A guide to get Klipper with fluidd, Mainsail or Duet-Web-Control on OpenWrt embeded devices like the Creality Wi-Fi Box.
IMPORTANT: Switch to the tag of the version you want to install BEFORE downloading the firmware to ensure you are syncronised to the core packages, scripts and instructions!
Click to expand!
( 🔴 Click to expand!)
- OpenWrt is so much more efficient than other linux distros.
- On a single core 580MHz cpu (with moonraker, klippy, nginx and mjpg-streamer) I get ~20-25% cpu load while idle/not printing and max 35-40% cpu load while printing and watching stream (640x480 30fps mjpeg).
- I've tried octoprint on this box as well but unfortunately it was too resource intensive. Test prints speak for themselves.
What is the Creality Wi-Fi Box?
(Click to expand!)
-
A router box device released by Creality in 2020 meant to add cloud based remote control to your printer. Creality Cloud App is a contraption between social media and 3d printing that you have to use to be able to print and monitor.
Sounded like a good idea. Unfortunately, the unpolished idea was not very well received by the public. Creality recently (July 2021) added Cura integration and custom gcode upload. Webcam support finally got released but it seems to only work with their new proprietary webcam. Everything is still cloud based and you can't use it offline. This raised a lot of concerns in terms of privacy and transparency. Putting all your trust in a company is not necesarily the best idea and although they seemed to have improved the app and user experience the full control is not in the user's hands yet.
It's hard to please everybody when creating a product/service but actually listening to the public's feedback is a good start. People need privacy, full control and reliability to actually consider using the product over the alternatives. Klipper and it's UI clients come as open source and 100% transparent alternatives to remote printing.
Specifications (Click to expand!)
(taken form figgyc's commit)
-
SoC: MediaTek MT7688AN @ 580 MHz
-
Flash: BoyaMicro BY25Q128AS (16 MiB, SPI NOR)
-
RAM: 128 MiB DDR2 (Winbond W971GG6SB-25)
-
Peripheral: Genesys Logic GL850G 2 port USB 2.0 hub
-
I/O: 1x 10/100 Ethernet port, microSD SD-XC Class 10 slot, 4x LEDs, 2x USB 2.0 ports, micro USB input (for power only), reset button
-
FCC ID: 2AXH6CREALITY-BOX
-
UART: test pads: (square on silkscreen) 3V3, TX, RX, GND; default baudrate: 57600
What is OpenWrt?
(Click to expand!)
- A Linux OS built for embeded devices, routers especially. Light, Open Source with a great community and
packages that gives your device the freedom it deserves.
What is Klipper?
(Click to expand!)
- A 3d-printer firmware. It runs on any kind of computer taking advantage of the host cpu. Extremely light on cpu, lots of feautres
(Click to expand!)
- These are free and open-source Klipper web interface clients for managing your 3d printer.
What is Moonraker?
(Click to expand!)
- A Python 3 based web server that exposes APIs with which client applications (fluidd or mainsail) may use to interact with Klipper. Communcation between the Klippy host and Moonraker is done over a Unix Domain Socket. Tornado is used to provide Moonraker's server functionality.
What is duet-web-control
(Click to expand!)
- Duet Web Control is a fully-responsive HTML5-based web interface for RepRapFirmware. Stephan3 built a socket to make it communicate with klipper as well (klipper is not a RepRapFirmware). This is a standalone webserver and client interface - so no need for moonraker or nginx.
🎬 Check out the latest video tutorial by Kruze17 on his Hyper Makes YouTube channel.
❗ Open issues or join the server for extra support.
Click to expand!
Installs everything fresh and current. Possibly unstable if a new dependency is added to the applications stack before the script is updated.
Click for STEPS!
This method uses 2 scripts to foramt an sd card and make it extroot and another one that installs everything from the internet.
