It’s fairly easy to connect to a remote 3D printer from any computer in your home. That includes tablets and phones. Here is how I did it.
When I built my 3D printer, I did the construction in my basement workshop. And there it has remained, connected to my workshop computer with a USB cable. This week, I decided to move the printer to my den on the main floor. At the same time, I decided to convert the setup to a remote 3D printer.
The software that I use to control the printer is called Repetier-Host. The application comes from Germany. In addition to providing this host software for RepRap style 3D printers, Repetier also provides printer firmware, a phone app for
monitoring printing, and Repetier-Server. The server enables you to connect to a remote 3D printer from almost anywhere. There is a free version, and that it what I used.
Here is how to set up Repetier-Server. First, install the Repetier software on the computer that connects to your 3D printer. Second, run the Repetier-Server and connect it to your printer using the COM port via USB. This is the normal way to attached a 3D printer to a computer. Third, configure the server to match the settings in your printer firmware. There is a wizard that guides you through this process, which is described in the manual. The server software provides you with a customized text key that is used for access. You can also set up access for specific users, or just use the global key.
That’s basically all there is to it. You now have a remote 3D printer.
To use your remote 3D printer, you need to know three things: the IP address of the server computer; the port number being used (default is 3344); and the API key. Then, you run Repetier-Host on any other computer and connect to the server (instead of connecting directly to the printer). Not surprisingly, you also need to open Windows Firewall and add a rule to allow the Repetier-Server program to pass through the firewall. Also, if you are planning to access your printer from outside of your LAN, you will need to configure port forwarding in your router.
In the photo at the top of this article, you will see the Printer Settings dialog within Repetier-Host with instructions for connecting to the remote 3D printer running Repetier-Server.
Remote 3D printer video connection
If you are using a remote 3D printer, it is very useful to use a video link to monitor the actual performance of the printing. The PRO version of Repetier-Server includes a video feature; the free version does not. But, there is a simple and free workaround, as you can see in the picture above.
All you need to monitor your remote 3D printer in action is a camera server and a browser. I experimented with two camera servers: Yawcam and WebcamXP. Both are free for this sort of use and both work just fine. Each is easy to install and works in pretty much the same way. You install the software, select your laptop or PC web camera as the video source, and then activate the server. If you have your camera pointed at the printer, the server will provide a video stream over your local area network. You just aim your browser at the IP address of the computer in your print room, and select port on which you are streaming the video. There are lots of applications that let you access your webcam remotely, and most also provide security through a user name and password.
One word of advice, though. Streaming video from a PC makes very heavy demands on the CPU. Make sure that your computer is up to the task of running both a remote 3D printer server and a video server at the same time.
Start to finish, this project to set up a remote 3D printer took about 3 hours. I now have option of controlling the printer either locally or remotely. That includes monitoring its printing performance from any computer on my home network. As some prints can take a few hours to complete, remote monitoring is useful.