusa's slicer, then get the output into AstroPrint, from which it goes to the MK3?

We do have a dedicated cloud slicer -- and since our slicer uses CURA engine, you should be able to get similar results with some tweaking.

You can certainly upload the STL directly to AstroPrint and have a (sliced) GCODE file sent to your printer.

If you don't want to do that you can use Prusa's slicer -- HOWEVER, then, you'll have to upload the GCODE file to your LOCAL ASTROBOX instead of the cloud.

This is because we don't accept the upload of GCODE on our cloud platform *right now* -- this feature should be available sometime during 2018.

One last thing, we recently released AstroPrint Desktop AND AstroPrint Mobile -- check those out. I think you'll certainly find those to be great compliments to your setup. 😉

The part that irked me for initial setup is that they "require" unecessary stuff to setup. They say you need a wifi dongle when, you actually don't. You can program your wifi network the same way you can in octopi, but it isn't mentioned as an option on the docs and installation instructions.

You are correct --- keep in mind that vast majority of our users aren't comfortable with editing config files via command line or messing around with linux.

Plus, our product is NOT aimed at the technical folks to begin with -- so, while it is POSSIBLE to do without the additional WiFi dongle, we recommend it to people because it's a easier solution.

The built-in WiFi on the Raspberry Pi 3 cannot maintain a simultaneous network connection to your WiFi network and broadcast it’s own hotspot like we require on our Astrobox Gateways.

The reason an additional WiFi dongle (We've tested this Edimax dongle) is needed is to circumvent this issue.

Keep in mind that the internal WiFi is STILL used and thhe need for the additional WiFi dongle is mainly to support hotspot functionality.

If one doesn't want/need hotspot functionality, they can surely use the AstroBox Gateway via ethernet.

I know it's a bit annoying, so we are SLOOWLY implementing solutions to drop the WiFi dongle! 😉

💡 Re: PLUGINS: Our API is ALMOST ready for public release and a bunch of developers are already playing around with the API. We expect a lot of fun third party apps and integrations to be built on our API in the future.

If you have any ideas, please suggest them on this thread.

Also, by "cloud plugin" if you are referring to our OctoPrint Plugin -- it is available here.

How does the "Polar Cloud" plugin for Octoprint factor into this equation in terms of remote access?

Specifically remote viewing to keep tabs on a print?

https://plugins.octoprint.org/plugins/polarcloud/

Good timing!

We actually released our own OctoPrint Plugin just days ago.

This will allow you to securely connect your existing OctoPi to the AstroPrint Cloud for FREE without any additional costs.

Feel free to test it out and let us know how it goes.

We are proactively improving all of our products based on user feedback. 😎

Re: Basic questions on Fusion 360 to AstroPrint to MK3?

Thanks very much to both Dilanka and andrew.r4 -- that's all a big help to me in getting oriented. Some questions:

1) At this point I'm just trying to make sure I understand how all the pieces connect together. If I go ahead with an Astrobox Gateway on a Raspberry Pi, I gather there are these scenarios:

-- Export STL file from Fusion 360, run through Prusa's slicer software on my computer, transfer gcode output to my local Astrobox Gateway. In this scenario, how is the transfer of the gcode file made from my computer to the Astrobox Gateway? By wifi?

or

-- Export STL file from Fusion 360, upload to Astroprint cloud via web browser, run it through Astroprint's slicer, transfer to local Astrobox Gateway (via an internet connection between the Astrobox Gateway and the Astroprint cloud?).

Is that basically it?

2) How does the local Astrobox Gateway on the Raspberry Pi connect to the Prusa MK3?

3) My friend who uses an Astrobox Gateway with a Prusa MK2 said he had experienced issues with Astroprint's slicer. He said that in his experience it often ejects the printer filament at the beginning of a print, and so he uses Prusa's slicer instead. Is this a known bug?

Thanks again --

Re: Basic questions on Fusion 360 to AstroPrint to MK3?

Export STL file from Fusion 360, run through Prusa's slicer software on my computer, transfer gcode output to my local Astrobox Gateway. In this scenario, how is the transfer of the gcode file made from my computer to the Astrobox Gateway? By wifi?

You can access the AstroBox Gateway locally via it's OWN hotspot OR via the local network (by going to http://astrobox-1234.local OR http://10.10.0.1 in your browser) -- just be sure to be connected to the same WiFi network as the AstroBox Gateway.

You can also use AstroPrint Desktop for this.

Export STL file from Fusion 360, upload to Astroprint cloud via web browser, run it through Astroprint's slicer, transfer to local Astrobox Gateway (via an internet connection between the Astrobox Gateway and the Astroprint cloud?).

Once you upload your STL to your cloud account and initiate a print, it will automatically send the GCODE to your printer and start the print.

Is that basically it?

For the most part, yes. 😉

How does the local Astrobox Gateway on the Raspberry Pi connect to the Prusa MK3? .

via USB.

My friend who uses an Astrobox Gateway with a Prusa MK2 said he had experienced issues with Astroprint's slicer. He said that in his experience it often ejects the printer filament at the beginning of a print, and so he uses Prusa's slicer instead. Is this a known bug?

Honestly, I am not sure about this specific use case.

If you run into trouble, we are quite responsive on our Forums and via our ticket system.

You are always welcome there 😎

Re: Basic questions on Fusion 360 to AstroPrint to MK3?

Thank you!

Re: Basic questions on Fusion 360 to AstroPrint to MK3?

I installed the plugin the other day. So far so good. My mk2 is down for maintenance and I just got my mk3 today (build Friday). This is a nice alternative to the printoid app and its compatible with iOS (which I was looking to switch to soon). I have also had issues with the built in cura slicer in the cloud. It works, but not as good of quality as Slic3r from the PC. The supports aren't as nice. I do have the astroprint keychain that I printed from the cloud slicer and its functional, but the text was under extruded. If I used it every day, I would change the filament settings, but I'm happy with my other slicers for now.

Re: Basic questions on Fusion 360 to AstroPrint to MK3?

I installed the plugin the other day. So far so good.

Thanks for the update, useful info there.