- Make sure you've flahsed/sysupgraded latest
.bin
file from/Firmware/OpenWrt_snapshot/
or from latest release. - Connect to the
OpenWrt
access point - Access LuCi web interface and log in on
192.168.1.1:81
- (optional but recommended) Add a password to the
OpenWrt
access point:Wireless
-> Under wireless overviewEDIT
theOpenWrt
interface ->Wireless Security
-> Choose an encryption -> set a password ->Save
->Save & Apply
- (optional but recommended) Add a password:
System
->Administration
->Router Password
- ❗If your home network subnet is on 1 (192.168.1.x), in order to avoid any ip conflicts, change the static ip of the box LAN from 192.168.1.1 to something like 192.168.3.1. To do that access the luci webinterface ->
Network
->Interfaces
and edit the static ip ->Save
-> press the down arow on the Save&Apply button ->Apply Unchecked
. You can now access luci on the new ip and continue configureing Client setup. - Connect as a client to your Internet router:
Network
->Wireless
->SCAN
->Join Network
-> checkLock to BSSID
->Create/Assign Firewall zone
then undercustom
typewwan
enter ->Submit
->Save
->Save & Apply
- Connect back to your router and either find the new box's ip inside the
DHCP
list. - ❗ Access the terminal tab (
Services
->Terminal
) ❗ If terminal tab is not working go toConfig
tab and changeInterface
to the interface you are connecting through the box (your wireless router SSID for example) ->Save & Apply
. - Download and execute the
1_format_extroot.sh
script:
cd ~
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shivajiva101/KlipperWrt/v3.4/scripts/1_format_extroot.sh
chmod +x 1_format_extroot.sh
./1_format_extroot.sh
-
You'll be prompted to reboot: type
reboot
-
Download and execute the
2_script_manual.sh
script:
cd ~
wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shivajiva101/KlipperWrt/v3.4/scripts/2_script_manual.sh
chmod +x 2_script_manual.sh
./2_script_manual.sh 2>&1 | tee install.log
-
Follow the prompted instructions and wait for everything to be installed
-
remove the scripts when done:
rm -rf /root/*.sh
-
Done!
-
When done and rebooted use
http://openwrt.local
orhttp://box-ip
to access the Klipper client -
Done!
-
put your
printer.cfg
inside/root/klipper_config
-
delete these blocks from your
printer.cfg
:[virtual_sdcard]
,[display_status]
,[pause_resume]
since they're included insidefluidd.cfg
/mainsail.cfg
-
add these lines inside your
printer.cfg
depending on your klipper client (mainsail/fluidd): -
Fluidd:
[include fluidd.cfg]
[include timelapse.cfg]
-
Mainsail:
[include mainsail.cfg]
[include timelapse.cfg]
-
Under
[mcu]
block change your serial port path according to this[Optional] -
Build your
klippper.bin
mainboard firmware using a linux desktop/VM (followprinter.cfg
header for instructions) -
Flash your mainboard according to the
printer.cfg
header -
Do a
FIRMWARE RESTART
inside fluidd/Mainsail -
Done
Notes:
- If the box doesn't connect back to your router wirelessly connect to it with an ethernet cable and setup/troubleshoot wifi.
- Check here for how to set your
TIMELAPSE_TAKE_FRAME
macro inside your slicer layer change.
Click to expand!
Click for STEPS!
❗ Although this is an OpenWrt snapshot (Device is not officially supported) it works seamlessly, as long as the core package feed points at the correct tag for the firmware version.
Click to expand!
Click to expand!
Flashing:
- Rename factory.bin to cxsw_update.tar.bz2
- Copy it to the root of a FAT32 formatted microSD card.
- Turn on the device, wait for it to start, then insert the card. The stock firmware reads the install.sh script from this archive, the build script I added creates one that works in a similar way. Web firmware update didn't work in my testing.
Click to expand!
- If the flashing was successful you should be able to ssh into the box through ethernet. Plug it in your PC (prefered way) or router and do
ssh [email protected]
inWindows PowerShell
or anyunix terminal
or useputty
. - Edit
/etc/config/network
,/etc/config/wireless
and/etc/config/firewall
. I've uploaded these to follow as a model (insideWi-Fi
). - Use
iw dev wlan0 scan
to scan for near wi-fi networks and look for the bssid specific to your 2.4Ghz SSID.
4. Enable extroot (to expand the storage on the TF card) and enable swap.
Click to expand!
