Anyone interested in a modulated IR sensor + fan control + illumination board?

Hi Put me down for a fully populated one please

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Ormerod No 128 the half Byte

Thanks to all of you who have indicated that you are likely to buy a board. I have it in mind to supply it as a kit with all SMD parts pre-soldered but the through-hole parts to be fitted by the user. For anyone who doesn't want to do any soldering at all, I will offer a fully-built one at a small extra charge.

I'm looking at the possibility of supporting an ultrasonic transducer as well, if I can make this work - see [forums.reprap.org].

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2014 04:07AM by dc42.

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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].

as long as you keep my thumps away from smd components im up for the challenge (self soldering).
would wait and pay extra for ultrasonic transducer :-)

Please add me to the list for a populated board.....


Kim

I would like to have (in the long run) an ultrasonic transducer, but if that will take longer, I'll go for the IR version at first, and will happily pay for a future ultrasonic one at a later stage. I have too many issues relying on the default IR sensor due to the ambient lighting, which I can't change at the moment. When do you expect the kits should become available?

onno, I intend to include support for driving an ultrasonic transducer on the board, pending further tests with a single-transducer arrangement. The earliest the kits will be available is about 3 weeks from now, because it takes 2+ weeks to get the pcbs back from China.

There is a design decision to be made. Should the lighting be on continuously, or only when the fan is running (which will be when the hot end temperature is above about 45C or the thermistor appears to be open circuit)?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2014 05:25AM by dc42.

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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
dc42
... Should the lighting be on continuously, or only when the fan is running (which will be when the hot end temperature is above about 45C or the thermistor appears to be open circuit)?

Imho allways on would be just fine

Erik

Quote
dc42
There is a design decision to be made. Should the lighting be on continuously, or only when the fan is running (which will be when the hot end temperature is above about 45C or the thermistor appears to be open circuit)?

Personally, I think that always on will allow you to see the machine is powered on at a glance and may help with visually checking the Z level, but either way is good!

Mike

I agree with Mike. I need the light for the bed levelling process as well as when printing.
Greg

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Ormerod #17

Always on should do, but maybe this is something to put into the firmware? The latter might require extra wiring, and I foresee that most will not adjust the wiring of their printer. Alternatively, a jumper for this might be an idea

Reg. LED on fan aleways on or not I trust your decision, but my 2p Of experience say go for the simplest and most robust solution.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2014 02:40AM by SlinBin.

OK, the consensus seems to be for always on, so that's what I'll implement. I may make provision for moving the series resistor to a different position to get the other behaviour.

It's looking as though there will only be room to fit two 5mm LEDs for illumination, using Matt's one-piece fan/heatsink design.

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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
dc42
It's looking as though there will only be room to fit two 5mm LEDs for illumination, using Matt's one-piece fan/heatsink design.

5mm LEDs as in LEDs with leads? These are usually narrow-angle - I think it needs as wide an angle as possible which means SM, and the combined forward volt-drop of three LEDs and a 390R @12V is very practical. Maybe some like these perhaps? [uk.rs-online.com]

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RS Components Reprap Ormerod No. 481

Originally I was planning to use three SMD LEDs. Since this leaves less than 3V for the series resistor, making the current very sensitive to the 12V line, I was going to drive them using a constant current IC. But if they are SMD LEDs then they will be on the reverse side of the board to all the other SMD components, so I will have to hand-solder them. Also, there is very little room for three SMD LEDs, apart from very small ones that won't be very bright. That's why I thought two 5mm through-hole LEDs would be better. This would also cater better for those who want to use LED strip instead of LEDs on the board. But I take your point about viewing angle. I'll see if I can find some through-hole LEDs with a wide viewing angle, or some SMD LEDs that are small enough to fit but not too hard to hand-solder.

EDIT: standard viewing angle for SMD LEDs seems to be 120 degrees. I've found some inexpensive Cree 5mm through-hole LEDs with 110 degrees viewing angle, so I think they will be just fine. It may also be possible to bend the leads slightly so as to point them at the bed. But I'll make sure the pads will accommodate SMD LEDs too. With only 2 LEDs, a series resistor should provide good enough current regulation.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/14/2014 12:28PM by dc42.

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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].

Hi dc42

Thanks for all the upgrades. I would like an kit please if its just pth soldering.

thanks
H3

I now realise that I don't understand the orientation of your board Anyway, there are tons of SM LEDs around - some are sideways-firing for edge lighting etc. I doubt you'll get a good light throw from anything else, but it may be the only way.

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RS Components Reprap Ormerod No. 481

Hi DC

YES Please... if possible to ship to Cape Town, South Africa....

One fully populated board, but kit would be fine.... maybe also a bare board..

Well appreciated..

Thanks
Madmob

I did a search for side-facing LEDs, but apart from LED strip, I only found a few and they were expensive. Looking at the angles, a side-facing LED wouldn't work well when the head is close to the bed, because the LED is offset more than 20mm from the nozzle, so when it is only 4mm from the bed it won't illuminate the nozzle area. Front-facing LEDs will illuminate the area better, even though more than half the light will be wasted.

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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].

@DC42, Hi DC just for awareness if you post an item that is less than 100g and it includes a letter of any form to the person, you can send it normal letter airmail which is faster and cheaper than the parcel service. But it must include a letter! Well that's according to my Post Office.

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Ormerod #007 (shaken but not stirred!)

