Laser filament monitor

Qdeathstar

what about sls nylon to print the enclosure for the magnetic sensor? I know forms for injection molding add a significant cost/risk to the project, and machining is probably even more expensive.

DjDemonD

The magnet sensor version worked great until the assembly shifted a small amount and the I got a false trigger. However an injection moulded or machined assembly or a more optimised printed design would solve this problem.

carlosspr

I am appealed by the idea of the use of the filament monitor as contactless displacement sensor and the implementation of a Kalman filter to increase accuracy. My Idea is to mount the sensor on the X and Y belts.

My reasoning is that the optical sensor counts could be used as a tachometer to measure velocity. Both the velocity and position information already present on the system can be combined in a Kalman filter to compute the position with higher accuracy. It will be particularly accurate because the sources of noise are unrelated (little noise cross correlations), i.e. the error biasing any one estimate due to position errors will be mitigated by velocity and vice versa. With this technique we could beat the 1.8 or 0.9 degrees per step resolution.

EasyTarget

@carlosspr:

With this technique we could beat the 1.8 or 0.9 degrees per step resolution.

Isn't this what microstepping is for?

Unless your rotation sensor is geared etc so it can beat 1/16 or more of that step resolution (a direct magnetic rotation sensor isn't nearly that accurate) you won't have any more info than you can already derive from the controller by simply asking for it's current position. You can detect missed steps, but the controller already does that for you because the controller already does some of the feedback sensing you are looking for.

I'd be more interested in an acceleration sensor in the printhead and feeding back max/min readings from that, then adjusting speeds to keep within boundaries and limits based on this direct observation. Eg Closing the loop with real data, monitoring the belt wont help detect loose belts or sliders snatching/stiction, but an accelerometer would.

dc42

Development of the laser filament monitor has stalled because we are too busy with other things at present. We might be willing to supply one of our prototypes to a user who meets the following conditions, to try to speed up finishing it:

Must have a functioning 3D printer and a supply of black PLA to print small parts with;
Must have enough experience of OpenSCAD to modify an existing design and preferably do new designs;
Preferably either be located in the UK or have experience of programming an attiny microcontroller e.g. with an AVRISP Mk2 or an Arduino running ArduinoISP + 6-pin programing connector.

jbarros

@dc42:

Development of the laser filament monitor has stalled because we are too busy with other things at present. We might be willing to supply one of our prototypes to a user who meets the following conditions, to try to speed up finishing it:

Must have a functioning 3D printer and a supply of black PLA to print small parts with;

Must have enough experience of OpenSCAD to modify an existing design and preferably do new designs;

Preferably either be located in the UK or have experience of programming an attiny microcontroller e.g. with an AVRISP Mk2 or an Arduino running ArduinoISP + 6-pin programing connector.

Having lost yet another piece, this one a 19h print because of a "knot" on the filament roll, I'm highly motivated to get a laser filament monitor.

Is this opportunity still on the table?

Have almost 2 printers (finishing up a HEVO), Duet Wifis and just got an IR probe.
Not an OpenSCAD expert but hey if it's programmable…
Lots of Arduinos and other microcontrollers and programmers.
Portugal based but willing to pay for all expenses.

Mysta

Are these still available? to US?

dc42

We are making a batch of prototype laser filament monitors later this month.

fma

I'm interested to test one of these, with a few folks of our hackerspace, in France (https://www.logre.eu/wiki)... we have all asked skills.

THP

@dc42
I would be very interested in working on this, I PM'ed you a couple of weeks ago regarding assisting with the laser filament monitor. I am located in the USA with the needed tools to program the attiny. I can even do smd board assembly if needed.

T3P3Tony

I am compiling a list big people who have volunteered, thanks! It will be at least 4 weeks before we get the components and I intend to test a large batch to looks for consistency first. Updates to follow.

pjr3D

Please add me to the beta test list also. I am happy to test and report and plan to buy several for my machines on release.

briangilbert

@T3P3Tony please count me in if there is still room for more testers

adam2070

@t3p3tony Please add me to the list to purchase beta board. i have been looking forward to testing one out since moving from ramps to DUET.

nophead

@dc42 said in Laser filament monitor:

We might be willing to supply one of our prototypes to a user who meets the following conditions, to try to speed up finishing it:

I think I meet those requirements and would like to test one of these.

timcurtis67

i would like to purchase 2 when they come available to run on my IDEX machine.

dc42

We expect to have plenty of these beta units available for purchase. We know that they can detect reliably when the filament has run out, or when it has become stuck because of a total nozzle blockage - just like the laser filament sensor on the genuine Prusa i3. But we were hoping to do better than that. What we can't guarantee is that these sensors will be able to alert you to a problem that reduces the actual extrusion amount by a substantial proportion, when some extrusion is still occurring.

alfqueen

I would also like to buy some sensors for my 3 printers, I have 2 deltas and a core xy with 3 duet wifi and it is a complement that I think is essential for long impressions. Thinking about the quality of their products, this sensor will be wonderful. I hope news.

keyz182

@dc42 said in Laser filament monitor:

Must have a functioning 3D printer and a supply of black PLA to print small parts with;

Must have enough experience of OpenSCAD to modify an existing design and preferably do new designs;

Preferably either be located in the UK or have experience of programming an attiny microcontroller e.g. with an AVRISP Mk2 or an Arduino running ArduinoISP + 6-pin programing connector.

If there's still room on the list, I meet these criteria (aside from having black PLA, but that's just an Amazon prime order away).

I also have an AVRISP MK2, and an ATMEL-ICE (I'd intended to have a go at developing on the RepRapFirmware, and doing on board debugging, at some point, but have been too busy with work).

Monster Delta

Hi can you add me to the list please i believe i have the required skills and i have a large format delta capable of printing small parts and also very large parts some prints running for 3 weeks