Is The Beagle Camera Your New 3D Printing Best Friend?

[@dax_prime1053]

i just got mine in yesterday and it seems that most of your gripes - minus the tripod mount - have been addressed. ive only ran a few prints with it, but so far i have no complaints.

[@3DMusketeers]

Not sure if it works on the Mini yet, but the MK3S worked as expected. Camera quality is still meh, but as an all in one setup, it is not BAD, just could be better.

[@anwyll]

Have had mine a few months. I wouldn't recommend it for anything beyond basic remote control of a single printer. Firmware updates are regular and have included a variety of good improvements, for example I think in 1.1.2 we can now define the parking coords for timelapses. But there is a long way to go. It is not unusual for buggy printer behavior (e.g. misplaced purge line and "beginning" print in a random corner with no movement, several mm off the build surface just dumping filament, or randomly pausing on first layer, or repeating a extruder move from changing filament while paused, etc). This behavior is usually rectified by simply rebooting the camera and printer (not reslicing/changing g code) - which involves using the app or browser UI to avoid bricking the camera (according to Mintion not as much of a risk in later firmware versions). This is additionally annoying because several settings do not get saved through a power cycle, e.g. timelapse settings (yep, you have to go and change that 0.1 in the prime to 0 every time, even though their own tooltip says the default is 0, printer type seems to get defaulted back to an ender 3 all the time too, although my brand stays Artillery so I am not sure if those settings effect anything, build plate dimensions for the Ender 3 and Genius Pro are the same but could be an issue if your printer is not a 220x220). There is so much potential here I genuinely think they were not planning a release when they did but the Pi shortage motivated them to release a product still in development.

[@3DMusketeers]

I have to agree with your last line there. It seems rushed. It absolutely has potential, but yes, for a business, it does not cut the cake.

[@prongATO]

I’d like to see reviews of rhe most economical filament driers. The couple on Amazon and the EIBOS3D models. I picked up the EIBOS3D bags and the USB vacuum pump.

[@3DMusketeers]

A food dehydrator from a thrift store or garage sale will be the most affordable. But sure I can look at putting something together..

[@ericlotze7724]

And hoarded pile of silica gel desiccant bags from packages and stuff + a decently sealed box

[@3DMusketeers]

Eh, even a TON of silica gel is not as effective as an active solution. If you are looking for it cheap, Mimi's Cat Litter is pure silica gel from my understanding. Just DO NOT breathe the fumes!

[@gilbertmckown6161]

Sounds like the four improvements needed for this is more mounting options needed, better control over all the settings, better specs, and more uses options. I think if they do these things it would be so much better and definitely a better value as well.

[@3DMusketeers]

It would be nice, but on videos less positive the owner has been argumentative in the comments, which is not a great look :/

[@gilbertmckown6161]

I just bought this and this is not plug and play at all!!! You have to set up a 2.4htz wifi on your router. Which i can't figure out 😡. I'm returning my ASAP! I'm not super technologically inclined so I thought this would be a good option, but nope!

[@3DMusketeers]

The connection was tough for me too. You have to use the app and it will generate a QR code with your wifi stuff on it.

[@gilbertmckown6161]

Still didn't work. Frustrating. I'm just looking to make timelapse and I can't get it working.

[@3DMusketeers]

@@gilbertmckown6161 Sorry man :(

[@Spirited282]

Thank you for this review. I had it on my amazon wishlist but i may still look around with something with higher fps

[@3DMusketeers]

Good luck!

[@MMQsTacosConLimons]

why are my prints failing when i use clean time-lapse mode? normal time-lapse works perfect and when i print straight from the machine the prints come out perfect. im also using a lk5 pro

[@3DMusketeers]

not a clue. you have to provide some more info than that alas

[@winslowjoy2629]

Hey Grant? Any idea when the unwashed masses will be able to buy the Obxidian Revo nozzles? My MK3S and Mini are waiting for the hardened nozzles to come to market before I install. I also love Carbon Fiber.

[@3DMusketeers]

LOL That is a way to put it.. I have an idea but I cannot say. Let's go with you can have them in hand before the holidays. The ObXidian is one of the best performing nozzles I have used, outside of the diamond ones. It is amazing. No extra BS that you would find on a hardened steel nozzle.

[@marcomonge4893]

hello I have a question, i have a CR10 Smart, I purchase a mention camera and the manual says that the CR10 Smart is supported but it says next to it to remove wife box and I really cannot find any extra info about it, have you found or know what is exactly talking about, please advise if you have any idea, thank you.

[@3DMusketeers]

I don't have an idea, I'm sorry!

[@prongATO]

Printer should be here Friday. I decided on the Raspberry Pi v2.1 8 megapixel camera connected to my Octopi.

[@3DMusketeers]

NICE!! Will run you well!

