Adding extra opto endstops -has anyone done this?

Hi Everyone,

I am sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere, but search does not readily show if it has been. Has anyone ever added opto (or other sorts of) endstops so that the X carriage does not accidentally collide with the top of the machine while ascending the Z axis or colliding with the other end of the machine while moving along its own axis away from the home position?

Why I ask this is because we had an accident with our Mendel this morning -while running some tests to callibrate the Z axis and level the print bed, the X carriage had moved over very far on its own axis and then ascended too high on the Z axis and it hit the top and warped the frame of our machine and did some bad mojo with our extruder carriage

So, now, before fixing things up, we would like some system in place to stop the unfortunate event from happening again.

Thanks for advice, tips, suggestions, discussion on this matter.

Jacqueline

You can add max endstops and configure thr firmware to use them. FiveD firmware supports them, for Teacup an appropriate patch is here: [github.com]

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Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

Guten Tag Traumflug,

Thanks for your response.

We are using the Monotronics mainboard from Techzone. Does anyone know of any way to add endstops to that mainboard? There doesn't seem to be any way of plugging in any extra endstops.

Maybe we will be stuck buying the non-Monotronics type mainboard with seperate stepper motor/endstop modules -but that would depend whether they could handle more than one endstop connection...


Jacqueline

Maybe some of the "extension" connectors located near the usb connector can be used for that.
I didn't find information about how those are mapped to the atmega... By any means, you'll probably also need to tinker with the firmware to achieve this.

Encore, merci, DeuxVis -nous devrions commencer notre propre "forum"

We are looking into maybe just putting in some simple mechanical endstops that would cut the power if the X carriage wanders too far. The idea would be that you wouldn't have to touch the firmware with an option like that, also they would only be used as an "emergency" measure. We're not sure if this is a good idea or doable, but I can see that the Reprap world is all about experimenting and figuring a lot out as you go!

Jacqueline

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2011 01:22PM by JLudlow.