Setup Octopi For Controlling Your 3D Printer

Octopi is an extremely convenient way to control your 3D printer from a web browser. It enables you to start, pause, and cancel your prints remotely. There are plugins that will keep track of the amount of filament you have used so you can avoid running prints where you would run out of filament. There is also a plugin that will send an SMS text message to your phone notifying you when the print is complete or if it has failed for some reason.

Octopi runs on Raspberry Pi Zero/2/3/4/5 B single board computers. If you do not already have an unused Pi I would recommend buying a Pi Zero 2 W kit as listed in the table above. You will need a microSD card and a USB microSD card reader like the ones above to write the Octoprint image to the microSD card and power the Pi with that card.

1. Let’s Look at the Material Requirements
2. Getting Started
3. Configure the Octopi’s Initial Basic Settings
4. Use a Filament Manager Plugin
5. Use a Notification Plugin

1. Let’s Look at the Material Requirements

Item	Price	Quantity	Total	Location
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W Kit	$39.99	1	$39.99	https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09M1PS35R/
32 GB microSD Card	$7.88	1	$7.88	https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Ultra-UHS-I-Memory-Adapter/dp/B00M55C0NS/
USB microSD Card Reader	$9.99	1	$9.99	https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Portable-Reader-RS-MMC-Micro/dp/B006T9B6R2/
Right Angle USB-C to USB-A Cable	$4.99	1	$4.99	https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CFZRYFZB/
Grand Total			$62.85

2. Getting Started

1. Insert your microSD card into USB microSD card reader like the one in the kit and plug the USB device into your computer.
2. Download the Raspberry Pi Imager software for writing the Octopi OS to your microSD card. The address for the Imager software is here: https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/
3. After installation run the software.
4. Click on Choose Device and select the type of Raspberry Pi you have. If it is from the kit above select Raspberry Pi 3.
5. Click on Choose OS and select: Other specific-purpose OS > 3D printing > OctoPi > OctoPi (stable)
6. Click on Choose Storage and select the microSD card. If it is from the above kit the storage size should be approximately 32GB.
7. Click Next.
8. Click Edit Settings on the Use OS customisation popup.
9. Under the General tab set the host name to the web address you want to access the Octopi server on. The hostname automatically has a .local domain name extension on the end.
10. Create the login user name you want to use.
11. Enter the password you want for that login name.
12. Enter your wifi router’s SSID and password so the Octopi will automatically connect to your home wifi network. You might run into an error if you enter your 5Ghz wifi SSID and password. If so, just enter your 2.4Ghz wifi SSID and password. That connection is fast enough to upload the .gcode file in your web browser to the 3D printer.
13. Enter your LAN country and other locale settings.
14. Click the Services tab and Enable SSH to access the linux command prompt for your Octopi server from another computer. It is useful for updating the Octopi server software.
15. Click Save.
16. The click the Yes button on the Use OS customisation popup.
17. Then click the Yes button on the Warning popup.
18. When the Octopi OS has been written to the microSD card, click the Continue button on the Write Successful popup.
19. If in Windows 10 go to the This PC screen right click on the drive with boot in the name that is about 250MB in size, right click on the drive and select Eject. If a popup appears click the Try Again button until the drive successfully ejects.
20. Remove the USB device, remove the microSD card from the device, and insert it into your Raspberry Pi.
21. Connect a USB cable between your Ender 3 V3 SE and the Octopi server. The USB-C end plugs into the Ender and the USB-A end plugs into the Raspberry Pi.
22. Attach the power supply to the Raspberry Pi and plug it into a power socket.