- Extroot
opkg update && opkg install block-mount kmod-fs-ext4 kmod-usb-storage kmod-usb-ohci kmod-usb-uhci e2fsprogs fdisk
DEVICE="$(sed -n -e "/\s\/overlay\s.*$/s///p" /etc/mtab)"
uci -q delete fstab.rwm
uci set fstab.rwm="mount"
uci set fstab.rwm.device="${DEVICE}"
uci set fstab.rwm.target="/rwm"
uci commit fstab
mkfs.ext4 /dev/mmcblk0p1
DEVICE="/dev/mmcblk0p1"
eval $(block info "${DEVICE}" | grep -o -e "UUID=\S*")
uci -q delete fstab.overlay
uci set fstab.overlay="mount"
uci set fstab.overlay.uuid="${UUID}"
uci set fstab.overlay.target="/overlay"
uci commit fstab
mount /dev/mmcblk0p1 /mnt
cp -f -a /overlay/. /mnt
umount /mnt
reboot
- swap (though the existing 128mb RAM seemed more than enough)
run this once:
opkg update && opkg install swap-utils
dd if=/dev/zero of=/overlay/swap.page bs=1M count=512
mkswap /overlay/swap.page
swapon /overlay/swap.page
mount -o remount,size=256M /tmp
update /etc/rc.local so that swap is enabled at boot:
rm /etc/rc.local;
cat << "EOF" > /etc/rc.local
# Put your custom commands here that should be executed once
# the system init finished. By default this file does nothing.
###activate the swap file on the SD card
swapon /overlay/swap.page
###expand /tmp space
mount -o remount,size=256M /tmp
exit 0
EOF
Click for STEPS!
Click to expand!
- for Klipper and moonraker - check the
requirements
folder. - Install
git-http
withopkg update && opkg install git-http gcc unzip htop
opkg install python3 python3-pip python3-cffi python3-dev python3-greenlet python3-jinja2 python3-markupsafe python3-msgpack;
pip install --upgrade pip;
pip install --upgrade setuptools;
pip install python-can configparser;
opkg install python3-tornado python3-pillow python3-distro python3-curl python3-zeroconf python3-paho-mqtt python3-yaml python3-requests ip-full libsodium;
pip install pyserial-asyncio lmdb streaming-form-data inotify-simple libnacl preprocess-cancellation apprise ldap3 dbus-next importlib-metadata;
- Install nginx with
opkg install nginx-ssl
Click to expand!
- 6.1 Clone Klipper inside
~/
-git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Klipper3D/klipper.git
. - 6.2 Use provided klipper service and place inside
/etc/init.d/
wget -q -O /etc/init.d/klipper https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shivajiva101/KlipperWrt/v3.4/Services/klipper
chmod 755 /etc/init.d/klipper
- 6.3 Enable klipper service:
/etc/init.d/klipper enable
- 6.4 Prepare your
printer.cfg
file:
mkdir ~/klipper_config ~/klipper_logs ~/gcode_files
-
Locate your
.cfg
file inside~/klipper/config/
copy it to~/klipper_config
and rename it toprinter.cfg
-
Inside
printer.cfg
under[mcu]
replace serial line withserial: /dev/ttyUSB0
-
Add either
[include mainsail.cfg]
or[include fluidd.cfg]
to the top of theprinter.cfg
file depending on which front end you chose -
6.5 Restart klipper - do
service klipper restart
or/etc/init.d/klipper restart
-
6.6 Build
klipper.bin
file
- Building is not mandatory to be done on the device that hosts klippy. To build it on this box you would need a lot of dependencies that are not available for OpenWrt so I just used my pc running ubuntu: On a different computer running linux (or VM or live USB) -> Clone klipper just like you did before ->cd klipper
->make menuconfig
-> use the configurations specific to your mainboard (Check the header inside yourprinter.cfg
file for details).
❗ use custom baud:230400
. By default 250000 is selected. If you want/need that baud, remove thepython-pyserial
package and install this version of pyserial instead - checkRequirements
directory for details about installation process. -> once configured runmake
-> if succesfull the firmware will be inside./out/klipper.bin
-> flash the mainboard:(check header ofprinter.cfg
again - some mainboards need the.bin
file renamed a certain way) copy the.bin
file on a sd card -> plug the card with the printer off -> turn printer on and wait a minute -> Done (Depending on your mainboard/printer/lcd you will probably not have a sign that the mainboard got flashed so don't worry) - if at the end of this guide the client cannot connect to the klipper firmware usually the problem is with the.bin
file building or flashing process.
