Getting custom printer connected by Wi-Fi

[volvodr66 0]

My printer is not listed in the available printers nor under the category of other.  I have a Davinci Pro 1.0.  I had to add it as a custom printer and I know most of the settings it uses but I can't figure out how to get Cura to connect to it by Wi-Fi.  There is no connect via network button like there is if you add a listed printer.  Is there a way to get a custom printer connected via Wi-Fi?  I know my printer is on my network as I've connected other software to it previously.  Thanks for any guidance you can provide.

[ahoeben 1,849]

Unless someone wrote/writes a plugin for it, Cura does not support sending data over Wifi to your Davinci Pro.

 

There is no (widely used) standard way to talk to 3d printers over wifi, so Ultimaker created their own for their printers. So did XYZ printing. The two "protocols" are not compatible. There's a plugin to print to most printers over the network using OctoPrint, but you would need a (small) computer connected to your printer over USB to run OctoPrint on (eg a Raspberry Pi).

[volvodr66 0]

Thanks for the reply Ahoeben.  I was hoping to get a good inexpensive or free printing software with Wi-Fi capabilities with my printer since the software that comes with the Davinci isn’t that great.  I just can’t afford Simply3D right now even though I’ve heard good things about it and it does have support for the Davinci.  Maybe I can get it next month, if I don’t find something else that works in the meantime.  Have a great day and thanks again!

[gr5 2,070]

Well you can buy a raspberry pi with wifi for about $35 and put octoprint (free) on it.  That's how most people connect cheap printers to their network.  But I think if you print for a while with SD cards you'll find it works well.

 

With octoprint you can slice in cura and then switch to your browser on the same computer and easily upload the print to octoprint and hit the print button.  It's pretty easy.  It's a nice friendly web interface.

[ahoeben 1,849]

14 hours ago, gr5 said:

With octoprint you can slice in cura and then switch to your browser on the same computer and easily upload the print to octoprint and hit the print button

Aww, no love for the OctoPrint Connection plugin?

 

The OctoPrint Connection plugin, available from the Toolbar, integrates OctoPrint into Cura so that you don;t have to save an intermediate gcode file. Just press "print" from inside Cura.