Touch Probe

thingiverse

This project is heavily inspired by http://www.brusselsprout.org/CNC/1P-Probe/, also drawing from http://hydraraptor.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2007-06-03T18:25:00%2B01:00&max-results=3&reverse-paginate=true and this http://www.machsupport.com/forum/index.php/topic,5004.0.html. We remixed it to fit our printer, creating a two-part housing with internal wires and a small PCB. To assemble the probe: 1. Remove blobs and kinks from the prints and smooth them out. 2. Feed a four-wire flat-cable into the housing. 3. Unravel the cable into four strands and tie one of the edge wires in a knot. 4. Guide the three wires up through the internal channels and out the top. 5. Pass the last wire with the knot through a spring. 6. Secure the spring onto the rest of the wires, positioning them just below the top. 7. Adjust the length of the three wires and strip them for soldering. 8. Attach three pins from a pinhead (I used straight pins, bending them after soldering). 9. Mount a Danish Krone disk with a hole on an MTSB M3X15 bolt, tightening it in place. 10. Strip and wrap the fourth wire around the threads of the HTSB bolt, securing it with a second nut. 11. Add a lid held by three M3x12 hex bolts and the disk on the HTSB bolt, keeping the lid slightly ajar. 12. Align the pins so they sit between the disk and the lid, held in place by the spring's tension. 13. Tighten the lid securely. 14. Fit a plug to the end of the four-wire flat-cable. 15. Mill a PCB or obtain one another way, then solder on components and pinheads. 16. Craft a stylus using a M3X25 bolt filed while rotating in a drill press; mount it finger-tight. 17. Connect some power (around 5V) and test the sensor's functionality (LED lights up when in contact with something). 18. Mount and enjoy your completed probe.