Quote
Treth
@DC42, Hi DC just for awareness if you post an item that is less than 100g and it includes a letter of any form to the person, you can send it normal letter airmail which is faster and cheaper than the parcel service. But it must include a letter! Well that's according to my Post Office.

I'll have a vowel with mine then

regards
Andy

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Ormerod #318
www.zoomworks.org - Free and Open Source Stuff

Quote
kwikius

Quote
Treth
@DC42, Hi DC just for awareness if you post an item that is less than 100g and it includes a letter of any form to the person, you can send it normal letter airmail which is faster and cheaper than the parcel service. But it must include a letter! Well that's according to my Post Office.

I'll have a vowel with mine then

regards
Andy

LOL!

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Ormerod #007 (shaken but not stirred!)

yes, a fully populated one please

Board layout is now complete. I hope to order the first batch of PCBs by Monday.

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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].

Hi DC, I'd vote for the LEDs to be always on....
However, how about having a 3 pin link so that the owner could link the 2 pins to make his/her (have we any hers?) then if the owner wanted to run a couple of thin wires back to a switch on the Duet box (which is what I'd prob do) it would be easy for them.
Or make pads to bridge with solder....

Hope that hasn't put the cat amongst the pigeons to much...

(As for two weeks from China... Good luck... I've found it depends on the Rickshaws tire pressures).

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2014 07:20PM by KimBrown.

Hi,

Had a thought regarding how to reliably detect fan failure. Use a differential pressure gauge...I used one in this thread Not too successfully but that was because i merely stuck it in the airflow, whereas it would work much better if one port was attached to a nipple inside the airflow duct.

There are various differential pressure gauges on ebay ranging in sensitivity and priced uk between £7.50 - £12 inc vat pp etc

9 mV / kPa MPX5500

2.5 mV / kPa MPX2010

90 mV / kPa MPX5050

Suppose its too late to be able to add this on?

regards
Andy

Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2014 04:45AM by kwikius.

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Ormerod #318
www.zoomworks.org - Free and Open Source Stuff

I think a thermistor attached to the heatsink block would be less expensive and probably easier to sense. My current design has a spare port for an ultrasonic transducer or FSR, and a thermistor could be attached to it if neither of those is used.

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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].

I'd love to be able to use the IR sensor again (I've stopped using it as it's been too unreliable). So pop me down for one as well! (kit or complete)

Ben

Just got my Ormerod printing but getting the same Z homing issues as everyone else so can I get a fully assembled one as well please.

Andy Hare

Hello All

Back again for a little while while I am well enough, not too sure if your board is going to be a double sided board or not, but if its to be a double sided one then you could mount the SMD LED's with a 0603 package (to fit a 1.6mm PC on the edge of the board with one pin either side of the PCB.
And for safety of the LED's you could cut a groove the width and height of the LED's so that nothing will hit them.
I have done this a couple of times and it has worked rather well.

Paul

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RS Ormerod No 436

Thanks everyone for your expressions of interest. So far I have interest in 5 bare boards and 28 populated ones.

The schematic and board layout are now complete. The board includes circuitry for supporting an ultrasonic sensor as well as the other functions, although this must be regarded as experimental until I determine how stable it is with temperature etc. It may be necessary to disable the thermostatic fan control (i.e. turn the fan on always) during ultrasonic homing and bed-levelling procedures.

Unfortunately I have been unable to meet the original target price. My current thoughts for kit options, and provisional prices, are:

Kit 1: Bare board only £5.50
Kit 2: 4-wire modulated IR sensor £17.00
Kit 3: 4-wire modulated IR sensor + lighting + all hotend connectors on board £19.50
Kit 4: 3-wire modulated IR sensor + lighting + thermostatic fan control + all hotend connectors on board £29.50
Kit 5: 3-wire modulated IR sensor + lighting + thermostatic fan control + all hotend connectors on board + ultrasonic £39.00

Add VAT (except for orders from outside EU, and orders from registered EU businesses outside UK) and carriage to all prices.

All kits except kit 1 will include:

- PCB pre-populated with all needed SMD components depending on kit
- IR sensor head
- Locking PCB 4-way header + matching shell + crimp pins, for sensor wires from Duet
- 2-way header shell + crimp pin for additional wire from Duet board (kits 2,3,5)
- Two 5mm Cree LEDs (kits 3,4,5)
- Pre-programmed microcontroller on board (kits 3,4,5)
- Locking PCB 8-way header and three locking PCB 2-way headers + matching shell + crimp pins, for hotend loom from Duet, fan and thermistor (kits 3,4,5)
- Ultrasonic transducer + additional locking 2-way PCB header + matching shell + crimp pins (kit 5 only)

Not included (although I could be persuaded for an extra charge):

- Mounting of through-hole parts on PCB
- Wire to for the 4th sensor connection to the Duet
- 6-pin ICSP header for re-programming the attiny microcontroller

The purchaser will have to do the following:

- Print new X-motor mount and new heatsink duct, to cater for the movement of the IR sensor to the print head
- Solder the through-hole parts to the board (2 LEDs + IR sensor head + up to 6 connectors)
- Remove existing sensor and hot end (as appropriate) connectors from the respective wiring looms/thermistor/heater/fan and crimp the new ones on
- For kits 2, 3 and 5 run an extra wire back to the Duet board (for kits 2 and 3 this is the modulation signal, for kit 5 it switches between IR and ultrasonic).

I shall do a little more experimentation on the ultrasonic option before I order the PCBs, in case any circuit changes are needed.

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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].