Differential IR height sensor, Attemptin' Clone....ain't sure of success...now stage 10

I got mine in the mail and it's mounted, wires run, now to figured out how to make it work.. here's the mount I made. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1055255

ok this one is about 1mm too short.. I'm updating the file and thingyverse.

 

Patrick, that looks really nice. Good use of existing hole mounts on the carriage. I have mine ready to install and will post a pic or two once done. I have a customized fan block model that puts the IR adapter on the same side you have yours mounted. How are you liking the the new autolevel? Do you have the stock hex hot end?

 

I just got it mounted tonight, Haven't attempted to connect it nor turn on auto level. I have the stock hot end.

 

Danz, Glad to hear it's movin' forward..........yep, red is +, blk is gnd, & wht is signal or sense..........when you pull-off -z limit blk/red cable connector....take notice it's the 3rd group down on the ramp brd........easy to screw-up! Suggest to route cable from hotend first, then towards ramp card...........that will make certain you can deal with extra or not so extra cable in the robo basement....not up top......try to mount IR parallel to X axis, like MK's..........if possible.

Patrick & Danz, remember to revise 'Z' Min, in arduino firmware...true to false and also I had to revise my Z offset, before with the mechanical omron limit switches.....robo had to 'dig' into the table to lift them switches, now you ain't diggin' your only approaching....make Z offset a negative number, mine became (-1.75) was .7 You may have to check, "allow a negative number" in Matter Control.............MK or I can help if you guys get stuck..............I'm not an expert....only started 3d printing March this year...Take Care......................Jimmy

 

I'm ready to Load Robo3dr1v3_06112015. In Configuration.h Do I have to make any changes to:

#ifndef ENDSTOPPULLUPS
// fine endstop settings: Individual pullups. will be ignored if ENDSTOPPULLUPS is defined
#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMAX
// #define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN
#endif

#ifdef ENDSTOPPULLUPS
#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMAX
#define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN
#endif

// The pullups are needed if you directly connect a mechanical endswitch between the signal and ground pins.
const bool Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_INVERTING = true; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstop. //robo
const bool Z_MAX_ENDSTOP_INVERTING = false; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstop. //robo ?? here?
#define DISABLE_MAX_ENDSTOPS //robo
//#define DISABLE_MIN_ENDSTOPS

This is where I think I'd set the offset to a neg number
// these are the offsets to the probe relative to the extruder tip (Hotend - Probe)
#define Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER 0 I'm thinking -1.13

 

Patrick,

I revised three places in firmware(s).

You are correct, Config.h should look like this...
// The pullups are needed if you directly connect a mechanical endswitch between the signal and ground pins.
const bool X_MIN_ENDSTOP_INVERTING = false; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstop. //robo
const bool Y_MIN_ENDSTOP_INVERTING = false; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstop. //robo
const bool Z_MIN_ENDSTOP_INVERTING = false; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstop. //robo
const bool X_MAX_ENDSTOP_INVERTING = false; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstop. //robo
const bool Y_MAX_ENDSTOP_INVERTING = false; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstop. //robo
const bool Z_MAX_ENDSTOP_INVERTING = false; // set to true to invert the logic of the endstop. //robo
#define DISABLE_MAX_ENDSTOPS //robo
//#define DISABLE_MIN_ENDSTOPS

And:

In Matter Control, soon will be using Cura, but in the mean-time:

revise; Under Settings, Z Offset to your desired Neg Number....mine is, ( -1.75).

Your number as you probably know depends on the height of the mini IR from the bed, the component tolerances of that particular Board, and the position of the board.

And:

I revised matter Control to allow a neg# check box.

Settings, Features, check 'Z can be negative'

Hey Take Care.............Jimmy

 

Jimmy

Thanks for the heads up on the firmware and z-offset. Yesterday I heard that there wasn't a firmware change needed, but kept thinking how do you tell the Robo where the IR sensor is in relation to the hot end and the bed plate? Don did an auto level using a switch that hit the bed instead of IR and in that setup you had to tell the offset of the x and y in relation to the switch and the hot end. Makes sense since the software needs to adjust where the bed might not be level in relationship to the hot end and not the IR or a switch. So more work needed then just a "plug in and go" to consider. My kids pulled me off the project last night early to play so I didn't get what I wanted to get done last night, but kids time is far more important. Hope to have some time to bang away at this again this week.

 

You would only need the the Z offset. No other offsets are needed. It doesn't matter where the switch is located. It's just measuring the levelness of the bed. Nothing else.

 

Yes, After you are set-up & running...........Start Print..............Nozzle goes to home all axis, X mech. limit hit, '0', Y mech. limit hit, '0'.....then Z mini IR hit, trigger hit '0'. That's the home......That last Z trigger is the one you revised in firmware.

Here's how I calibrated,

Homed all axis,
Disabled servo drives.
Manually pushed nozzle to roughly center of bed.
Lowered Z height until nozzle grabbed a sheet of paper, ( ignore led on mini IR ).
Send a G92 Z0, That sets the height you want to print. Your firmware now has that distance.
Raise the Z up slowly, watch the mini IRs LED, it will eventually extinguish.
Lower the Z, .1mm steps, the LED should illuminate pretty much right away.
Send a M114, read the Z axis height.
Wash, Rinse, Repeat.... if you want.
Place that Z number as a negative in MC Z offset.
Tweak, after watching 1st layer.

The mini IR only comes into play during homing & 'auto bed leveling', as the mechanical limits; software provides the soft limits after print begins...................I Think....................JB agree?

 

Well you want to define the distance from the sensing point (probe) to the nozzle. Which is part of what the Z offset is defining.

 

really simple question. Where do I wire the output of the probe to? the mech end stop switch has two connections, the new switch only one..

 

Waldo, that is exactly the setting I was thinking was needed from looking at what Don was doing with his probe. In addition to setting the z offset. Thanks.

 

Patrick, Your best bet is to fabricate another cable, 1 meter in length, 3 conductors......lay robo on side, unplug existing 2 conductor z cable, route your new 3 conductor cable from the Z min posts on the ramp to the the Mini IR...If you have problems with the mini IR now or later, you can revert to the old limit switch cable.......

 

Thanks Waldo & Mike for helpin' with your knowledge of the code..........Appreciate....Jimmy

 

Glad those coder experts are here......Jimmy

 

I'm upgrading an early kick starter printer, only one z axis switch. I have the cable installed and was pulling 5v off the the aux pad on the bottom left corner of the ramps board. But now I see the z- switch pos will give me +5, grnd, and signal. I'm an idiot at times.

 

I just define my Z offset in the firmware. Then all my gcode is correct and I don't need to reslice every time I adjust the offset value.

 

The IR sensor has 3 pins. 5v, Ground, and Sense. The sense and 5v share a common ground.

On the ramps it has 3 pins. (S) (-) and (+) where these are sense, ground, and 5v respectively