While i was reading your first comment i noticed you used PLA-F instead of PLA+ like you mentioned before. I thought at first it was a typo but when i googled it, i actually found a new type of filament lol. Quite an interesting filament from what i can see. Not sure if i ever will try it but you never know
Also very interesting that you wont let yourself get trapped in the youtube upgrade hype although a bltouch can be a godsend when i look at my prusa. I am a bit spoiled there though because of this. With octoprint i still need to use the prusaleveling addon to see if i can get it as close as possible to straight as possible and then use some nylon lock nuts to set it static to that point.
Considering your proposal to fork an python plugin for octoprint i went on a investigation spree but i am afraid that it is quite alot higher knowledge then i am comfortable with trying to get to work. I might get frustrated with it and then stop the whole project all together which would be a shame. But i wont say no to a challenge though. What i was thinking is to make some adventure type of posts on how my fusion360 exp goes (the ups and downs of course). I have some minor knowledge there and it might be a fun project to maybe set others also on the path to go try fusion 360 or some other modelling software.
Let me know if that is something that might suit the makers forum and i will see if i can find a nice format to it so it will be fun to read.
Maybe if you level it really good then add locknuts so it wont budge again? Not sure if that is possible even on the ender but on the prusa it really helps.
I always tend to go for efficiency so if i have to repeat something i will try to automate it
It is mostly always better to be an expert at something manually before we automate it.
"Efficiency" is generally an advanced goal, not a beginner's design objective; and if you notice these topics are for beginners.
It is a mistake for all beginners to bypass understanding the details of doing something manually like leveling a 3D print bed before slapping on automation upgrades.
Even experts make this design mistake.
Whether learning Kung Fu or 3D printing, repetition is the basic key to the learning process.
You are absolute right there but i would guess that if you done something for 100's of times (maybe not in your case yet) it can get boring and you would wish it can be automated. Even changing from the manual to automation can be a learning step for many
To get back on topic. Are you planning on customizing octoprint some more besides adding a couple plugins? If so what kinda things are you thinking off?
I have not thought about it much because I'm currently busy tweaking the design of Hitachi elevator lift button housings, printing and tweaking the design, doing this in an iterative fashion.
Honestly, when I first saw OctoPrint, I thought it looked very amateurish and my first thought was to port OctoPrint to Ruby On Rails and add some much nicer Javascript features and make it much sleeker.
However, my time is limited; and so I doubt I will redesign OctoPrint to be a sleeker Rails app.
I thought about writing a plugin to add a logo (image) to the background of the "show gcode" display because I want to add a logo to the upper right or left hand side. There is a plugin to add a custom background to the temperature chart, and I installed it already. I did not see any thing yet for the g-code display page.
Also, I installed a preheat button, but that button seems to only preheat the hot end, not the build plate; but maybe I missed something or there is another plugin that does it.
Also, I do not like the general layout of OctoPrint (seems so "2005" to me), but again, right now I am busy printing and testing parts for a building, and they want a total of over 200 pieces of a model I designed with three components, so that is over 600 prints; and they want around 20 more pieces for a different set of lifts and those models have two components (at this time).,
In other words, tweaking OctoPrint in the immediate future is not on my radar.
So the bottom line is that I can work with OctoPrint with how it is running now, which is "good enough".....
I am reasonable sure there is no plugin that would heat up the bed unless it is a part of some kinda start script. What maybe could work is if you would add this to your gcode. This should be possible from within Cura without much hassle.
That way when you start both would heat up and after several minutes it would start to print. To make it even better you could most likely trigger the hot end to start heating later then the bed but i am afraid this is not quite beginner friendly however.
The looks from octoprint are outdated indeed and i dont think this will change anytime soon. I still find it a shame that it only supports 1 camera (without hacking in a second one that is). For the rest it works fine for my case.
Since i use simplify3d i added a api call there that transfers the gcode straight to the raspberry for processing and while that is going i am setting the printer to preheat. Maybe thats something that could help out also if you arent using that already? That would mean less time at the outdated website
I don't think there is any reason to add it to the gcode. When we run the gcode, the bed already starts to heat up.
"Preheating" means before the gcode is running, in my mind.
It's not an issue, really. I can just preheat using the Ender controls, they are right next to me; and the main reason I preheat is when leveling the bed, because I only level the bed at the full run temp.
When I run any gcode, the bed already heats up, so adding a manual gcode command to my print code is not in my plans.
Itt would be nice to be able to preheat the bed with a button in OctoPrint just like we can preheat the nozzle in OctoPrint (with a plugin). "Preheat" means to heat before gcode is running, in my mind; and in how I operate my printer.
I don't have time to worry about it now and it's easy to push the "preheat" button on my Ender control panel to heat the bed.
Normally, I am the kind of guy that does not go looking to fix problems which are not broken; because I always have a lot to do; and so I'm basically done with OctoPrint customization for now, I think. I am not one of those "add every plugin you can" kind of person. I build projects and I revise or customize based on the requirements of the project.
Right now my priority is to redesign one of my main components because of issues with print support, which I will write about in another topic with I'm finished with it. I will explain the problem and why standard supports do not work with the current design (and function) and how I redesigned the component to compensate for the fact we are doing additive manufacturing. Or, I will take the component to a machine shop and have it milled out of aluminum. These are components which work together with around 100 micron precision and that is hard to achieve with plastic and much harder if there is support plastic on the surface. The surfaces are not in a location which is easy to sand away support.
I wish I had a CNC mill. I would cut the final design on a mill out of aluminum, not in plastic, if I could.
