Filement sensor possible?

I just saw a Felix Pro 1 and I was nicely surprised by a couple of features: a sensor that pause printing when the filament ends and the head tilting for dual heads.
I was wondering if anybody here has ever made a sensor to pause the print when the filament ends on duet firmware. Could be nice!

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Would be a great feature for when filament breaks and stops extruding.

Another thing I've seen is a nozzle clean feature. Seen on the Lulzbot Taz mini

Handling a filament out sensor is on my list for improvements to both RRF and PanelDue.

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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].

Nice! That would be great.

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----- Making the world smarter @ www.xetal.eu
----- Helping entrepreneurs @ www.fralke.com

Filament out would be great but even better would be a rotatable sensor that could feel if the extruded length was correct.

Quote
Joar107
Filament out would be great but even better would be a rotatable sensor that could feel if the extruded length was correct.

Or filament slipping...

Do someone have any information how this sensor works? i found some solutions but no concrete information of the principle. One seems to use a photosensitive switch (this would be also my idea), one uses some sort of hall sensor and I have no clue how this could work and the last one some sort of ball-bearing, perhaps like the spring-loaded Extruder itself and this (modified) solution would be the best option to add a rotary sensor.

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Slicer: Simplify3D 4.0; sometimes CraftWare 1.14 or Cura 2.7
Delta with Duet-WiFi, FW: 1.20.1RC2; mini-sensor board by dc42 for auto-leveling
Ormerod common modifications: Mini-sensor board by dc42, aluminum X-arm, 0.4 mm nozzle E3D like, 2nd fan, Z stepper nut M5 x 15, Herringbone gears, Z-axis bearing at top, spring loaded extruder with pneumatic fitting, Y belt axis tensioner
Ormerod 2: FW: 1.19-dc42 on Duet-WiFi. own build, modifications: GT2-belts, silicone heat-bed, different motors and so on. Printed parts: bed support, (PSU holder) and Y-feet.
Ormerod 1: FW: 1.15c-dc42 on 1k Duet-Board. Modifications: Aluminium bed-support, (nearly) all parts reprinted in PLA/ ABS, and so on.

Ideally a sensor should sense when the filament has stopped feeding, which is a bigger design challenge than merely sensing when it has run out. The filament can stop feeding if it breaks in the extruder or starts slipping for some reason (clogged feeder, blocked nozzle etc.).

Dave

Could be done is the filament were marked or by making a proper rotating filament spindle.

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----- Making the world smarter @ www.xetal.eu
----- Helping entrepreneurs @ www.fralke.com

Yes, either a wheel in contact with the filament before it enters the extruder, or you could even put a sensor on the spool holder to detect the periodic rotation of the filament spool. Obviously either method would need a timeout so that a false output is not generated during non-printing moves (and a longer timeout needed in the case of a spool sensor as this tends to unwind in jerks with long periods of inactivity).

If modifying the firmware to allow the use of a "filament out" input, it would therefore be advantageous to incorporate a user-defined timeout, and also allow for the sensor to be one that toggles periodically when the filament is OK rather that having a defined state for filament out - in that way the movement sensor could be (e.g.) a rotary switch or reed switch & magnet which would remain in a constant "on" or "off" state when the filament stops moving but will toggle periodically when the filament is feeding.

Dave

I would be in four for the spool sensor (with timeout) as more reliable

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----- Making the world smarter @ www.xetal.eu
----- Helping entrepreneurs @ www.fralke.com

Quote
dmould
...in that way the movement sensor could be (e.g.) a rotary switch or reed switch & magnet which would remain in a constant "on" or "off" state when the filament stops moving but will toggle periodically when the filament is feeding.

I like the idea of something like a spring loaded arm that pinches the filament between a bearing and a rotary encoder with a wheel which could give feedback to the control board/firmware of if filament is moving, how much, etc? The arm could also engage/disengage a regular microswitch in case of nothing being pinched between the bearing and encoder.

I don know if this one would be suitable,
http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/C14D32P-B3/102-1914-ND/2037010

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/22/2016 12:10PM by FA-MAS.

I would use something like this, [monsterfil.com]
A element where the filament needs to go through and it is also used to check if it is stuck or not

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----- Making the world smarter @ www.xetal.eu
----- Helping entrepreneurs @ www.fralke.com

Quote
Fpex
I would use something like this, [monsterfil.com]
A element where the filament needs to go through and it is also used to check if it is stuck or not

AFAICS that does not detect a break or stoppage of the filament, it only checks for filament that is stuck on the reel (e.g. tangled).

From the advert: "... buzzer that alerts the user when the filament is not flowing during unspooling" (my emphasis added).

Dave

Mmmm
There must be a way to use spool movement and filament movement to detect a problem. Not sure we can point out what it is. But to know of a probe;em is already something

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2016 08:40AM by Fpex.

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----- Making the world smarter @ www.xetal.eu
----- Helping entrepreneurs @ www.fralke.com

I made a filament movement sensor for my Openbeam CoreXY Bowden extruder printer.


[forums.reprap.org]

Picked up that I was trying to extrude too much filament on my first layer which was giving an error, I found I had a slicer setting set wrong for the amount that of filament for first layer..
Pleased with how its working.


Cheers bruce

Hello,

Any success with the Duet3D filament sensor?

Link

Thanks

I have designed an optical sensor similar to that used in the MK3 Prusa.
I am still testing it, but it is looking very promising. I should be able to not only detect movement, but also determine colour and material type eventually also.
Mine is based on the Avago APDS-9960.

Sounds interesting. Can I join in the testing?

I preferred Hall-effect angle sensors because they remain reliable under all environmental conditions.

But I wouldn't exclude any solution that can save my prints with stuck filament.

We are currently testing a pre-production batch of laser filament sensors, see [forum.duet3d.com].

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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].