Problems setting up multiple printers
Hi all,
I've run into some problems setting up multiple printers with Repetier Server running on a raspberry pi3. I've used the search function but wasn't able to find any discussions that match my problems.
I'll try and describe my problems as accurately as possible (please have mercy if it doesn't make any sense at first, I'm a total noob when it comes to Repetier Server and English is not my mother tongue).
I have an Anet A6 and a Wanhao Duplicator i3 Plus connected to the raspberry, Repetier recognizes them both and I can control them through their respective interfaces, I'm using the web interface (repetierserver.local).
If the Wanhao is printing and I turn off the other printer, the print on the Wanhao will stop, idle for a short while and then start moving the x and y axis towards their upper limits and crash continuously. If I turn the Wanhao off and then on again the crashing will continue (it will stop once I delete the running print job in repetier).
What is even stranger, is that Repetier Server will continue to show both printers as connected and the Wanhao printer (the only one that is turned on at this time) will now be controllable through the interface for the Anet A6. Using the interface for the Wanhao won't do anything. The switching of the controllt also happens when no print is running on either of the printers. (By interface I mean the printer-control tab in Repetier Server, not the physical controls on the printers)
I have at this point removed and re-setup both of the printers in Repetier Server multiple times and also tried different printers (I have an Anet A8 and a MP Select Mini) but the problem persists. I have a similar problem when trying to control both of the Anet printers. Once I set up the second printer it will be controlled by the interface for the first printer and the first printer won't be controllable anymore (both printers still show up as connected in Repetier Server)... I suspected that might happen due to both of the printers using the exact same board. Or maybe it happens due to the way raspberry handles the allocation of USB ports... but really I don't know.
I'm really sorry if this has been discussed before but search didn't turn anything up for me. Maybe I'm doing something fundamentally wrong or turning off a printer while Repetier is running is big no-no?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I've run into some problems setting up multiple printers with Repetier Server running on a raspberry pi3. I've used the search function but wasn't able to find any discussions that match my problems.
I'll try and describe my problems as accurately as possible (please have mercy if it doesn't make any sense at first, I'm a total noob when it comes to Repetier Server and English is not my mother tongue).
I have an Anet A6 and a Wanhao Duplicator i3 Plus connected to the raspberry, Repetier recognizes them both and I can control them through their respective interfaces, I'm using the web interface (repetierserver.local).
If the Wanhao is printing and I turn off the other printer, the print on the Wanhao will stop, idle for a short while and then start moving the x and y axis towards their upper limits and crash continuously. If I turn the Wanhao off and then on again the crashing will continue (it will stop once I delete the running print job in repetier).
What is even stranger, is that Repetier Server will continue to show both printers as connected and the Wanhao printer (the only one that is turned on at this time) will now be controllable through the interface for the Anet A6. Using the interface for the Wanhao won't do anything. The switching of the controllt also happens when no print is running on either of the printers. (By interface I mean the printer-control tab in Repetier Server, not the physical controls on the printers)
I have at this point removed and re-setup both of the printers in Repetier Server multiple times and also tried different printers (I have an Anet A8 and a MP Select Mini) but the problem persists. I have a similar problem when trying to control both of the Anet printers. Once I set up the second printer it will be controlled by the interface for the first printer and the first printer won't be controllable anymore (both printers still show up as connected in Repetier Server)... I suspected that might happen due to both of the printers using the exact same board. Or maybe it happens due to the way raspberry handles the allocation of USB ports... but really I don't know.
I'm really sorry if this has been discussed before but search didn't turn anything up for me. Maybe I'm doing something fundamentally wrong or turning off a printer while Repetier is running is big no-no?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Comments
The main problem I think comes in deed from same boards. Linux creates several device names and 2 of them might be identical. In /dev same types get numbers 0-x and if one gets removed the other might change to 0 name so it still appears connected. There are also 2 paths /dev/serial/by-id and /dev/serial/by-path
by-id might be identical for same boards but by-path depends on usb port you plugged it in and should be used in your case. Only problem is that they do not appear in dropdown list (will be on next release), so you have to check on pi itself what the path is and copy it. I hope that fixes the confusion about which one is connected.
Wanhao printer was printing, Anet printer was idle (but powered on). I then switched off the Anet printer. Now the Wanhao printer (still powered on) would stop printing and start crashing into the sides.
Using path instead of id did the trick though. Switching printers off now doesn't affect other connected printers anymore and Repetier server won't confuse the printers' controls.
Like you said, the problem most probably was the raspberry allocating IDs for two or three instances of the same board. Connecting all four of the printers would only create two separate IDs but through path I can see all four of them.
Quick example:
"ls -la /dev/serial/by-id" would return:
here three printers (wanhao i3, anet a6 and anet a8) would get the same ID (the first one in the list)
while "ls -la /dev/serial/by-path" returns:
enabling me to properly communicate with all connected printers. Switching printers off/on doesn't cause problems anymore since Repetier is now tied to the specific USB-ports rather then the ID that the raspberry created for the connection.
Everything is working well now, thanks so much for your help!