Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. I have a whole bunch of nozzles to drill but my usual method of setting it up on a holder and carefully adjusting its position with a magnifying glass is tedious and error prone. 3d printers let you build special jigs for making more printers and/or parts very quickly. I came up with this alignment microscope using a Maplins (VEHO) USB microscope and a couple of mirrors arranged so that an enlarged view of the drilling could be seen from two mutually perpendicular viewpoints.. Picture of the jig and view through the microscope below and a video [www.youtube.com] showing the drill bit being waggled about first in X and then in Y (ignore the central image) [attachment 59909 20150811_122229.jpg][attachment 59910 Webcam-1439292185.jpeg] I have published the STL files for this in [www.thingiverse.com] for anybody who finds it useful. Mike https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545261#msg-545261 Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:23:15 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,546330#msg-546330 Re: Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,546330#msg-546330
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DonaldJ
Very nice! Did you make those nozzles yourself or buy blanks?

They were turned from 7mm hexagonal brass bar. The sizes were engraved on three sides of the bar before they were turned - engraving was done on the same Proxxon MF70 that was used for the drilling.]]> leadinglights Reprappers Sun, 16 Aug 2015 13:20:14 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,546166#msg-546166 Re: Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,546166#msg-546166 www.youtube.com]]]> waitaki Reprappers Sun, 16 Aug 2015 02:09:41 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,546144#msg-546144 Re: Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,546144#msg-546144 DonaldJ Reprappers Sat, 15 Aug 2015 21:47:26 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545765#msg-545765 Re: Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545765#msg-545765 JamesK Reprappers Fri, 14 Aug 2015 13:50:49 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545761#msg-545761 Re: Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545761#msg-545761
[attachment 60002 20150814_184437.jpg]

20 nozzles from 0.2mm to 0.7mm

Mike]]> leadinglights Reprappers Fri, 14 Aug 2015 13:45:30 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545631#msg-545631 Re: Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545631#msg-545631 the_digital_dentist Reprappers Fri, 14 Aug 2015 08:15:46 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545546#msg-545546 Re: Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545546#msg-545546
I had planned on having one of the nozzles at 0.15mm or 6 thou but I broke the drill. I have sent for a pack of 10 0.1mm drills to try doing a sort of a spinnerette nozzle with 13 holes.

Mike]]> leadinglights Reprappers Fri, 14 Aug 2015 04:00:23 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545467#msg-545467 Re: Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545467#msg-545467
That mirror arrangement is sheer genius. I keep wondering if I could use that in some sort of generic mount.

[edit I thought I'd look up .2mm for a number drill equivalent. 8 thou - it's off the end of my chart!!]]]> JamesK Reprappers Thu, 13 Aug 2015 18:35:06 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545404#msg-545404 Re: Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545404#msg-545404
Mike

edit p.s. Had I though a bit more laterally I might have come up with a 3D printed lever feed which could be plugged into the Morse taper of the tailstock - I may have just lived with the speed thing.]]> leadinglights Reprappers Thu, 13 Aug 2015 14:48:41 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545390#msg-545390 Re: Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545390#msg-545390 JamesK Reprappers Thu, 13 Aug 2015 14:06:18 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545269#msg-545269 Re: Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545269#msg-545269 AndrewBCN Reprappers Thu, 13 Aug 2015 08:49:14 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545261#msg-545261 Alignment microscope for drilling 3D printer nozzles. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?4,545261,545261#msg-545261 Picture of the jig and view through the microscope below and a video [www.youtube.com] showing the drill bit being waggled about first in X and then in Y (ignore the central image)

[attachment 59909 20150811_122229.jpg][attachment 59910 Webcam-1439292185.jpeg]
I have published the STL files for this in [www.thingiverse.com] for anybody who finds it useful.

Mike]]> leadinglights Reprappers Thu, 13 Aug 2015 08:16:16 -0400