Wheeler Filament Handler

thingiverse

Introduction This machine treats your filament right! It allows you to automatically wind the squeezed filament on small diameter spool to large diameter comfort spool, or as we call them Wheels. While transferring the filament it can be cleaned, photographed in configurable distances using the Raspberry PI and cam. Our idea was to create a machine that brings the filament to a bigger spool, clean and measure it automatically. Despite its development status, this machine winds our filament every time needed. Since it's a useful tool with a lot of potential, we thought why not share it with the community? This started as a test platform to check different things, you will see some parts in the photos which are no longer in use. The 60/10 gear as an example is from an early stage and looks not very nice, but it works well. We provide you with a bunch of ideas on how it could be improved, you can use all the data you need from it (see license in code: main_brain.ino!). There are drawings and photos showing the Wheeler detailed from all sides, a video showing it in action, the source code for the Arduino & Raspberry PI, a stack of 3D-Models to print out or as an inspiration, a parts list, also an electrical diagram and more. It's all free, check it out! Yes, we know there are still a lot of unfinished items on the Wheeler, but take it as a challenge to create your own tailor-made filament handler! Future ideas: Filament endstop switch to stop the Wheeler automatically when the filament ends Better cleaner for filament Better user interface for easy change of parameters Adaptable filament positioning simultaneously with the winding process New sensor for diameter measurement (instead of camera) Combo power supply for arduino & raspberry PI Webinterface for the measurement part Detailed notes Mechanics The A-axis is the source filament spool and the Z-axis is the drive wheel, so the filament goes from A to Z! Angle profile used for the framework: 3D-Models All volumes of printed parts in material list are per part and not cumulated. Electronics It's very easy to use, just push the ONE button to start wheeling a new spool. Main brain is the Arduino Nano controlling all the things. The Rapsberry PI camera is connected to it as slave over I2C. Have a look at the included "Electrical_diagram_Wheeler.pdf" for creation of the perfboard and further information. You have to choose your own case for electronic components! It's best practice to make cables pluggable instead of soldering it directly. Software 3 pieces of code are available at the moment: Arduino main brain "main_brain.ino" Raspberry PI photo slave "photo_slave.py" Raspberry PI diameter analyzer "diameter_analyzer.py" The Raspberry PI scripts are based on python, have a look at the header for library information. Some user settings are prepared in the header of each code. Needed libraries in arduino code: "Wire.h" https://www.arduino.cc/en/Reference/Wire "AccelStepper.h" http://www.airspayce.com/mikem/arduino/AccelStepper/ Camera A shot taken with the Raspberry PI cam. Clearly the camera case should be black inside! LED in electrical diagram is for camera light. Our setting for the camera measurement are: filament diameter 3 mm useable pixel 3mm 492 px 1 pixel 0.006097561 mm To use the camera startup the wheeler, run python photo_slave.py push the ONE button. All files will be deleted in the filament folder. you can use ssh or vnc to connect to the Raspberry PI. To analyze run python diameter_analyzer.py Diameter analyzer The calibration is used to get correct filament measurements. You will need a precision rod between 1.75mm and 3mm (source could be a dvd drive or similar) for reference. set calibration to 1 measure your rod with a digital caliper as exactly as possible. the diameter should be the same over the rod. make a picture of the rod (use the photo_slave.py), check your picture for good quality. run diameter_analyzer.py to get the pixel count (calibration must be 1) caluclate the value like this: rod diameter / pixel = calibration enter this new value as calibration in diameter_analyzer.py See it in action