Hub Requirements
AutoFarm3D runs on a Print Farm Hub or a Raspberry Pi 4 (2GB+).
Hub Specs
The Print Farm Hub comes with everything you need to get AutoFarm3D up and running, including a pre-loaded SD card, a protective enclosure and cooling fan, and an ethernet cable.
If you are installing AutoFarm3D your own Raspberry Pi, you will need the following materials.
| Item | Minimum Specs |
|---|---|
| Raspberry Pi 4 | 2 GB RAM |
| MicroSD card | 16GB, Class 10 Rating. Maximum 64 GB |
| Raspberry Pi 5V power supply | 3 Amps |
| USB or SD to MicroSD adapter | none |
| Ethernet cable | none |
How Many Printers Per Hub?
Visit here to quickly calculate how many Hubs you will need. Read on to find out how we calculate Hub requirements.
Hub Capacity
Each Hub or Pi can have up to 10 Bambu Lab printers connected, or up to 4 USB printers.
If you are mixing and matching Bambu Lab and USB printers, stick to a maximum of 10 printers per Hub, but multiply each USB printer by 3. So a single Hub could have 2 USB printers and 4 Bambu Lab printers, for example (2*3 + 4 = 10).
Please note these numbers apply to Standalone and Worker Hubs. If your setup requires more than 1 Hub, you will also need an additional dedicated Command Hub with no printers attached to it.
Adding Webcams
Each webcam counts as a USB printer, so in Standalone and Worker mode you can have:
- 2 Printers + 2 Webcams OR
- 4 Printers + 0 Webcams
To learn how to configure your Hubs, please see the multi-printer control guide.
Power Requirements
Your Print Farm Hub needs a stable 3A 5V power supply and must be connected to a circuit with reliable power. We strongly recommend using an uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) to avoid disruptions.
Power dips or surges may cause your Hub to reboot. This can cause print failures and impede production.
Power dips are usually caused by other high power devices on the same circuit, such as space heaters, air conditioners, kettles, etc. If your Hub is on a circuit with other high power devices, we recommend moving it to a different circuit, or ideally, using an uninterruptable power supply (UPS).
USB Splitters
If you need more USB ports, you can expand your Pi/Hub with a powered USB splitter.
- Plug USB splitters into the blue USB-3 ports for faster data transfer.
- Plug in only 1 webcam per USB splitter to avoid overloading USB ports with data.
Please use an externally powered USB splitter that has it's own power supply. Print Farm Hubs and Raspberry Pis are not able to reliably supply power to more than 3 or 4 USB devices at a time.
Search for "Powered USB Hub", for example: https://www.amazon.com/Powered-Usb-Hub/s?k=Powered+Usb+Hub.