Any bright ideas?

My eyesight is not as good as I would like. When it comes to bed levelling, I have to use a torch to view the nozzle and sensor - rather unwieldy as well as using a hand!
Ideally there would be a light to illuminate the relevant parts; any ideas on how to get some sort of LED set up and powered?
Greg

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Ormerod #17

about bed levelling, if your hearing is ok, I zero on a peace of paper and listen to the sound of the always vibrating fan, when it changes sound I know the nozzle has made contact

about lamps, I was thinking of buying one of those clip-on book reading lamps

Erik

Hi Greg

I also use a strip of plain paper under the nozzle and move it forwards and backwards as i slowly reduce the Z height, when the paper strip resists to movement i know the nozzle is 0.1mm above the bed. This does require that the nozzle is free from all ooze or other PLA debris.

I've also read that some are using feeler gauges in a similar way

Matt

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Limited Edition Red RS Ormerod 1 #144 of 200 - RRP 1.09fw
iamburnys Ormerod Upgrades Github
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Hi,

I don't have good eyesight too. I placed a piece of paper under the nozzle, when I drag the paper and nozzle is touching the paper slightly, I can feel vibration from fan which transmitted to paper. Too low and your first layer will be too thin and uneven. too high and your first layer will not stick to the bed. mine came out just fine when I can drag the paper easily with a little resistance and still feel the vibration.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2014 05:02AM by tru168.

Just to add to the advice about using paper, I place a clean sheet of copy paper (as iamburny points out, conveniently 0.1mm thick) and adjust Z until the paper is just grabbed. It's very tactile, there's a slight feeling of buzz as the vibration from the fan modulates the grip - you soon know when it's just at the right height. I also do this with the nozzle at 200'C to clear any filament away from the tip using one edge of the paper sheet. I also zero the Z axis at the paper thickness with the bed at printing temperature to make sure there's a minimum 0.1 clearance at all times. It may be just superstition, but since I started doing this I haven't had any parts come away off the bed near the start of printing

LED is a good idea though - it could take power from the 12V fan supply. A white LED with 20mA forward current would need a series resistor anywhere between 390R and 470R. The best type would be a surface mount as it would have no lens and give a good 120' spread maybe something like this one from RS. Perhaps you could solder it between two rows on a small scrap of stripboard along with a surface mount resistor in a 1206 package. Not too fidly.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2014 05:11AM by Radian.

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RS Components Reprap Ormerod No. 481

My close-up eyesight isn't too good either, and I too use a strip of paper. If there is any PLA on the end of the nozzle, I heat it to 150C first. Still, it would be nice to put an LED or three on the hotend assembly, powered from the fan supply.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Quote
Radian
....clear any filament away from the tip using one edge of the paper sheet...

I find a strip of leather between my finger and the nozzle works beautifully for this, with a light pressure it takes the form of the nozzle and wipe it squeaky clean

tip: if you find it too hot, use another one's finger

..and tip of the hat to KimBrown that came up with the idea

Erik

Quote
dc42
My close-up eyesight isn't too good either, and I too use a strip of paper. If there is any PLA on the end of the nozzle, I heat it to 150C first. Still, it would be nice to put an LED or three on the hotend assembly, powered from the fan supply.

How about making a usb-out embedded in the print-casing on the left side and use a usb powered flexible led lamp thingie?

Erik

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2014 06:03AM by ormerod168.

Quote
tru168
Hi,

I don't have good eyesight too. I placed a piece of paper under the nozzle, when I drag the paper and nozzle is touching the paper slightly, I can feel vibration from fan which transmitted to paper. Too low and your first layer will be too thin and uneven. too high and your first layer will not stick to the bed. mine came out just fine when I can drag the paper easily with a little resistance and still feel the vibration.

I do the same it works really well. I home all axis and then use a piece of paper to fine tune if/when need be. I added a button on Printerface with G92 Z0 and simply press this button and start my prints.

I like the idea of the LED illumination as well. I did try a 'bendy' LED Christmas gift, but it did not help much so haven't pursed further.

One thing I will try when I get some time is an LED on the ali extrusion that is positioned to shine into the side/edge of the glass. This could give a light table effect in the area of the home position which might be useful or at least fun!

I have always used the paper technique for height setting which does work well.

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Ormerod #007 (shaken but not stirred!)

I have used some LED Strip Light, similar to these on ebay [www.ebay.co.uk]. They can be cut to length and are self adhesive , 3 fit perfectly just above the vents on the hot end and so illuminate perfectly. They already have the series reistors fitted so can connect direct to the fan supply.
Not sure how they will standup to the heat long term but so far so good. Presumably the air from the vents keep most of the heat away.
John

Now that is on my to-do. Got some here aswell

Thanks