Hi Folks.
After the success of my Diode Laser additions which is working brilliantly for me.. I am looking at other hardware things I can do.
One of my personal peeves is the Autofocus Pen. It a long item that needs to hang below the laser head, and will get caught up on any weight, clamp, or Magnet one might use to hold the work down.
I think I can do better…
In 3D printing they use a range of light touch, or non contact method to set the Bed height.. Some of these items can be very accuate upto 5 or evedn 10cm away from the bed.
I am thinking of using one of these with an Arduino. You have a variable resistor on the Arduino that sets the focus millimeters that you want.. And then you press Auto Focus.
The controller will raise the bed until the Arduino senses the correct height (Sonar, IR Reflection, Lidar) and it will then send back a pulse telling the controller the focus hieght has been set.
Due to the size of some of these sensors it can be put very close to the lens cap.. or even rotated up and out of range when not in use.
The advantage is the lowest things to your work should only be the laser head.. nothing else.
Let me know what you all think. It will be a plug in compatible for the existing Auto Focus Pen Switch
Dave
P.S. Also looking at using an ESPCam to monitor your laser for you
Regarding the ESP32Cams, I used them a lot a few years ago (in smart home context), but I found them not to be very reliable. They tend to break down after a few months of constant use. So I use a webcam with a streaming server for monitoring. The control laptop is always close to the laser, as such, it can handle the streaming as well.
That’s exactly why I don’t want it. I’ve seen some terrible crashes up this way.
I’ve long looked enviously at the newer and more expensive machines with built-in non-mechanical distance meters.
I made this primitive sensor based on what you plan to make. It works very precisely but is only semi-automatic out of laziness. I have to start a Wifi connection to the sensor with my iPhone to see the water level, or lift the lid to see the small display, it doesn’t matter - it works.
I would love a compact solution with an interface to connect to the laser. I am also surprised that there is no ready-made solution on the market yet.
I also see potential applications in bed leveling / material flatness control. Being able to see the distance measurement live will be loved and will surprise some users about how crooked their machine bed is.
Also a good idea, if the frame rate and transmission speed are good enough it should also be possible and would be useful.
I’m not good at Arduino/Python programming, but I have some of the necessary components lying around here, so I’d like to play around / spar if that’s what you’re looking for.
If you just want to see if there’s a market for your ideas, I’m interested too.
Hi and many thanks.
The VL6180X 50cm looks to be a good fit. Plus an ESP32 with an OLED.
You can initally raise the laser bed until the laser head is touching the work..
You press a button to set ZERO.
Then use a button to press each 1mm you want as the focal height.
Then lower the bed down to say 10cm.. and start the “Set Focus” controller. The bed will be raised till it hits the set Focal Height and the ESP32 will sent the signal to the Controller.
Alternatively your can do the raising till the head touches the work.. and then press the ZERO buttoon. Then raise or lower the bed and see the value on the OLED.. This will work for all beds including ones with no Auto Focus.
That sounds good.
I’ve just watched a few fiber laser videos and don’t understand why the manufacturers often deliver them with a wooden or plastic stick to adjust the focus with… when a simple electronic device can be integrated reasonably cheaply. Here I’m not even thinking about autofocus but only a precise reading of the distance to the material surface and the associated visualization on a nice display.