Help! I have no idea what I'm doing

#1

Hi there,
I’m clearly pretty late to the Zim party but I picked up one of these printers a few months ago for 20 bucks. It’s been on the backburner mostly between school and other projects so all I’ve managed to do so far is flash Octoprint onto the original board ( the Zim hadn’t been modified at all) and get it linked up to the octoprint server. The other day I went to mess around with it but it seemed like the octoprint server wasn’t working, and I can’t get on to zim.local. I’m wondering if this could be negated if I go down the OctoPi route, or if there is a larger issue with Octoprint.
This is my first 3D printer and I have no experience when it comes to using one of these, but I’m trying to get enough of a grasp so that I can begin modifying it. My plans are to gut the print head in favor of an E3D clone Bowden setup, in order to make room on the head for a laser engraving module. I have no experience with Raspberry Pi but it seems the process is thoroughly detailed here but if anyone has any suggestions on other routes for controllers I’d love to hear them. My later plans for this printer probably belong in another part of this forum but I thought painting a larger picture might lead to better advice on where to go from here.
If anyone knows why all of a sudden I can’t access the octoprint server I’d very much appreciate any help I can get on this!
Thanks in advance,

Diggles

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#2

Hi and welcome to the forum!
Back in the days when I started to modify my ZIM (oh my god, I´m old!) I had exactly the same issues with octoprint directly on the cubieboard. I worked sometimes twice, sometimes for a few weeks, but then something went wrong and the cubieboard was bricked until I flashed the Octoprint-Image again. That´s why I switched to a RasPi, that simply worked. But I think there are several guys here in the forum who use the cubieboard and are pretty happy with it. Using the hardware that´s already inside the ZIM is surely a cleaner and more elegant setup, but I prefer the simplicity of the Raspi Images. So the choice is yours!
if you´d like to use a Raspi, you´ll have to get rid of the cap on the USB connector, but this should not be a big problem. Then, fire up your Octopi, connect with a baudrate of 250000, and enjoy.
PS: Don´t use a Raspi that´s too old. I would recommend at least a RasPi3, or better 4 (But NOT the 64Bit Version!).

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#3

I also tried Octprint on original board when I got Zim but couldn’t succeed, I don’t know why.
I gave up and purchased Pi3B, then it was easy to start to use.
Regarding USB-B connector, I encountered an issue of bad contact, so I soldered wire at pins of USB connector. I was unlucky.

Following picture is taken on 2018 when I started to use Zim.
You see Pi3B at right hand.

CIMG0957
CIMG09571600×1200 1.06 MB

Following is taken on 2021 (today)
You can see 4 wires above USB-B connector.
This board is now removed because I installed another 32bit board.

CIMG1193
CIMG11931600×1200 1.07 MB

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#4

Thank you very much guys, I think I’ll go down the OctoPi route. SuFu your method of utilizing the USB-B port may have been more work but it keeps the back looking clean which I like!