Printed layer verification from height sensor
-
Instead of having to monitor a print by periodically checking through a webcam or in person, why not use the IR height sensor to analyze a print in progress?
The print head will be moving over a part as it prints (duh). Capture the data from the height sensor simultaneously and compare it to the GCODE. If the height sensor begins to report values beyond a set threshold where there should be material printed, automatically pause the machine and email an alert. The precise offset of the height sensor from the nozzle could be found by printing a shape in the center of the bed and scanning over it afterwards.
If you really wanted to be fancy, stream the data to a PC, generate a point cloud, create a mesh from it, and compare the result to the original model.
-
That sounds great. Are you planning on writing a plugin?
-
@phaedrux Honestly... I don't think I'm talented enough to do it. I just happened to come up with this idea when I was thinking of a much more complicated way to analyze what's on the bed using photogrammetry. This method is simple. If the IR sensor doesn't see material where we just put material, then we know we have a problem.
-
Nice idea, only one caveat: this will only work with certain materials. PETG for example tends to be no reflective.
-
@olflappy all these have been done in research. In one case they even resliced the model on the go, based on the height error (from a laser profilometer). They had something like an rtx2070 doing the online reslicing lol. It was a BAAM printer though. All of these things are great in theory, but making them viable in practice and on any printed geometry, not just some research test-sample rectangular block, is a whole different issue.
Also photogrammetry was also investigated. It sucks. Structured light projection, speckle patterns and laser profilometers are all miles better.
