wireless printer server for trotec?

[Don Corbeil]

I'm looking to see if there are any compatible wireless (USB) printer servers for a speedy 300. Has anyone set theirs up this way? Would love to add this capability.

thanks -

[Kev Williams]

I don't know about "pure" wireless, but I'm hooked up "semi-wireless", which may (or may not?) work for you--

I have one computer on my network that acts as a 'print server', with several machines connected to it. Each machine shows up as a shared printer on all my networked computers, most of which are using wireless networking. This setup allows me to run any machine from any computer on my network...

[Don Corbeil]

Not sure Kev. I want to put the laser on a wireless USB device where I could work from my PC inside and send the print jobs to the laser in my attached shop wirelessly. The speedy 300 unfortunately does not have an ethernet port, where I could have easily run a cat5 between my PC and the laser. I'm not sure why they don't offer that option on these trotecs
USB has limits in how long of a cable run you can make. So right now I'm borrowing the wife's laptop to run the jobs through to the laser, but eventually that has to change, and I'll have to either spring for another laptop or, preferably, find a wireless solution first.

[Curt Harms]

Are you looking for a wireless print server like these?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=-1&isNodeId=1

If you can easily run CAT5 cable, here might be another possibility - USB over ethernet cable:

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_i...seq=1&format=2

I've not used either device though I did run a Netgear ethernet -> parallel port print server for a while and it worked as advertized with an inkjet printer.

[Don Corbeil]

Curt,
Thanks - Yes they have these wireless servers available, but compatibility is the key issue. Will any of these work with a trotec laser? I don't believe that these are all universally compatible with any printing device, let alone a laser 'printer'. I was putting this out there to see if anyone has used one specifically with their trotec.
The other option is to run a cat5 cable with the adaptor you have referenced. If wireless could work, that would be preferable.

[Scott Shepherd]

They don't put Ethernet ports on them because it's not a printer, it's an integrated job control system run from your computer. If you hit print and the laser did the rest, then you could do it. However the power of these machines is their job control which resides on your computer, not the laser. That bidirectional communication is essential to making it work.

I do not believe you can do what you are trying to do.

[Steve Morris]

not so sure its a good idea to have your laser run a job remotely. Fire safety is the first thing that comes to mind.

[Don Corbeil]

Scott, I know that Epilog puts them into their machines, but then again they do not have the job control software that trotec has on the speedy series. That may be a reason. I'll make a call to trotec tech support to see if they have ever done this.

Steve - a little off topic. This isn't a safety issue, as it is still very close.
It's simply about having the ability to use a more powerful PC that I do not want to set up right next to the laser.

[Scott Shepherd]

Don, that's because the epilog treats jobs like a printer. You can print a job, unplug the computer and the laser will run all day long. However, when you turn the laser off, the buffer is flushed and the job will be gone from the laser. If you want to know what settings you used for that rush job 2 weeks ago, you are out of luck. However with job control and capitalizing the power of your computer, you add a tremendous amount of features. So the communication with the laser is top priority.

Trotec and Universal machine both use this method and I've never seen anyone making it wireless. I could be wrong, but I've never heard of it being done.

[Don Corbeil]

Scott, yeah it's seeming unlikely at this point. The job control software that trotec uses is, well, excellent. I'm really pleased with the amount of control I can exercise on a job. There are nuances in there that make all the difference for fine tuning results.

Just to make sure, I'll make a call to tech support just to see if they've ever had this done before.

[Curt Harms]

I'm not familiar with lasers and what Scott says makes sense. There's another option to extend USB that I used on a 20+ foot run to a printer and it worked reliably but that was a printer, not a laser. Active USB cable:

http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030312&p_id=61 49&seq=1&format=2

Certainly calling the manufacturer is the best idea.

[Ross Moshinsky]

Trotec -> Print Server PC -> Wireless Network -> Computer

Then use some sort of software suite to control the print server remotely. I'm pretty sure anything past Win7 has the ability to do this as part of the OS.

[Scott Shepherd]

Trotec -> Print Server PC -> Wireless Network -> Computer

Then use some sort of software suite to control the print server remotely. I'm pretty sure anything past Win7 has the ability to do this as part of the OS.

Not sure how that's going to work since the trotec job control is what runs the laser. Without the computer with job control on it plugged into the laser, it's not going work.

[David Somers]

If it helps, Corning very recently announced a USB Optical cable. It is a bidirectional USB 3.0 (compatible with 2.0) A to A cable that has an optical cable in between the connectors. It is rated at 10 meters, with a 30 meter cable supposedly coming out soon. I know you were hoping for wireless to avoid having to run a cable, but this might serve you if wireless can't be supported. And from Steve's (Scott's) description my guess is not.

Another option, assuming you realllllly don't want to run cable, might be to setup an OK laptop or desktop by the Trotec. Connect it wirelessly to your network. Connect your Trotec to it directly. Install the JCL of the Trotec on it.

Then use your good computer, located indoors, to design and final your work. Copy the file to the second computer using your wireless network. Then take control of the second computer with Windows built in Remote Desktop ability and direct the job from there. I use RD all the time to remotely take over computers and servers and it works fine. I also copy files from one machine to another remotely all the time.

My concern would be not being by the laser as the job starts. Mind you....I am not speaking from experience. But I have read enough tales of woe on here to be really leery of that approach. Fire is one issue of course, or something in the job inadvertently slamming your head into solid objects, etc. For what that is worth.

I would be tempted to put a capable but cheap computer out there and just carry your job out to it on a thumb drive, or use your network to copy it from the inside machine to the machine by the Trotec. Then go out and run it from there. There are lots of ways to dust proof a computer, laptop or desktop, so I wouldn't let the workshop environment bother you too much.

Good luck! Let us know what you decide to try and how it works.

Dave

[Jason Hilton]

I'd love to see a job control solution that communicated with multiple lasers simultaneously, allowing you to centrally manage multiple machines at once. Assuming you had multiple machines. Or in my case, one machine. Or none, but one eventually. Right then.