I have 2x 3d printers which I want to connect to wirelessly using Octoprint. The printers a situated in different rooms so I don’t know if it is possible to connect the printer to the Raspberry pi(Octopi) using a cable at this distance or would you be able to set up another Raspberry Pi running Octoprint on the 2nd printer?
Any help would be greatly appreciated
If you're a wizard with Linux I.T. then you might consider this approach. Otherwise, just invest in one Raspberry Pi 3B per printer.
Many thanks, if I use 2x Raspberry Pi’s I take it you just log in to each one using there individual IP address?
Yes, or even their respective hostnames, which you can change using sudo raspi-config.
I bought a second printer that stands next to the first. Can I connect it with a cable to the second USB port in Raspbery?
Will it work or break something?
Hello @KrysD !
It simply will not work. OctoPrint is made to control one printer at a time.
If you want to control more than one printer with one Raspberry Pi, you have to install multiple instances of OctoPrint on that Pi. Quite a hack and not recommended.
Better you get another Pi for the 2nd printer.
^
But if you just want to use one at a time you can do it your way.
Create a second printer profile and switch between them before you connect to the printer of your choice.
thank you for the hint
it sounds interesting. How do I switch ports?
How will I know which printer is on which port?
Before you go any further, you have to realise you will not be able to start a print on one printer, then connect to the second printer and connect back to the first printer to check in one the progress; connecting to a printer will reset the printer, and interrupt any ongoing prints.
hmm, this is not a comfortable solution ...
The easiest way would be to this
Then just turn on the printer you want to use and there should be only on port available.
The other way would be to bind each printer to a specific port.
If you want to do that, check out the Create some udev rules for individual printer device names part of this guide or
http://thomas-messmer.com/index.php/14-free-knowledge/howtos/79-setting-up-octoprint-for-multiple-printers
use @kantlivelong s tui tool which got a similar feature
Ssh into the pi and run this line
bash <(curl -s -L https://github.com/kantlivelong/OctoPi-SystemMenu/raw/devel/src/menu.sh)
Start the detection tool, unplug and replug the printer when the tool tells you to and let it show you the output
It should look like this
add the path here
now you can select the path instead of the standard port for the printer in the connection panel
the path should always stay the same so you just have to remember which printer got which path.
You might like the way of the first guide more because you can use custom names instead - like a shortcut.
wow ..
Thank you for your extensive explanation. I go to work.
In the long run, you will probably be happier with one Raspberry Pi per printer. With the announcement of the RPi Zero 2 at a price of $15 (plus a power supply, etc.), you can almost buy two for the price you used to pay for just one.
That is, if they let you buy more than one...
