New Z Sensor?

BlueDust

@jay_s_uk
Thanks for the quick feedback!

dc42

@BlueDust the fact that it connects via USB is the biggest issue. A version that connected via serial, an analog connection or even I2C would be reasonably straightforward to support.

BlueDust

@dc42
Understood. My thought was that if supported, it would require a Duet3 and using an SBC.

dc42

@BlueDust I have plans for a scanning sensor that doesn't need USB and connects via CAN bus.

weed2all

@dc42 tell us more please!

dc42

@weed2all said in New Z Sensor?:

@dc42 tell us more please!

Well, the code to support scanning Z probes is almost complete in RRF 3.5.0-beta.3. (see new Z probe type 12). We still need to add the calibration function, which will most likely be a new M-command.

As for the probes, our IR sensor with different firmware on the ATTiny could be used, but it would need a bed that is visually uniform to work well. So I've been prototyping an inductive sensor using a head much smaller than the Beacon. I think it's important to use a small head, because it allows a small offset from the nozzle to be used (which is important, because nozzle offset has a different effect depending on whether the probe is compensating for bed un-evenness or gantry sag/skew), and it allows a finer mesh resolution (a large sense head will average over the whole area that the coil covers, and then some; so it makes little sense to make the mesh smaller than the coil diameter).

I hope to take this further next month. Don't hold your breath; we still have a lot of testing and more prototyping to do before we can consider putting a sensor into production.

oozeBot

@dc42 let us know how we can assist with prototyping / testing. We are very interested..

Proschi3D

@dc42 wow I would like to offer myself as a beta tester

Jrow

It seems irrelevant to me whether or not the sensor can be implemented on the Duet, if it can record data on an external device, then transfer that data to the Duet.

BTW, an FYI for the others in this thread. I started a discussion about another sensor option being discussed by the PrintNC community; https://forum.duet3d.com/topic/32134/a-potential-highly-accurate-sensor-for-levelling

oliof

@Jrow the measured data needs to be tracking with position precisely or you get an offset mesh which is worth squat. Quite difficult to do with offdevice storage (but not impossible!).

DeadNewbie

I am so eagerly waiting to here more on this, I run 2 Duet3s with bltouch, and I am running out of spare tips