Electro-Mechanical Direct-Contact, Independent Auto-leveling Probe

thingiverse

WARNING: THIS PROBE IS A CONCEPT THAT HAS BEEN PRINTED BUT NOT TESTED IN A FUNCTIONING ENVIRONMENT. AFTER CAREFULLY CONSIDERING ALL POSSIBLE SCENARIOS OF END-STOP AND PROBES SOLUTIONS, I SETTLED MY STRUGGLE WITH OPTO-PROBES FOR THE HIGH-END (INFRARED, LASER, ETC) AND MECHANICAL, DIRECT NOZZLE-BED CONTACT PROBES FOR THE LOW-END PRICE SPECTRUM. THIS THING IS TO PRESENT MY CURRENT DESIGN FOR A MECHANICAL PROBE THAT DOESN'T NEED REPETABILITY TESTS AS THE DESIGN ITSELF DOESN'T ALLOW ERRORS IN THIS AREA. IT DOESN'T NEED PRECISE POSITIONING RELATIVE TO THE NOZZLE SO IT CAN HAVE VARIOUS DISTANCES TO THE NOZZLE EACH TIME WITH THE SAME OUTCOME. IT CAN BE USED WITH HEATED NOZZLES ON PLASTIC BEDS (PEI, ETC) AND ANY KIND OF BED (PLASTIC, WOOD, GLASS, METAL), BECAUSE IT DOESN'T DEPEND ON THE BED MATERIAL AND IT DOESN'T DAMAGE THE BED MATERIAL. IT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE PRINT HEAD AND CAN BE "CLAMPED" TO THE PRINT HEAD VIA A G0 G-CODE COMMAND. THESE ARE MANY ADVANTAGES ONE WANTS TO HAVE, BUT SEEMINGLY FEW PEOPLE APPRECIATE SIMPLE, COMMON-SENSE SOLUTIONS THESE DAYS, WHERE EVERYTHING MUST BE HIGH TECH. WELL, IT DOESN'T, AND THIS LOW-TECH SOLUTION CAN BE REPLICATED AT HOME WHEN SOMETHING BREAKS. IT IS A DESIGN SO FAR, I HAVEN'T TESTED IT ON A FUNCTIONING MACHINE BUT THE LOGIC BEHIND IT IS VALID AND I'VE SUBMITTED MY IDEA AND MY DESIGN ON REPRAP FORUMS FOR DISCUSSION AND SCRUTINY WITH POSITIVE RESULTS SO FAR. IT ASSUMES A CONNECTION ON THE HOTEND (GROUND MOST LIKELY) AND THE 5V CONNECTION ON THE SCREW ON THE PROBE, SO WHEN NOZZLE AND THE METAL STRIP MAKE CONTACT, IT TRIGGERS THE Z_MIN ON THE ARDUINO. I HAVE ATTACHED BOTH STL AND RSDOC. REPRAP FORUMS DISCUSSION HERE: HTTP://FORUMS.REPRAP.ORG/READ.PHP?1,620626