[@awilliams1701]

It seems like this is a preconfigured octoprint+octolapse setup. And actually it's a HELL OF A LOT CHEAPER than mine. I paid $200 for the rasberry pi 4. (apparently that's actually a good deal because they aren't easy to find I guess I just got lucky) But yeah this does everything I'm asking of octoprint. I wonder if it cares about the MMU. octoprint warned me about it being slightly incompatible and yeah that's caused a few headaches where it randomly sends M112. The last error I actually looked up the log file and it said the printer was requesting a line to be resent that was sent way too long ago. That was when I installed my Revo, but I hadn't yet drilled out the beveled edge in the PTFE tube. Since I've done that it's made a HUGE difference. And I was getting an MMU failure that I've never seen before. It actually maintains temperature (very unusual for an MMU failure), starts beeping and asks me if I've removed the old filament (which I didn't request to do), then when I hit ok, it loads the (same) filament (since I didn't change a damn thing) and spits out about 4 inches in the air and asks me.......is this the right color? So far so good.......and holy shit you just globbed excess filament on my purge block (because after extruding 4 inches in the air it doesn't retract AT ALL) and this actually causes problems. At one point I got a collision alert. But I think it was this wierd error mode that caused my last M112 intentionally being sent by octoprint. Fingers crossed that drilling the bevel fixed it. So far so good!

[@3DMusketeers]

Oh I get Pi's from Adafruit for retail or I buy those Canakits from Best Buy. I would doubt this is compatible, and if you have something that works, dont change it.

[@awilliams1701]

@@3DMusketeers yeah I get it. It's not perfect though. I've had it warn me that it wasn't completely MMU2 compatible and when it fails it sends the command M112 (thermal runaway shutdown) to the printer. and it's not something where you can restart the printer and continue. It fails the print. Thankfully I was able to get my Enterprise's Engineering section (no pylons or engines) right half finished last night and I started on the left half. But yeah My first attempt with the revo nozzle failed because the printer and octoprint got out of sync and eventually the pi gave up and sent M112. I was getting unusual MMU2 failures (which actually included the printer beeping at me (which definitely isn't normal)) as a result of the PTFE tube not having the beveled inner edge. After drilling that out, it's actually working better than the V6 ever did. I managed to get it to print the last 16 hours in a 26 hour print straight without a single MMU failure!!!! That's a new record for my MMU2. For whatever reason my overnight prints are far more likely to get an MMU2 error. The one that finished yesterday failed 3 hours before I woke up. Then I got it back up and running before work and when I got home it was still runninng. But yeah the M112 issue seems to crop up the longer the print goes on. So I try to keep my prints around a day or so. I wonder if the XL will have a proper timelapse (like octolapse) built in. If it does, it would eliminate the need for octoprint.

[@3DMusketeers]

Oh man that sync issue is a bummer! Maybe with a 32bit board it would be more efficient? I have buddies that use prusa connect with their MMUs without issues, maybe it is the pi?

[@awilliams1701]

@@3DMusketeers it's an octoprint issue. Even if I ran it on windows I think I'd still have the same problem. I actually looked at the log file and it said something about printer requesting line number XXXXXX which is greater than line number XXXXX+1 I don't remember the exact line number, but yeah the printer was requesting a line that was about 20 lines previous than what octoprint was trying to send. I've also only had it happen with MMU prints. I've yet to see it happen with a monocolor print (technically still an MMU print, but it only selects a single color at the start) Apparently the problem was even worse than it is now. Octoprint didn't like the commands that prusa was using to change colors. Now it just ignores them. But yeah when I had a print that was supposed to be 3 days, it would fail around the 1.5-2 day mark every time. And always at a different location. I also noticed in the logs the problem happened multiple times. Octoprint gives a pass on this error, but after it happens like 10 times in a row, then octoprint sends m112 as a shutdown command. I don't know why it sends m112 instead of just turning off the heater and stopping the print, but that's what it does.

[@awilliams1701]

@@3DMusketeers I wonder if an MMU failure that can take up to 8 hours (one of them happened shortly after I fell asleep in a previous print) affects the sync issue. But I do think the MMU causing the printer to beep at me was definitely making the problem worse. Thankfully drilling out the PTFE tube with the angled opening seems to have eliminated that issue. THANKFULLY becuase that one sucked. The printer extrudes 4 inches in the air and asks if it's the right color. And then no matter how much filament I remove from the tip it massively over extrudes on the purge block. It's as thick as the purge line at the beginning of all prusa prints. I have to act quickly and use side cutters to remove the excess. If I don't it causes a collsion detected error. That happened last week. I'm sure all that lead to the initial Revo upgrade failing. But now that it's not doing that anymore I had no trouble getting a 26 hour print finished.

[@CyberKater]

How connecting the Mini+ to the BeagleCam - mine will not connect ..... ?

