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I want to place a 3D printer far away from a PC in a well ventilated location. The printer needs a PC connected for operating...but fumes are problem. Moving it after setup just to print isn't an option because it would need to be reinitialized and calibrated...which it needs the PC connection for. I'm not sure either if the data a printer sends is considered high speed or low speed, which, it sounds like is the factor affecting length restrictions of usb cables in general.

Also I was wondering if the cable length limitations are affected at all by what usb version it is...usb 2 versus 3. Is 3 considered high speed? Is 2 regular speed?

If the lengths vary by usb version (2 vs 3), and 3 had longer potential, could I swap the 2.0 cable the printer came with for a 3.0 and would that affect the printers ability to recieve the correct data from the PC?

Torriekster
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1 Answers1

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A printer uses a USB type B plug, the PC uses type A, so you need a USB A-B cable.

The type of connector does not make a difference to the allowed cable length. With USB 1.0 and 2.0, that is set to 5m. There are USB boosters that allow you to go to longer lengths, for example this one which claims 11m. You can also insert powered hubs into the connection to extend the distance. The links given in the comments to your question give more details.

A better way may be to network the printer. If the printer has a network port, that should work without any trouble. You can also use a USB network print server. That will work fine if the printer uses a printer language like PCL-5/6, ESC/P or PostScript. However, if your printer is a GDI printer (a host-based printer, which uses the Windows graphics engine to convert the page into dots on the page) this will only work if the adapter specifically works with your printer. Reputable suppliers will provide a compatibility list. If your GDI printer is not in the list, you must assume it will not work. Host-based printers may use different names than GDI, for example PCL-3 or LIDIL.

hdhondt
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