Support Printer Connection over Wi-Fi/Ethernet for Flashforge printers

[mariuske]

Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe. Today you have to use a USB drive to transfer files to the Flashforge printers which is very cumbersome, and a big drawback compared with FlashPrint.

Which printers will be beneficial to this feature Flashforge Adventurer 5M and Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro. Possibly other models as well.

Describe the solution you'd like Add support for using the Printer Connection over Wi-Fi/Ethernet functionality in Orca Slicer for Flashforge printers. Both the "send the file directly to your 3D printer" and the "Remote Printer Control" functionality.

Describe alternatives you've considered The only alternatives are either using a USB drive or the Flashprint software.

Additional context User documentation describing the functionality: https://www.obico.io/blog/orcaslicer/#step-41-send-the-file-to-the-printer https://www.obico.io/blog/orcaslicer/#remote-printer-control

It would be great if @SoftFever can share the different options available for doing such an integration with the @FlashforgeOfficial team 👍

[3DThingy]

Yes as i said i have no Apple dev cert. I don’t know how to enable running such app under MacOS. I guess there is way to trust such app.

Sorry, You're right. Once allowed in settings it ran fine.

[3DThingy]

but when uploading a file to printer

[iherbak]

If the test says ok then the ip should be correct. Which machine do you have? Also my 5M pro is on the latest firmware. If yours not that could be the issue

[3DThingy]

Ip is correct and can stream the camera, but unable to upload files to the 5M Pro

[iherbak]

Which firmware version do you have?

[3DThingy]

2.4.5

[3DThingy]

tries to transfer but stays at 0% then gets timed out No need to specify port here, right?

[3DThingy]

did a new slice from scratch for flow rate and seems to upload ok. Appreciate your efforts, Thank you!

[YahWhoMtnDew]

Good suggestion. No joy though. I tried under Wine - failure. I tried as a Virtual Machine - OpenGL is not v2.0. Has anyone else succeded in compiling under Linux?

Seems you have been waiting for this (and not just waiting - trying things!) for longer than I have. If you cannot get a build under a "real" distro of linux, I don't suppose I stand a snowball's chance on my wimpy chromebook! Sure wish it worked here - not really wanting to resort to setting up a Windoze machine just for this! Orca talks to my Klipperfied Ender 3 just fine, so I would surely like it to work with the AD5M! Glad I'm not the Lone Stranger thinking thusly!

[stevenwalton]

Hi all. The WIFI connection for AD5M series with OrcaSlicer will be supported in a month or so. Thanks for your support! Dec 21, 2023

Hi all! Sorry for the late, our engineers are still working this feature. So, it's going to take a bit longer.

Thanks for all your support! Jan 25, 2024

Any update on the timing of this @FlashforgeOfficial ? It seems that this support was removed from the nightly build. It's OK to say it is late, I would just like to know that it is still coming. Also, if you are on Discord, can you monitor the Orca server--especially the flashforge folder? The AD5M is an amazing printer--with a little more support this could be the new benchmark intro printer. RN needs the full Orca support--network send to printer, and the profiles need to be flushed out more. There is only one profile (0.2mm) for the 0.4mm nozzle, and one for the 0.6mm nozzle in Orca. Considering the ease of switching nozzles, it would be great if there were mature profiles for all nozzles and resolutions, not to mention filament profiles for at least flashforge filaments.

@jlrichar Thanks for your feedback! The engineers are preparing the wifi support for Orca, might take a bit longer. For slicer profiles options, we are doing more tests, they should be set up later. 3 weeks ago

@FlashforgeOfficial if you Open Source (or even make Source Available) your firmware WE will fix these (and other) issues FOR you. If you're engineers are overburdened, WE are motivated enough to make the fixes. Please work with us, because we'd like to work with you.

[MVerri31]

Hi, @FlashforgeOfficial I personally think you are the only ones who can compete with the dominance of Bambulab. The adventure 5M series are high-performance and well-designed machines with incredible potential (in some details even superior to the renowned BambuLab) but this is not enough if the printer is not supported on time. Unfortunately it is a tough market and wifi support for OrcaSlicer is now almost mandatory if you want to target the majority of consumers. Personally I think that open source is your trump card and I think you also think like me since you released klipper. Please do not leave the support for this print (maybe even with an "AMS" :D:D ) in order to have the only real alternative to Bambulab <3

[stevenwalton]

I agree with the above. I cannot see what FF has to lose by making Source Available. I'd prefer a OS, but SA still lets us make pull requests to you. You can also do dual licensing if there is a concern about competition using your software. But let's be honest, that can be reversed (it has been in the past!) and it's not like FF isn't a "clone" itself... Unless you have proprietary software from another company you're hiding I don't see what you have to loose.

