Hight probe for CNC foam cutter

thingiverse

Here are the 3D-printed parts for my CNC machine's height adjustment system. I was fed up with using a protractor and sighting to make these adjustments.\r\n\r\nA DIN 912 M3x40 screw is screwed into the tactile button. The screw is connected to a 9V dry cell battery clip by a cable, with one end attached to the minus terminal. A LED is soldered to the plus terminal after a 340 Ohm resistor. The other leg of the LED is connected to a socket for attaching the cutting wire with its 4mm banana plug.\r\n\r\nThe height sensor is placed as close as possible under the left portal, below the wire. With the fine-tuning option in the cutting program, the wire is lowered onto the screw. When contact is made, the LED lights up. This process is then repeated at the other portal. The wire is now precisely at the same height on both sides.\r\n\r\nI use a Styrodur sacrificial plate as a base for my cuts. With the wire aligned horizontally, it only needs to be adjusted once in height with the sacrificial plate. Thanks to the quarter-step setting on my machine and a 3mm pitch, I have an x-axis resolution of 0.00375mm. The adjustment is therefore much finer and more precise than any optical method.