3. Configure the Octopi’s Initial Basic Settings

1. Enter the hostname you chose with .local on the end in your web browser’s address field.
2. If your Firefox web browser pops up with a security warning click the Advanced button and then click the Accept the Risk and Continue button.
3. When the Setup Wizard opens, in the Start screen click the Next button.
4. In the Access Control screen enter the username and password you want to login into Octopi with and click the Create Account button. Then click the Next button. You will use these to login inside your web browser.
5. In the Online Connectivity Check screen click the Test host & port button, then click the Test name resolution button, then click the Enable Connectivity Check button followed by the Next button.
6. On the Anonymous Usage Tracking screen decide if you want to share anonymous usage statistics and click the appropriate button. Then click the Next button.
7. On the Plugin Blacklist screen click the Enable Plugin Blacklist Processing button to help prevent installing unsafe plugins. Then click the Next button.
8. On the Classic Webcam Wizard screen configure any webcam settings if you have a webcam plugged into your Octopi server, otherwise delete the text in the Stream URL and Snapshot URL fields. Then click the Next button.
9. On the Default Printer Profile screen, in the General tab enter 3D Printer for the Name field and Creality Ender 3 V3 SE for the Model field.
10. In the Print bed & build volume tab
    • X (Width) 220.0 mm
    • Y (Depth) 220.0 mm
    • Z (Height) 250.0 mm
11. Click the Next button.
12. On the Finish screen check the boxes and click the Finish button. Then click the Reload button

4. Use a Filament Manager Plugin

1. A Filament Manger keeps track of how much Filament you have left.
2. Check the amount of Filament required when generating the .gcode file in Ultimaker Cura slicer and compare it to the Filament you have left in Octopi so you don’t run out mid-print.
3. Click the Octopi’s Wrench Icon for Advanced Settings
4. To install the Filament Manager plugin click on the Plugin Manager link.
5. Click on the + Get More button, confirm your password, then enter Filament Manager in the search box.
6. A plugin with the name FilamentManager will appear, click it’s Install button.
7. Then click the Close button. and the Restart now button in the upper right hand corner of the web page. Then click the Proceed button. Then click the Attempt to reconnect button.
8. Click on the wrench icon again and under Plugins you should see a link called Filament Manager where you can create a Filament Profile for the Manufacturer in the Vendor field and PLA in the Material field as that is the filament used in this experiment. Then click the Save button followed by the Close button.
9. Then click the Add Spool button to enter the color of the PLA filament in the Name field. The Price field is in euros so I would delete the data in that field. A new spool of PLA filament typically comes in a 1kg size so leave the Weight field and Remaining field alone and click the Save button.
10. Repeat this process for each spool of filament you have. Then click the Save button.
11. When you scroll down the screen a Filament Manager box is on the left side of the screen. Use the Select Spool dropdown to select the filament you have installed in the printer before printing.

5. Use a Notification Plugin

1. A Notification plugin will notify you via text message when your print has finished so you can remove the print and initiate another print preventing 3d printer down time.
2. Click the Octopi’s Wrench Icon for Advanced Settings
3. To install the Octotext plugin click on the Plugin Manager link.
4. Click on the + Get More button, confirm your password, then enter Octotext in the search box.
5. A plugin with the name Octotext will appear, click it’s Install button.
6. Then click the Close button. and the Restart now button in the upper right hand corner of the web page. Then click the Proceed button. Then click the Attempt to reconnect button.
7. Click on the wrench icon again and under Plugins you should see a link called Octotext where you can enter the settings of an email address and cellphone to send texts via your email provider to your cellphone.
8. In the Options section I would only enable:
   • Print finished notification.
   • Unrecoverable Error notification.
   • Print Fail OR Cancel notification.
   • Enable Print Failure notifications
9. In the EMail Configuration settings you will need to enter your email provider and cellphone information. This obviously differs for everyone. I would advise you to read the plugin’s readme. The plugin author uses a free email account from Microsoft Outlook. You will need to
   • SMTP gateway: smtp.office365.com
   • SMTP port: 587
   • Message: 3D Printer Event
   • Username and host address: (Enter the Outlook user name you created) @ outlook.com
   • Email password: (Enter your email address password)
   • Phone number OR user name @ Gateway OR Email address: (Enter your cell number) @ (Get your Gateway from this wiki page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS_gateway#Email_clients )
   • Uncheck: Enable the test icon (an envelope) on the top of the navigation bar.
   • Click the blue “Save” button at the bottom
   • Click the blue “Send a test message” button at the bottom.
   • The plugin will tell you if the message was sent successfully by Outlook. You should receive a text message on your cellphone momentarily. If not there is something wrong with your settings.