It's 3D printers... we're makers. We want to hack on top of your projects. This is what gave Creality such an edge early on: being cheap and hackable. You have this capacity. We want you to make more money. We can do more together.

[YahWhoMtnDew]

Would it be an inordinately large favor to ask for someone to explain to my density just why the Windoze build (and purportedly the MacOS build, too) contains the new "type" of Flashforge but the Linux build adds INSTEAD this useless Obico type? Apologies to any who care about the latter, but - DANG - I surely would appreciate the FF type to be included! Whatever could the hangup be???

[iherbak]

In my fork the linux version should contain flashforge as well. Please download the current version, there were an issue and i guess you grabbed an earlier release. @YahWhoMtnDew

[YahWhoMtnDew]

YES!!! Finally "seeing the light," as it were! YAY! (Now I have to go try it - when the son-in-law gets back home (it's HIS printer....)

Color me HOPEFUL on one side and HAPPY on the other!

Thanks!

On Mon, Mar 18, 2024 at 12:42 AM iherbak @.***> wrote:

In my fork the linux version should cintain flashforge as well. Please download the current version, there were an issue and i guess you grabbed an earlier release

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/SoftFever/OrcaSlicer/issues/2515#issuecomment-2003114691, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BGSE66N6BKD4QTKP2XGE3PDYY2LG3AVCNFSM6AAAAAA6Q3HFVOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDAMBTGEYTINRZGE . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: @.***>

[apache07x]

@iherbak Mine doesn't upload files half of the time. To me it appears it must have a size limitation on the size of the file you can upload. I can upload a smaller file with no issues but a bigger one like a dragon it fails and I have to use a usb and sneakernet

Edit: I'm using Windows 11

[iherbak]

Will check the defined timeouts. I guess larger files saving exceeds the currently set limit. Could you @apache07x please provide a link of a model for me to test?

Thanks

[apache07x]

CrystalDragon_NewLegs_Curled.zip @iherbak this is a zipped file of one of the stl that timed out on me. Thanks for your help

[TackleBerryCrash]

@iherbak Mine doesn't upload files half of the time. To me it appears it must have a size limitation on the size of the file you can upload. I can upload a smaller file with no issues but a bigger one like a dragon it fails and I have to use a usb and sneakernet

Edit: I'm using Windows 11

I second this problem, I have been having this issue even with earlier releases before PRs.

Once I was able to send 50mb gcode files successfully but failed any larger ones but also I failed on 10meg files too. After a while it fails randomly even with very small files.

When I hit "upload and print" printer screen shows downloading progress bar and if file takes longer due to network, file size etc progress bar disappears on printer screen and orca says file upload failed but in some cases I have seen file uploaded to the printer but missing some lines very end of the file (incomplete transfer since it is text)

There are at least two issues ; timeout values and data integrity on uploaded files.

[apache07x]

@iherbak what @TackleBerryCrash describes above is exactly what mine is doing as well.

[3DThingy]

Glad to see FlashforgeOfficial has updated Guider3 Ultra profile on OrcaSlicer a couple of days ago, and Adventurer 3 Series before that. At least some progress is being made.

[kevindstanley1988]

Just got my printer and was surprised that it says it is supported in Orca Slicer, but not for wifi - I know I made an assumption there, but Orca Slicer supports wifi for Klipper printers, AD5M Pro is a Klipper style printer, therefore wifi support was assumed.

I would love to see this feature come out. In the meantime I will have to use the unofficial release by @iherbak, which thank you @iherbak! - it really should be supported through official channels and not require a fork to have support for this.

[Philomorph]

Also just got my AD5M and Orca is able to see it over WiFi if I set the type to Flashforge and put in the IP address. But when I go to the device page, it gets a "Connection Refused" error, as if the webUI isn't running, or isn't on the correct port. I don't know if this is an Orca problem or a Flashforge problem.

[iherbak]

The official firmware has no webui, you won’t see anything on the device page, but the upload should work

Dan @.***> (időpont: 2024. ápr. 1., H, 15:08) ezt írta:

Also just got my AD5M and Orca is able to see it over WiFi if I set the type to Flashforge and put in the IP address. But when I go to the device page, it gets a "Connection Refused" error, as if the webUI isn't running, or isn't on the correct port. I don't know if this is an Orca problem or a Flashforge problem.

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/SoftFever/OrcaSlicer/issues/2515#issuecomment-2029732513, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABH6KN42CNNZEF6GN5NOQMTY3FL3LAVCNFSM6AAAAAA6Q3HFVOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDAMRZG4ZTENJRGM . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: @.***>

[TackleBerryCrash]

If you enter;

http://:8080/stream_simple.html

To next line - UI url

you’ll see the camera feed on device tab.

