Linear Z Alongside Delta Z movement?
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I've been toying with this idea for a while, of being able to implement a single stepper that moves in a linear Z, so there would be a belt drive to lift a small platform for holding a webcam (and/or cooling fan) to match the Z-Height of my delta. Endtop would be at the bottom, a simple 80steps/mm, and wouldn't need to be terribly precise.
Is something like this possible to implement currently?
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I don't know much about Firmware writing and stuff, but if you're using the IP-Camera function of the Duet (Wifi or Ethernet or where it is implemented), then you would need a friggen' lightweight IP-Camera (or a webcam connected to a RasPi, which is connected to the network as a IP-Camera), which then would need to be implemented in the Duets Firmware, or if you're using Octoprint on a Pi with a Webcam, there would need to be kindof a Plugin for Octoprint to recognize the cameralift (or how you will name it).
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This ties in quite nicely with a suggestion here http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?416,761560 to be able to drive an additional Z motor to support an extruder drive. I'll add it to the wish list. Most likely I will implement it as an additional delta tower with a separately-configured diagonal rod length. If you configure a very long rod length, then it will hardly move when the effector moves in the XY plane, and just track Z.
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oh yeah, so this could be used for a " flying" extruder, but instead of being right above the endefector, you could make it on the side. hummm.
~Russ
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A flying extruder / short bowden is exactly what I was thinking. I've experimented using a pi, but rapid z movement is a dangerous thing if doing it externally if you're going to attach a bowden to your hotend. Glad to see some interest in it.
Driving it as a separate delta tower sounds like a good lightweight solution.
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you know though, you could just attache it to one of the rail slides. but then you need to worry about fast movies..
I use a flying extruder. could be one of the first ( was back in 2014) I'm not sure but what i have learned is that the closer the extruder / hotend the better. as most of us know…
I even went so far as to have a counter weight on the extruder...
you can kinda see it here :
I think if i did such a thing I would use it for a camera or something. It should be straight forward to implement to fallow Z. but think about the "Z hop" moves… it would need to ignore those! lol
I like the camera idea because currently i have a nice setup for close up cam. but no good options for a side cam. It just sits over there looking cool...
and i have to move it manually
https://youtu.be/AKm7pzUGT1w?t=542~Russ
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another showing that close up https://youtu.be/d-P-yzbNBMI?t=562
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I played with flying extruders, but couldn't find a way to implement them that didn't add tilt.
I'd rather deal with the headaches of a bowden than the effects of tilt… though some days I reconsider
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I've been flying extruders since 2015 and never had an issue I have a duel extruder flying now which maybe added a bit of inertia initially but oddly this doesn't seem to manifest now, I probably changed acceleration down a tad. Never seen them contribute to tilt. A motorised tracking extruder lift/camera platform would be quite a cool feature.
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Perhaps my bowden was too short, but then if I made it longer the extruders just kind of balanced on the bowden. But with how I had them, it changed the tilt of my effector. I can re-test now that I have a digital method to measure. Before I noticed it by using the mini IR probe, and checking the trigger height offset at various points. I noticed the trigger heights changed if I totally disconnected the flying extruder vs. having it on my printer. (it also changed the measurements from the seemecnc accelerometer probe some, too)
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Perhaps my bowden was too short, but then if I made it longer the extruders just kind of balanced on the bowden. But with how I had them, it changed the tilt of my effector. I can re-test now that I have a digital method to measure. Before I noticed it by using the mini IR probe, and checking the trigger height offset at various points. I noticed the trigger heights changed if I totally disconnected the flying extruder vs. having it on my printer. (it also changed the measurements from the seemecnc accelerometer probe some, too)
to deal with tilt i just place my nozzle at the correct height where any tilt in any direction dose not deflect the nozzle tip… ( this means mechanically moving the hotend to the right height )
~Russ