Click to expand!
- 7.1 Clone Moonraker
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/Arksine/moonraker.git
- 7.2 Use provided moonraker.conf file and download chosen client
For fluidd:
mkdir ~/fluidd
wget -q -O /root/fluidd/fluidd.zip https://github.com/fluidd-core/fluidd/releases/latest/download/fluidd.zip && unzip /root/fluidd/fluidd.zip -d /root/fluidd/ && rm /root/fluidd/fluidd.zip
wget -q -O /root/klipper_config/moonraker.conf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shivajiva101/KlipperWrt/v3.4/moonraker/fluidd_moonraker.conf
wget -q -O /etc/nginx/conf.d/fluidd.conf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shivajiva101/KlipperWrt/v3.4/nginx/fluidd.conf
For Mainsail:
mkdir ~/mainsail
wget -q -O /root/mainsail/mainsail.zip https://github.com/meteyou/mainsail/releases/latest/download/mainsail.zip && unzip /root/mainsail/mainsail.zip -d /root/mainsail/ && rm /root/mainsail/mainsail.zip
wget -q -O /root/klipper_config/moonraker.conf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shivajiva101/KlipperWrt/v3.4/moonraker/mainsail_moonraker.conf
wget -q -O /etc/nginx/conf.d/mainsail.conf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shivajiva101/KlipperWrt/v3.4/nginx/mainsail.conf
Note: The [update_manager]
plugin was commented out since this is curently only supported for debian
distros only. For now, updating moonraker
, klipper
, fluidd
or mainsail
should be done manaully.
Don't forget to edit(if necessary) the moonraker.conf
file you copied inside ~/klipper_config
under trusted_clients:
with your client ip or ip range (client meaning the device you want to access fluidd/mainsail from). Check the moonraker configuration doc for details.
- 7.3 Use provided moonraker service and place inside
/etc/init.d/
wget -q -O /etc/init.d/moonraker https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shivajiva101/KlipperWrt/v3.4/Services/moonraker
chmod 755 /etc/init.d/moonraker
/etc/init.d/moonraker enable
/etc/init.d/moonraker restart
- 7.4 Download the rest of the nginx files inside
/etc/nginx/conf.d
*
wget -q -O /etc/nginx/conf.d/upstreams.conf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shivajiva101/KlipperWrt/v3.4/nginx/upstreams.conf
wget -q -O /etc/nginx/conf.d/common_vars.conf https://raw.githubusercontent.com/shivajiva101/KlipperWrt/v3.4/nginx/common_vars.conf
Inside /etc/nginx/conf.d
you should have fluidd.conf
OR mainsail.conf
alongside common_vars.conf
AND upstreams.conf
(those 2 files are common for mainsail and fluidd)
Note!
You need to use either fluidd.conf
or mainsail.conf
file depending on your chosen client. Don't use both .conf
files inside /etc/nginx/conf.d/
. If you want to test both clients and easly switch between them check the ! How to switch between fluidd and mainsail: below.
Note!
It's ok to keep both client directories inside /root/
as these are static files. Careful with the .conf
file inside /etc/nginx/conf.d
.
- 7.6 Restart nginx with
service nginx restart
and check browser ifhttp://your-ip
brings you the client interface (fluidd or mainsail).
❗ How to switch between fluidd and mainsail:
- switch between
mainsail.conf
andfluidd.conf
file inside/etc/nginx/conf.d
(make sure the other one gets renamed to a differentextension
. eg:*.conf_off
or moved to a different folder.) - Switch between mainsail and fluidd
moonraker.conf
files inside~/klipper_config
. Find them inside my repo undermoonraker
directory. - Restart moonraker and nginx services:
service moonraker restart
andservice nginx restart
Click to expand!