[iherbak]

To all who has upload problems. Could you please try to experiment with the https://github.com/iherbak/OrcaSlicer/releases/download/Latest/5MWifi.zip i created for test purposes. (Windows console application) It has option to adjust timeout and split size (in bytes). Also changed the file read for future adjustement. Maybe we could figure out the issue.

I was unable to reproduce the invalid upload even with the big stl. Note my printer is connected via lan cable.

@apache07x @TackleBerryCrash

[TackleBerryCrash]

To all who has upload problems. Could you please try to experiment with the https://github.com/iherbak/OrcaSlicer/releases/download/Latest/5MWifi.zip i created for test purposes. (Windows console application) It has option to adjust timeout and split size (in bytes). Also changed the file read for future adjustement. Maybe we could figure out the issue.

I was unable to reproduce the invalid upload even with the big stl. Note my printer is connected via lan cable.

@apache07x @TackleBerryCrash

I will as soon as I can. It is very highly unlikely you will have any issues with LAN @iherbak

I have moved the printer to its place in the printer room which has a very close AP so I am having less issues. But this is def. related to the wifi speed and timeout period.

[nativeit]

Hi all. The WIFI connection for AD5M series with OrcaSlicer will be supported in a month or so. Thanks for your support! Dec 21, 2023

Hi all! Sorry for the late, our engineers are still working this feature. So, it's going to take a bit longer. Thanks for all your support! Jan 25, 2024

Any update on the timing of this @FlashforgeOfficial ? It seems that this support was removed from the nightly build. It's OK to say it is late, I would just like to know that it is still coming. Also, if you are on Discord, can you monitor the Orca server--especially the flashforge folder? The AD5M is an amazing printer--with a little more support this could be the new benchmark intro printer. RN needs the full Orca support--network send to printer, and the profiles need to be flushed out more. There is only one profile (0.2mm) for the 0.4mm nozzle, and one for the 0.6mm nozzle in Orca. Considering the ease of switching nozzles, it would be great if there were mature profiles for all nozzles and resolutions, not to mention filament profiles for at least flashforge filaments.

@jlrichar Thanks for your feedback! The engineers are preparing the wifi support for Orca, might take a bit longer. For slicer profiles options, we are doing more tests, they should be set up later. 3 weeks ago

@FlashforgeOfficial if you Open Source (or even make Source Available) your firmware WE will fix these (and other) issues FOR you. If you're engineers are overburdened, WE are motivated enough to make the fixes. Please work with us, because we'd like to work with you.

^^ This...I can't improve on these sentiments, only underline and reinforce them.

@FlashforgeOfficial - This is a wonderful machine, it has run for weeks nearly non-stop and hardly missed a step. I have it sitting in a place of pride on my workbench right now, just steps away from about a dozen other fun gadgets I'd love to hack into this thing to make it do even more cool things that I can then share with the world and drive more awareness and potential customers to pick up your platform for exceptionally accessible and effective DIY fabrication.

Also, I'm certain that I will damage/break the controller board sooner or later (probably sooner) simply with how frequently I have to plug/unplug a USB flash drive. Even with a high standard of PCB fab, there's simply no way it's built for this kind of rapid and repeated insertion. Which is why I was so stoked it had networking--until I realized it didn't do anything even remotely useful. The cloud services are lame, and utterly nonsense for a hardware-generating hardware sitting not 10-feet from me--you think I want to "upload" my designs to the cloud? Just to have some half-baked software slice them with exactly none of the features that make the Adventurer 5M so great? Just let me connect with OrcaSlicer from the computer sitting in the same freaking room, is that too much to ask? I don't want to command-line 3rd-party firmware flash (read: brick) my $500 printer just to engage with a feature that obviously should have come standard out-of-the-box.

---

Sorry to snipe, but you're sitting on a real opportunity with the Adventurer 5M (and presumably future series), their incredibly attractive pricing, and a very motivated and passionate community that you unfortunately seem to be only sporadically interested in engaging with. Don't overthink it. Just keep making kick-ass printers, and don't try to be a software company. At least in my opinion, here in North America, at this precise moment in time, "it's cloud-based coming from everything" and its inevitable $5/mo hole currently perforating everyone's wallets--it's all getting pretty old and tiresome. Your customers are hackers, engineers, nerds, cosplayers, students, inventors, hobbyists, weekend warriors, and devs--lean into it, already. Make great hardware at a good price with open firmware, and a ton of community-contributed add-ons, features, and value-added brand awareness for you.

[stevenwalton]

Sorry to snipe, but you're sitting on a real opportunity with the Adventurer 5M (and presumably future series), their incredibly attractive pricing, and a very motivated and passionate community that you unfortunately seem to be only sporadically interested in engaging with. Don't overthink it. Just keep making kick-ass printers, and don't try to be a software company.

The part that weirds me out the most is why turn down free work?

