Octoprint is a free open-source platform to control your 3D Printer remotely from any web browser. In this guide, we will go over step by step what it takes to install OctoPrint. Octoprint has many features and plug-ins including a webcam, slicer, an easy-to-navigate GUI, and much more! If you are still controlling your printer through a USB cable and PC you’re missing out. Get unplugged with OctoPrint and control your 3D Printer from anywhere without a PC attached.

What hardware do I need to install octoprint?

You need a couple of things in order to get Octoprint installed.

The SBC (Single Board Computer). Octoprint works on a number of these boards. Directly compatible boards to install Octoprint on our Raspberry Pi A, B, A+, B+, B2, 3, Zero, and Zero W. In this example we are going to use a Raspberry Pi 3 as it is an “out-of-the-box” SBC.

Hardware List

• Raspberry Pi 3
• Micro SDHC Card 32gb
• Power Adapter 5V 2.5A (if starter kit is not purchased)

Optional Components

• Raspberry Pi Camera Module or Supported USB WebCAM
• Raspberry Pi 3 Starter Kit or Print this THING
• USB Cable – Printer Main Board to Raspberry Pi Port. (if you don’t already have one)
• USB Micro SDHC Card reader (if you don’t already have one)

That’s it you are now ready to install Octoprint on your raspberry pi!

The Software

OctoPrint is the snappy web interface for your 3D printer that allows you to control and monitor all aspects of your printer and print jobs, right from your browser.

Go to http://octoprint.org/download/ and download the current version of Octoprint

This will download a .zip file that will look something like this.

Unzip the files using your preferred archiver. I recommend WinRAR.

This will extract an .img file into your specified directory.

Ok, now we need to burn the .img file to your Micro SDHC Card. To do this we will use a free program called Etcher.

Download Etcher at https://etcher.io/ and install the software.

Using Etcher

Using etcher is really easy and happens in 3 steps

1. Select the .img file from the directory you extracted it to
2. Select your Micro SDHC card
3. Flash!

That’s it! You’ll see the progress of the IMG burn to your sd card.

Configuring OctoPrint

There is really not much you need to do to get OctoPrint configured.  To install Octoprint all we need to do now is set up your internet connection.

Open your Micro SDHC card on your pc and you’ll see a file list from when the .img file was burned to the disk.

Find and open the file with notepad++ or another free advanced text editor.

Once you have this open you will see lines of code all starting with “#”. This # comments out the lines and tells the board to ignore that line.

Most commonly you will be setting up at line 26 WPA/WPA2 secured.

To set this up simply remove the # from the 3 lines and provide your SSID Information (wifi name and password).

Save the file and then close the notepad editor.

Insert the Micro SDHC Card in the slot of your Raspberry Pi. Connect your Raspberry Pi to your 3D Printer with the USB cable and any other additional components.

OctoPrint First Boot Screens

Power up your raspberry pi and wait about 1-2 minutes. It needs some time to boot up for the first time.

Finding your OctoPrint IP Address

The easiest way to find your OctpPrints new IP address is to log on to your internet router. Typically this is done by entering 192.168.1.0 or 192.168.1.1 in your web browser.

Login to your router and view your wireless connected devices.

Copy and Paste your IP Address into your browser and you’ll see the Octoprint setup screen;

If you plan to use the Cura Slicer on Octoprint make sure you set your 3D Printers parameters on the printer profile screen. If you are just going to upload .gcode files then you don’t need to set that up but it’s good practice to enter that info just in case you need it later.

Congratulations you have now learned how to install OctoPrint!

Accessing OctoPrint outside your network

If you want to access your 3D Printer outside of your home network you will need to access the port forwarding settings of your internet router.

Log in to your router like we did in the previous steps (Typically this is done by entering 192.168.1.0 or 192.168.1.1 in your web browser.)

Now locate the advanced settings and find where your router has the port forwarding settings…

Make a new entry with your OctoPrint information with External Port set to 80 and use both protocols;

Once saved and enabled you can now enter your public IP address in any browser and control your 3D Printer.

You can find your public IP by going to http://www.whatsmyip.org/ and it will be displayed near the top of the screen.

Enter this public IP address and OctoPrint should appear if it doesn’t or you have other ports open enter you IP address followed by the port number like this: http://XXX.XX.XXX.XX:80

OctoPrint has two modes Guest and Admin;

Guest access: allows users to view each tab but they cannot execute commands.

Admin access:  has full privileges.

Be aware that anyone with your public IP can view your OctoPrint with guest access and even the webcam! So make sure you have a strong password and look into securing your OctoPrint even further.

Summary

That should get you started on OctoPrint and you’ll soon find how freakin’ awesome it is! It’s totally worth the time and effort. It’s free, open-source, and had a ton of customizable plug-ins. So if you really like to throw the developers a donation: http://octoprint.org/support-octoprint/ they’ll sure appreciate it!

Please post any Errors, Comments, or Questions you have, and please share. Happy printing!

Check out our blog on installing Marlin for Beginners

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