[@3DMusketeers]

we did ours via cable direct connection

[@awilliams1701]

My biggest complaint with the pi is that because it isn't all that powerful....upping live resolution from 480p 15fps to 720p 15fps means if I preview the camera live, it will eventually crash the network stack. So viewing the camera live is a huge risk. Octolapse itself seems ok. Makes me wonder if my old samsung note 5 (stopped using due to lack of space) might have been a better choice. lol

[@3DMusketeers]

I've never had crash issues on our pis... But I'm using pi4 4gb models with a mild overclock.

[@craigjoe8691]

I use Alfred Cam and an old phone. Never had any issues.

[@3DMusketeers]

oh, interesting, never heard of it!

[@awilliams1701]

@@3DMusketeers Mine is a 4b 8gb model. I'm not sure what's different with b vs just a 4, but anyway..... it's not overclocked though.

[@awilliams1701]

@@3DMusketeers do you have yours configured for 720p and then leave open a browser tab with the control tab permanently open (because that's what I can't do now)

[@brightnovastar]

Alexa... record Timelapse. So I have so many questions. 1- how do you have obsidian? Please review that. 2- why don't you have the Bambu Carbon X1? You so need to get your hands on one. Oh and lastly thank you for reviewing this Timelapse device. I'm totally thinking about getting it now.

[@3DMusketeers]

1. Because E3D loves us? And I cannot until it goes public. 2. Because they did not send me one. For me to buy it as a business they have to prove reliability and customer service for at least 6 months before I am willing to spend my money. Lastly. You're welcome :) It was a cool product and while we are late to the party getting one, I am glad to take a look at it from my perspective.

[@Itsdarts]

This thing is stupid simple to set up. Timelapse needs work, but is simple as well. It leaves ugly seams in Timelapse mode. It glitches occasionally when using it to print from Wi-Fi. Firmware updates come out every few weeks. Latest update allows ota updating. It openly claim in the Apple App Store that they don’t collect data.

[@3DMusketeers]

I know they claim it, but I am working on testing it. I have learned from companies in the past that claims are worthless. I dont print from wifi anyways, way too risky IMO, toss it on the SD and send it. I just saw that update, of course, after we filmed LOL. OTA updates can be scary to me, unless it prompts me to make the upgrade rather than auto. We will see!

[@localmakermi]

Another Great Video!

[@3DMusketeers]

Thank you!

[@MotorKnight]

Did you investigate, if the camera is connecting with Skynet?

[@3DMusketeers]

nope. It did not work for me, so I have not used it since.

[@winslowjoy2629]

Hey Grant, before doing a review on that specific Sunlu "dryer", research how Sunlu treated the Kickstarter backers when it came to market. Msg me if you want a run-down directly.

[@3DMusketeers]

Shoot me an email! I paid for them, review or not, I do not care.. Got 2 of the S2's and 3kg of filament for a whopping $9 via pricing error lol. I owe Sunlu nothing

[@winslowjoy2629]

@@3DMusketeers My experience is strictly on the S1. I'll draft you an email tonight.

[@3DMusketeers]

sounds good. I have the S1 and have found it sufficient. Not great, but better than open air!

[@rcobsesssed]

Obxidian nozzle, GET IN MY PRINTERS!

[@3DMusketeers]

SOON tm

[@ven2132]

Nice vid

[@3DMusketeers]

Thanks!

[@JBCool0729]

Its funny that you are so late with this camera. First you can use it on computer with browser. Second they have a files to print for this camera on model web sites that have mounting brackets and they do have one for tripod mout like one from joebejm. You just have to do more getting info and not say stuff when camera was out for few month already.

[@3DMusketeers]

I didnt like the one that required screws. I like to elearn about them before I do a review. We have had ours for 2 weeks. You can use it from a browser, but then I have to take it out of the sandbox network. It has an app, that app should work.

[@awilliams1701]

lol anything over 70 degrees is "unairconditioned" to me.

[@3DMusketeers]

LOL its 86 in my office now....

[@awilliams1701]

@@3DMusketeers yeah you told me that you like it hotter than hell. On the plus side while my summer bill is high, my winter bill is low.

[@WurstPeterl]

Just switch your thermometer to Celsius. Cheapest Airconditioning possible.

[@3DMusketeers]

LOL

[@awilliams1701]

@@WurstPeterl Then I'd have to have it under 21.5

[@WurstPeterl]

I still don’t get the value proposition of 3D print time lapses. Sure it looks cool. For remote supervision and failure analysis a regular security camera system with a NVR seems far superior in every way. And it doesn’t mess with my precious gcode. Also I‘m not going to set up another VLAN to isolate yet another „mystery firmware“ IOT device. If I would feel the urge to create timelapses for social media, I would probably just set up a dedicated printer with studio lights and a DSLR triggered by Klipper.

[@3DMusketeers]

That is how we normally do our time lapses, but not klipper, using a pi. Then you do have edit it. This does provide done files good to upload so there's some benefit there. But yes, if you are the tinkering type then this is 100% not for you :)