@FlashforgeOfficial : Sorry this job is harder than we thought, taking more time and money than we thought

Community: Hey, would you like us to do it for free? Here's a a mockup. We could do better if we had more access to the software.

@FlashforgeOfficial : No thanks.

Flashforge, you are a hardware company. Keep doing what you're good at. Ride the benefit of Open Source or Source Available. I come from the ML community, and look at what we did by being so open. How much LLMs and diffusion models improved in weeks due to community hackers. It's the exact same thing that made the Ender 3 so popular, is because it was cheap and hackable. Your customers are a maker community. We like to make things. We like to improve our tools. The more ability you give us to do that, the more you benefit. This is mutually beneficial, and you get the most benefit. You being successful is good for us because you help drive prices down. And let's be real, both hardware and software are reversible. You can fight the community constantly decompiling (you can find plenty of these), or we can work together. There are many software licenses which prohibit commercial use but let it be used by hobbiest. Your code is available to anyone with sufficient will determination. But I'm sure you already know this.

[github-actions[bot]]

Orca bot: this issue is stale because it has been open for 90 days with no activity.

[stevenwalton]

Issue should be closed. Has been working since at least 2.1.0-beta (whenever the wireless support was extended)

[stevenwalton]

Actually I want to take that back and we shouldn't mark this as solved. There's still a small problem that is exceptionally annoying and one that @FlashforgeOfficial can fix with a trivial patch (or give us info to solve). But FF can solve in <15 minutes.

When a print ends you get a prompt that asks you if you'd like to continue (you also get a prompt if you cancel a print). This prompt prevents a print from uploading. Since these are blocking operations, users will likely be frustrated since they cannot upload, clear plate, upload again. You HAVE to use the screen.

I see three reasonable options here:

1) @FlashforgeOfficial reverts to the state prior to when these prompts would appear (or gives an option to turn off)

2) @FlashforgeOfficial modifies firmware such that the prompt does not block.

3) Upload sends signal to clear prompt.

I think option 1 is probably not the best but these prompts don't serve a purpose since they are mostly just another button to press. The only utility is the one post print and under the assumption that you understand "continue" means "repeat last print", otherwise it is just an extra button to press. The one post cancel serves 0 utility (@FlashforgeOfficial did you forget to add a "continue from previous point" or "restart" option?)

The second option is the best and it is already silly that this happens. At least @FlashforgeOfficial has enough foresight to allow the upload to work and you can select the print from the storage. But the reality is the setting just creates extra work for users. If you really want to have it, have the dialogue timeout (and remove the cancel one... it does nothing...). I believe any of these options could be solved in under 15 minutes. If this is intentional, I have an alternative proposal: add more dialogues! Make users confirm prints. Hell, make them press "continue" ever 15 minutes so they are actively keeping an eye on their print. It's a safety feature.

The third option seems like the simplest but I'm not sure if this can be solved on the SoftFever end. Maybe someone knows or @FlashforgeOfficial can tell us. But given that @FlashforgeOfficial is hostile to its users, this may not be solvable or if it gets solved they might "unsolve" it if they decide that they want it done their way.

And I want to reiterate, @FlashforgeOfficial, if you make the source available ("available" != "open source") you unlock this incredible business cheat code called "free labor" because the community will solve problems for you. It's a real world "free money glitch."

[mikeps-5MP]

I'm new to this forum new to the OrcaSlicer software and new to my Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro, so if I make a newbie mistake please forgive me, but I am still unable to connect via WiFi. I'm running 2.1.1. Any suggestions?

[mikeps-5MP]

I'm new to this forum new to the OrcaSlicer software and new to my Flashforge Adventurer 5M Pro, so if I make a newbie mistake please forgive me, but I am still unable to connect via WiFi. I'm running 2.1.1. Any suggestions?

After further research, I found the solution on youtube....thanks!

[Shockedmaker]

Hello, I am new here and tried to get my Adventurer 3 to connect to OrcaSlicer over wifi, but I can't upload any files to it (they time out) even though the test button says the connection works- are there any solutions to this? Thanks in advance for any advice!

[stevenwalton]

After @FlashforgeOfficial 's newest update the upload seems to break in many cases. The issue appears to be the timeout.

Without digging too deeply, I can say that visually my printer shows a progress bar updating the download of the file but OrcaSlicer continues at 0%. Taking a wild guess, I think the progress report got mangled.

@SoftFever, can we expose the timeout to the user so that they can adjust this? This may help with future breaking updates and I'm sure other printers have issues.

Once again, @FlashforgeOfficial I am asking that you share the source code for the printer. Let makers be makers. Firmware can be extracted. We can work together to make your product better or we can fight each other to... make your product better. Stop being hostile to your users (I already actively discourage people from buying this printer purely due to this behavior. Software matters, but play to your strengths)