Endoscope Mount for BIBO 2 Touch Dual Extruder X Laser

thingiverse

It's tough to make out the print details as I'm building it, so I decided to position a small camera close to the nozzles to monitor the progress. During my search, I came across this endoscope: http://www.amazon.com/?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1522958803&sr=8-3&keywords=USB+Endoscope%2C+Amicool&tag=tv-auto-20 I purchased it for $10 and was pleasantly surprised by its quality, especially considering the price. The attached file "endoscope mount 5 degrees.stl" is a device that will hold two endoscopes, one for each nozzle, on the front of the extruder carriage. The easy part of this project involves printing the mount, which replaces the fan grill and positions the camera part of the endoscopes right where the bottom two fan mounting holes are. However, I could have mounted the scopes lower, but I didn't want to obstruct the view with my naked eye. As a result, you'll need to modify the front fan to remove the lower mounting holes. I used a small belt sander to make this task easy, but if you don't have one, you can probably hack away most of the material and then use a file or sanding block to finish the radius. See picture "modified fan.jpg." Be cautious when working with these fans as they are delicate. The challenging part is the endoscope itself. For those who aren't familiar, it's a camera mounted on the end of a semi-rigid cable. It's used to inspect small or hidden areas like the bore of a rifle, inside a cylinder block, or inside walls. The rigid cable allows you to push the camera into pipes or bend it to look around corners. There are two issues with the endoscope: the semi-rigid cable is too rigid (in my opinion) for mounting on the extruder carriage, and the camera end of the scope is a bit too long. If you have large prints, you may hit the front door with the camera. So I decided to buy another endoscope and see if I could modify it. It turns out there's a small camera mounted on a printed circuit board inside a tube sealed with a molded grommet on the cable (see "molded grommet.jpg"). If you carefully cut/work on the grommet, you can get it out. This allowed me to 1) cut the tube to a shorter length and 2) replace the rigid cable with my own cable. I didn't have a 6-conductor cable, so I wound one with 6 #28 wires. This is very flexible, so there's no issue with resistance. If you don't have a 6-conductor cable, you can use a multiconductor wire instead. You'll need to glue the camera into the tube or it will rotate. I simply used a couple of dabs of model car glue, but you can use epoxy if you prefer. I would avoid CA because the fumes may fog up the inside of the lens. The finished part is shown in "modified camera.jpg." I just checked Amazon and found that I purchased the last two endoscopes available. Not sure when they will be available again, but I found this one: http://www.amazon.com/Endoscope-Pancellent-Waterproof-Borescope-Inspection/dp/B01MR8EONS/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1522673250&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=amicool+usb+endoscope&psc=1 It looks identical to the one I purchased, but the camera diameter is only 5.5mm, rather than the original that has a diameter of 7mm. You can either modify the mount or simply print a sleeve and use the mount as is. The important thing is to find an endoscope that you can take apart. Look for one that has a molded grommet where the cable fits into the camera tube. If you can get it out without damaging it, there's a good chance you can make this work. UPDATE 4/8/18: I broke one of the endoscopes, so I went back to Amazon and found another one. I couldn't seem to get the links to work, so go to amazon and search for ASIN "B074KXB3JM." This unit is 7mm diameter and is the exact same unit as the first units I purchased, except that it doesn't have a rigid cable. This is better because all you have to do is dig out the grommet and keep the wire. Just bend the wire 90 degrees, and you can use it as is without having to remove the rigid steel wire.