Using security camera for 3D printer monitoring

lizziemc12 · May 20

Does anyone who has a 3D printer use a security camera or a webcam to monitor their long prints while not in the room. I have a webcam but I can't figure out a way to make it so I can use my phone to monitor the print and I was thinking that a cheap security camera with an app I can open on my phone to see where the printer is up to and if there are problems would be better but idk what security camera app is the best and easiest to use. If anyone knows what apps are the best I would appreciate it greatly.

Potatoes2241 · May 26

Hey, what printer are we talking about? Thing is, depending on your machine, there might be a way to get a camera specifically designed to monitor your printer and connect directly to it.

For one of my printers I am using a Creality Nebula Camera I got for like $20, it's amazing for this job. The camera feed is available on LAN through a web interface/Mobileraker app and can be made available from the Internet if you connect OctoEverywhere to it. This thing even advertises AI print failure detection but I did not try it yet.

If your printer does not support the camera out of the box chances are it can be customized with a Klipper server, but that's a bit more complicated. In my case this camera is connected to a Raspberry Pi acting as a brain for my printer but there are printers out there that can work with this cam natively without the need of tinkering with the machine.

As for setups with security cameras/webcams I can't suggest much but I had some experience with Alfred Camera app in the past. Do keep in mind that it is a cloud based solution so the camera feed would be passed to god knows where, so security-wise it may not be the best idea. There should be lots of options for LAN setups though, not knowledgeable enough to suggest anything specific.