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Filament Monitor

Discussion in 'Mods and Upgrades' started by John Rygg, Oct 10, 2014.

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  1. Ziggy

    Ziggy Moderator
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    The alarm is triggered by a high to low signal. But could very easily be reversed.

    I always use pull up/pull down resistors just as good practice to avoid any problems with excessive pin current on the Mega.
     
    #21 Ziggy, Oct 15, 2014
  2. tunell

    tunell New Member

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    perfect!
    it just wasnt apparent in the vid.
    My monitor has the pull up and down resistors integrated into the board.
     
    #22 tunell, Oct 16, 2014
  3. Ziggy

    Ziggy Moderator
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    There are a number of filament monitors and filament break detectors available which will generate an alarm if the filament runs out. Some will also detect when the filament tangles to the point where it won’t feed properly.

    An example of a Filament Monitor (developed by Aaron Tunell) can be found here http://tunell.us/

    However the standard Marlin firmware does not have the built in capability to recognise the filament monitor alarm and to automatically pause the print and resume when the filament problem is cleared.

    I've attached a note which explains how to add the filament alarm function in Marlin so the print pause and resume can be handled automatically. The notes assume that a RAMPS 1.4 board is used as the printer driver, interface and connections board (ie as in the case of the Robo3d) . The Filament Change function in standard Marlin also assumes that an LCD Controller display is connected to the printer.

    The video posted earlier in the thread shows how the filament monitor alarm works in the modified Marlin.

    As always comments and suggestions for improvements welcome.
     

    Attached Files:

    #23 Ziggy, Oct 19, 2014
    5 people like this.
  4. Ziggy

    Ziggy Moderator
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    I've added a simple filament end sensor design and revised the notes and Marlin software mod. As shown in the video in the earlier post, the sensors trips the Filament Change function in the Robo (Marlin) software.

    IMG_0592.JPG IMG_0591.JPG IMG_0594.JPG

    The BOM for the sensor is

    - Lever micro switch
    - 2 x M2.5 / 12mm screws/nuts
    - 1M Cable (2 wires) and pin connectors
    - Two small printed parts

    All the files are attached. I've included the OpenScad file if you want to mod the sensor design. Please post your mods if you think others may find them useful.
     

    Attached Files:

    #24 Ziggy, Mar 18, 2015
    kevinkaran, yucelll, Paul Yeh and 4 others like this.
  5. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    That's awesome ziggy, great work
     
    #25 Mike Kelly, Mar 18, 2015
  6. Ben R

    Ben R Active Member

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    sweetass sweet
     
    #26 Ben R, Mar 18, 2015
  7. Stephen Capistron

    Stephen Capistron Active Member

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    Now we just need a filament welder so a new spool can be tacked onto the loose end and the print resumed. Almost like the way bandsaw blades are made.
     
    #27 Stephen Capistron, Mar 18, 2015
  8. Mike Kelly

    Mike Kelly Volunteer

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    #28 Mike Kelly, Mar 19, 2015
    mark tomlinson and Stephen Capistron like this.
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Simple and effective.

    A thing should be as complicated as it needs, but no more.
    This meets that nicely.
     
    #29 mark tomlinson, Mar 19, 2015
  10. Stephen Capistron

    Stephen Capistron Active Member

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    Mark, are you an engineer? Every good engineer knows that if it is not broken it just doesn't have enough features yet.
     
    #30 Stephen Capistron, Mar 19, 2015
    mark tomlinson likes this.
  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Since this is the internet I totally have plausible deniability.
    No pictures, no proof ;)

    Sadly I have spent most of my career being a software engineer.
    Which means we can't decide if we are engineers or scientists.

    If you think we can't break stuff...
     
    #31 mark tomlinson, Mar 19, 2015
  12. Ziggy

    Ziggy Moderator
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    The End Filament Monitoring function using M600 Filament Change has now been added to the latest development Marlin on GITHUB. The new function uses digital PIN 4 to detect the end of filament.
     
    #32 Ziggy, Mar 25, 2015
    Mike Kelly and mark tomlinson like this.
  13. yucelll

    yucelll New Member

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    Thank you for sharing.
    But I speaking little english and little understand.

    please pure marlin add your sensor code, and add this forum ?
    I could not
     
    #33 yucelll, Jun 19, 2015
  14. yucelll

    yucelll New Member

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    But I speaking little english and little understand.

    please pure marlin add your sensor code, and add this forum ?
    I could not
     
    #34 yucelll, Jul 6, 2015
  15. yucelll

    yucelll New Member

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    please help
     
    #35 yucelll, Aug 7, 2015
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    @yucelll

    The code to the firmware that needs to be altered is detailed in :

    Marlin Filament Monitoring 180315.pdf

    (the parts highlighted in YELLOW are the changes)
    Which @Ziggy attached to a post earlier in the thread.
    You may need to translate it from english, but all of the changes you need to make are discussed in that document.
     
    #36 mark tomlinson, Aug 7, 2015
  17. yucelll

    yucelll New Member

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    ok. Tank you so much. I will try.
     
    #37 yucelll, Aug 7, 2015
  18. JoshYourITGuy

    JoshYourITGuy Active Member

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    I wonder if there is a way to modify the current M600 command to do the current retract/move/park, but also start a countdown, if the countdown is reached (say 15 minutes), then it kills the heat. But that opens another can of worms to start the heat again and wait for temps to be reached before starting again...which opens yet another can of worms about prints coming off the bed if the bed heat is killed.
     
    #38 JoshYourITGuy, Aug 27, 2015
  19. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    You can download the firmware source and have at it :)
     
    #39 mark tomlinson, Aug 27, 2015
  20. JoshYourITGuy

    JoshYourITGuy Active Member

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    Yeah, I am fiddling with it now.
    Trying a WHILE statement, but I need it to constantly check if the controller button is pressed.

    I also am going to fiddle with a rubber roller on an encoder, as some of my spools have the end firmly put into a hole, so if the end of the spool is reached, it binds and just grinds the filament, so I am thinking of adding an Arduino clone (Trinket from Adafruit) to an encoder on a rubber roller, so if it senses no movement for X period of time, it breaks the same line the filament monitor would be on.

    If that doesnt work, I might need to hobble together some sort of spring tension mechanism to detect it.
     
    #40 JoshYourITGuy, Aug 27, 2015
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