- install video4linux utilities:
opkg update && opkg install v4l-utils
- use commands:
opkg update && opkg install mjpg-streamer-input-uvc mjpg-streamer-output-http mjpg-streamer-www
- connect a uvc webcam, configure
/etc/config/mjpg-streamer
to your likings, enable and restart service:
/etc/init.d/mjpg-streamer enable
/etc/init.d/mjpg-streamer restart
- put the stream link inside the client(fluidd/mainsail) camera setting:
http://<your_ip>/webcam/?action=stream
Click to expand!
- To change your hostname go to
/etc/config/system
and modifyoption hostname 'OpenWrt'
to your likings. - To use your hostname in browser and ssh instead of the ip do:
opkg update
opkg install avahi-daemon-service-ssh avahi-daemon-service-http
reboot
- Instead of
http://your-ip
usehttp://your_hostname.local
Click for STEPS!
Click to expand!
- for Klipper - check the
requirements.txt
file.
Click to expand!
- 6.1 Clone Klipper inside
~/
- doopkg install git-http unzip
thengit clone --depth 1 https://github.com/KevinOConnor/klipper.git
. - 6.2 Use provided klipper service and place inside
/etc/init.d/
- find it insideServices -> klipper
- 6.3 Enable klipper service: Everytime you create a service file you need to give it executable permissions before enabling it. For klipper do
chmod 755 klipper
. You can enable it now by/etc/init.d/klipper enable
- 6.4 Prepare your
printer.cfg
file - domkdir ~/klipper_config
andmkdir ~/gcode_files
. Locate your.cfg
file inside~/klipper/config/
copy it to~/klipper_config
and rename it toprinter.cfg
- Insideprinter.cfg
under[mcu]
replace serial line withserial: /dev/ttyUSB0
and add a new line:baud: 230400
- (check requirements if you want/need 250000 baud) - 6.5 Restart klipper - do
service klipper restart
or/etc/init.d/klipper restart
- 6.6 Build
klipper.bin
file - Building is not mandatory to be done on the device that hosts klippy. To build it on this box you would need a lot of dependencies that are not available for OpenWrt so I just used my pc running ubuntu: On a different computer running linux (or VM or live USB) -> Clone klipper just like you did before ->cd klipper
->make menuconfig
-> use the configurations specific to your mainboard (Check the header inside yourprinter.cfg
file for details).
❗ use custom baud:230400
. By default 250000 is selected. If you want/need that baud, remove thepython-pyserial
package and install this version of pyserial instead - checkRequirements
directory for details about installation process. -> once configured runmake
-> if succesfull the firmware will be inside./out/klipper.bin
-> flash the mainboard:(check header ofprinter.cfg
again - some mainboards need the.bin
file renamed a certain way) copy the.bin
file on a sd card -> plug the card with the printer off -> turn printer on and wait a minute -> Done (Depending on your mainboard/printer/lcd you will probably not have a sign that the mainboard got flashed so don't worry) - if at the end of this guide the client cannot connect to the klipper firmware usually the problem is with the.bin
file building or flashing process.
Click to expand!
-
Download
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/Stephan3/dwc2-for-klipper-socket
-
Edit
dwc2.cfg
- set theweb_root:
path to absolute path:/root/sdcard/web
-
Create dwc socket service
Create adwc
file inside/etc/init.d/
with the contents of thedwc
file inside my repo:Services->dwc
Give it executable permissions:chmod 755 /etc/init.s/dwc
Enable it:/etc/init.d/dwc enable
Click to expand!
- Download dwc version 3 web interface
mkdir -p ~/sdcard/web
cd ~/sdcard/web
wget -O DuetWebControl-SD.zip https://github.com/Duet3D/DuetWebControl/releases/download/3.1.1/DuetWebControl-SD.zip
unzip *.zip && for f_ in $(find . | grep '.gz');do gunzip ${f_};done
rm DuetWebControl-SD.zip
- Restart dwc socket service:
service dwc restart
or/etc/init.d/dwc restart
- Test:
https:://<your_ip>:4750
Click to expand!
- To change your hostname go to
/etc/config/system
and modifyoption hostname 'OpenWrt'
to your likings. - To use your hostname in browser and ssh instead of the ip do:
opkg update
opkg install avahi-daemon-service-ssh avahi-daemon-service-http
reboot
- Instead of
http://your-ip
usehttp://your_hostname.local
(aka Sysupgrading)
Click to expand!
