When calibrating a 3D printer yesterday I wondered if one of the digital inclinometers / spirit levels you can get now might make things easier than trying to use a short / conventional spirit level?
The two main issues using a conventional level are that there isn't a lot of room to get one on (a 3D printer) and viewing it accurately.
I think the idea re the use of sync a digital tool would be first to ensure the work surface was level (although not completely necessary) and then move the level to the frame, bed and X / Y / Z axis.
I was looking at one on eBay and it suggested it was accurate to .1 Deg and I think that sounds more accurate that I'm likely to get by eye on a bubble, especially when trying to get a levels somewhere too small for a conventional level.
So, anyone here got / used one please and is it likely they could be (repeatedly) accurate to .1 of a Degree?
I have one and it needs to be calibrated to level. You can calibrate, by repeatedly swapping it end to end. Repeatability is good and it is about 2" x 2" 1.25" thick, with a magnetic base. It wasn't expensive.
Thanks guys, that's just the sort of answer I was hoping for, assuming we are talking about something that cost about £25 on eBay (advice where and how much if that would likely be a nasty version at that price).
Good question ... once it's all setup it (for this particular (very rigid) design of Cartesian printer) it doesn't need to be ... and even the one I used could be used in zero gravity with little or no modification.
However, the use of a level was more for calibration and that is often initiated by having it on an even and horizontal surface. Again, you
*could* set the whole thing up at say 17 Degrees from the horizontal and that would be made easier by the use of something that could easily be set with that being the baseline / norm. ;-)
That sounds like a good idea (excuse the pun), even for sighted persons as then you could say hold something level without even having to see it (poor lighting conditions or when you need 3 hands etc).
I guess if you could gain access to the output of something like a digital inclinometer you could pipe it though something like an Arduio that could be set / tuned to dive a tone change in proportion to any zero?
Or what about a rigid pendulum connected to a free moving centre tapped potentiometer connected to an oscillator. ;-)
I would guess that for the level of accuracy you are likely to get from a cheap Ebay device, you may as well use a smartphone app. Assuming your smartphone has the requisite sensors fitted, of course. The one I have on this phone has both inclinometer and "normal" type levels, seems to work well enough.
I have (had) a spirit level app on my phone but 1) I wasn't sure how accurate it was likely to be (in comparison with a dedicated one). 2) Not sure I could mount my phone as easily as one could as a dedicated one and 3) not sure I'd want to risk dropping £500+'s worth of phone what I could drop something cheaper. ;-)
I made a gadget for indicating level of my caravan when pitching it. A wire suspended small, brass plumbob connected to one pole, in an insulated tube, four contact points (pointed screws) with a tiny gap between points and the bob. contacts connect to 4x LED's which light if the level is well out, flicker as the level gets closer to level. It is extremely accurate and would easily adapt to producing tones instead of lights.
Was each led connected to the relevant axis (so N, S, E, W) so you knew which way to (legs / wheel wedges etc) it or were they just connected in parallel (but still facing different ways possibly?) so you could see them?
Or as a trembler switch attached to an LED 'If this Caravan is a rocking don't come a knocking ...' sign. ;-)
It looks like they give an accuracy of about 0.03 of a degree. Whilst that's 3x better than the £20 from eBay it's 1) way too expensive and
2) probably too accurate for our needs. It's all very well being able to measure such things but you then have to try to adjust to them as well! ;-(
I thought this simple one might be useable as it was cheap and only covered a range of +-3 Deg:
Except it suggests it's only accurate to .25 of a degree and wouldn't cope with verticals very well.
This might be a better tool but again, probably a bit too expensive for our needs:
It looks like some of these digital inclinometers do use a pendulum and encoder (rather that a pot as suggested with a solution for Brian), rather than a solid state solution (not that I know such exists).
Each LED was connected to N, S, E, W (Front/ Rear, Left/ Right), arranged so the LED's would light if that end/side was high. The bob hangs inside a 20mm plastic conduit around 6" tall, from a fine woven wire, with a plastic bush at the end drilled and tapped for the four sharped screws.
That above, is mounted on triangle of alloy plate, with a second triangle below it. The lower one is fixed to (what ever) surface, a nut&bolt, with a small spring at each corner then allow it to be calibrated for level. Call that the 'sensor'
The sensor, is then connected to a display via a multi-core flex, so the display can be placed in a window. The sensor obviously has to stay put, once calibrated. The display has an on/off switch, the four (Superbright white 6mm) LED's and a fifth power on (Superbright Red
6mm) LED in the centre. The last item also gives a reference point when working in the dark, to help work out which white LED's are lit. It runs from the caravan's 12 volt battery.
I came up with the basic principle around 50 years ago, to use 12v lamps, but never got around to building it until about 1995 using LED's. It didn't work the way I expected - I expected just one LED to be lit of each pair. Instead it was so sensitive it would constantly bounce between contact pairs - so you just get each LED pair to light for equal periods of time if the side of the caravan is tapped with a finger tip.
It is astoundingly accurate in reproducing the same version of level each time I pitch. The alternative is one of making constant series of adjustments, whilst walking back and forth to a conventional level. This I can see to make adjustments from a great distance and in the dark. They need to be sited properly level to allow the drains to work properly.
If you are really interested, I could probably find a link to a site where I have published my design and photos?
And for this 3D printer it's more about the geometry being 'square' than any of it being horizontal or vertical as such.
For most of it, once set it can't really go anywhere (which is why we chose this particular design) it's just things like the Z axis is driven up and down by a pair of stepper motors with no physical synchronisation between them. So, if one should go out of sync with the other by even one step, then the X axis can become distorted.
A function of a smooth Z axis is having all the mechanical components (smooth rods etc) parallel and true, both in comparison with each other and the chassis.
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So, rather than say your super sensitive 360 Deg 'vertical' indicator, for this role we need something that can easily be moved about, easily read (no issues with parallax or interpretation) reasonably accurate (as the adjustments are often pretty crude (slacken off some fastness, move it 'a bit', tighten up and check again etc)).
Using a digital readout takes away some of the operator error as it seems *I'm* the one who has to do all the re-calibration of 'our' printer, should something get changed. ;-(
(Alternative design with the Z axis motors at the bottom and leadscrews rather than just studding)
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