Monday, April 01, 2024

 

Output From First Prototype

Cut to the chase, first output proving the delta mechanism and code. A 0.5mm square drawn inside a 1mm square:


In the lower right corner you can see an M3 screw thread (and its shadow). This has a pitch of 0.5mm, so I used it for scale (which is undoubtedly not perfect yet, but close). I'm sure I can do a lot finer, but this is the first ever test and I'm using a relatively huge needle point that I can actually see with modest magnification. Sorry about the lighting, fix that in the next version.


 

The hardware is a modified OpenFlexure Delta Stage with the multipath lighting platform on it, which I have uploaded here. Attached to that stage is a probe arm, 3D models found here. The probe arm mechanism allows coarse manual positioning.


 

The feet of the modified stage contain microswitches (files found with the probe arm), which allows the GRBL firmware on the RAMPS board to roughly level and position the stage using the standard homing algorithm. I'll upload the configuration later, but it is using Robotini GRBL Servo code with the Configuration.h file modified to allow simultaneous homing of X, Y & Z axes.


 

The PC-side probe control software is ugly work, but I am working up the courage to post it. Have patience. Update: I put the code up.


Comments:
I've been pondering alternate uses for this sort of setup. Wondering if it could be used as a framework for small-scale manipulation. For example: an person operates grips or motion-capture gloves. The actions are translated to the sub-millimeter scale, operating probes/tweezers/etc. First application that comes to mind is soldering, de-soldering or repairing surface-mount circuitry.
 
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