LIDAR Bed Leveling

3Dreamer

Hi all,
just wondering if someone has experimented the use of LIDAR systems with Duet boards and RRF3.

I'm thinking about are some compact and relatively cheap LIDAR sensors that you can actually buy (eg. https://www.micro-epsilon.com/displacement-position-sensors/laser-sensor/optoNCDT_1320/ ) in order to avoid the use of standard touch probe.
A LIDAR will ideally led to fast obtain a truly detailed map of the bed surface or other surfaces (eg. if you want to print on an object.)

I know that the "Bambu Lab X1" yet integrate a LIDAR system, anyway it seems that it finally rely on a classic touch probe:

*The X1 uses a sophisticated dual-bed leveling system that makes use of two different sensors as well as an algorithm in order to try and nail the bed leveling. The first sensor is a lidar. According to Bambu Lab, it probes the nozzle height, assists with the first layer, and calibrates the flow of filament too. It will scan the bed before printing and has an accuracy of 7 microns.

Following this, the scan is crosschecked with information from an analog probe, which looks like a standard touch probe you’ll find on many budget 3D printers’ automatic bed leveling systems. Working together, the two sensors should provide users with an effortless, accurate bed leveling system and, in combination with the AI, detect any errors happening early on in the first layer.*

Thank you!

mrehorstdmd

@3Dreamer Who would ever have imagined that people would go to such lengths to avoid using a flat bed plate in a printer?

dc42

@3Dreamer last time I looked, the resolution and repeatability of LIDAR sensors was nowhere near good enough for 3D printer Z probing. However, the one you linked to claims repeatability down to 1um, so maybe the technology has improved enough now. How much does that one cost?

3Dreamer

@dc42 said in LIDAR Bed Leveling:

@3Dreamer last time I looked, the resolution and repeatability of LIDAR sensors was nowhere near good enough for 3D printer Z probing. However, the one you linked to claims repeatability down to 1um, so maybe the technology has improved enough now. How much does that one cost?

Hi dc42,
you can find some prices here: https://www.micro-epsilon-shop.com/de/wegsensoren/laser-wegsensoren/
For sure this sensors cost as a good, small desktop printers, anyway this prices would be not a problem while considering high end machines (eg. > 5k)

Here you can find some specs., especially for "Resolution /
Repeatability" and "typeof reflection": https://www.luchsinger.it/contents/products/catalogo-sensori-laser-optoncdt-1.pdf

@mrehorstdmd said in LIDAR Bed Leveling:

@3Dreamer Who would ever have imagined that people would go to such lengths to avoid using a flat bed plate in a printer?

I understand you! Anyway a lot of people are happy with their first layer printing results, also when prone to macro arctifacts that finally will not ruin ordinary prints.

But pro users and researchers often needs to push the limits of the (FDM) technology. Have you ever tried to 3D print a thin (eg. 0.1 mm), single pass trace pattern all over a 1000x1000 mm aluminium grinded plane? You will need about 2500 probing points (a quantity not manageable by RRF2, without considering probing time!) to achieve a bare decent bed heightmap and I can assure you that this map will not be able to let you mantaining the desired nozzle-bed distance over the entire surface.

alankilian

@3Dreamer The sensor being discussed is not a LIDAR sensor, it's a LASER triangulation sensor, so it's nothing special technology-wise.

People use triangulation sensors for bed leveling all the time and it has it's good and bad points.

This post is deleted!

3Dreamer

@alankilian said in LIDAR Bed Leveling:

@3Dreamer The sensor being discussed is not a LIDAR sensor, it's a LASER triangulation sensor, so it's nothing special technology-wise.

People use triangulation sensors for bed leveling all the time and it has it's good and bad points.

Hi alankilian,
you are right. I'll quote a paper in order to introduce readers to the differences:

3D ranging technologies generally fall into either position-based (triangulation) or time-based (LIDAR) approaches. Triangulation can provide much higher precision at close to mid-range but degrades quickly with the square of distance. LIDARs can provide reasonable precision over much longer distances but, unlike triangulation, they do not improve in capabilities at short range where precision and speed are critical for many applications such as autonomous rendezvous and docking, guidance and navigation, obstacle avoidance, and inspection.

So let's us speak about those technologies!