- Downloadthe sysupgrade.bin file to your computer
- Connect the box to your pc and make sure it's reachable by ssh
- Transfer it to the box inside
/tmp
directory with WinSCP or through command in Powershell/UNIX Terminal:scp /path/to/sysupgrade.bin [email protected]:/tmp
- ssh to the box and navigate to
/tmp
make sure the bin is there - Do
sysupgrade -n -v *bin
Click to expand!
- Open a separate
ssh
instance and runlogread -f
- you'll get real time log data of the running process. - You can always open an issue or contact me if you get stuck or something doesn't work.
Click to expand!
-
Creating a non-privileged user
Check this guide All the tests I did were as root - some modifications would be necessary to not run everything as root.- Packages needed:
shadow-useradd
,sudo
,shadow-groupadd
,shadow-usermod
- Packages needed:
-
Copy files to the box
scp /path/file.ext root@<your_box_ip>:/tmp
-
Watch realtime CommandLine log (open an aditional terminal instance for this)
logread -f
-
Services commands (Replace
service
withklipper
/moonraker
/nginx
/mjpg-streamer
respectively)
/etc/init.d/service enable
/etc/init.d/service start
/etc/init.d/service restart
-
Check CPU/system resources usage
top
-
Check webcam specifcations
v4l2-ctl --all
v4l2-ctl --list-formats
-
List installed packages
opkg list-installed
-
Reboot, Poweroff
reboot
poweroff
Click to expand!
-
If enabling the services returns an error, do:
ls -l
inside/etc/init.d/
and check if the service has executable permissions (x flag). If not do:chmod 755 service
- replaceservice
accordingly. -
I didn't manage to get the printer to communicate on 250000 baudrate (Official version of pyserial is unable to set a custom nonstandard baudrate - I found the fix by ckielstra has been merged but isn't currently being used by pip. Use forked pyserial as well which is updated more often. If you don't want to use 250k baudrate you can solve this issue by using 230400 instead (you need to change this both while building the mcu klipper firmware AND inside printer.cfg under [mcu]:
[mcu]
baud: 230400
-
The Host and Services commands (
Reboot
,Shutdown
,Restart Moonraker
,Restart Klipper
etc.) inside fluidd/mainsail did not work at first due to moonraker using debian syntax. I solved this by editing the~moonraker/moonraker/components/machine.py
. Use these commands insideself._execute_cmd("command")
:"poweroff"
,"reboot"
,f'/etc/init.d/{service_name} restart'
for host poweroff, reboot and services restart respectively.
Click to expand!
- Download a previowsly working SYSUPGRADE OpenWrt image.
- Rename it to
root_uImage
- Put it on a FAT32 formatted USB stick (NOT sd card)
- Insert it in the box while off
- Press and hold the reset button
- Power on the box while still holding the reset button for about 6-10 sec.
- Release the button and wait for a couple of minutes. After a couple of seconds you should find the KlipperWrt AP. You should be able to ssh into it through ethernet or connected to it's wifi (
ssh [email protected]
)
Click to expand!
- Download a stock image (found inside
Firmware/Creality_Stock
folder as well) - Unzip the stock
tar.bz2
and get theroot_uImage
file - Put it on a FAT32 formatted USB stick (NOT sd card)
- Insert it in the box while off
- Press and hold the reset button
- Power on the box while still holding the reset button for about 6-10 sec.
- Release the button and wait for a couple of minutes. After a few seconds you should find it on network.
- the idea: Hackaday.com - for the article that set me on this journey
- the hard part: figgyc - for porting OpenWrt to the Creality Wi-Fi Box
- the essentials:
- Kevin O'Connor - for Klipper
- cadriel - for fluidd
- mateyou - for mainsail
- Eric Callahan - for Moonraker
- Stephan3 - for dwc socket
- Duet3D - for DuetWebControl
- the fine tuning: andryblack - for the OpenWrt Klipper service
- the encouragement: Tom Hensel- for supporting Ihrapsa into creating this