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Rewire filament sensor  

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Bill
 Bill
(@bill-3)
Estimable Member
Rewire filament sensor

I searched and found nothing on this topic, which surprises me, so here goes....

I am at my wits end with this damned filament sensor. I am tired of the false positives waking my wife up at all hours for no reason.

Has anyone considered wiring one of the old fashioned end stop switches from any of the thingiverse runout sensors, such as this one...

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2147179

...and wiring it directly into our CRAP filament sensor wires to take the place of the faulty sensor????

I would love to do this, anyone have thoughts. Would it be as simple as jumping two of the wires to the end stop switch?? I understand the issues that would be caused with the "auto load" feature, but it would be simple to work around. I am mainly interested in the run out feature.

Posted : 30/07/2018 5:33 am
JoanTabb
(@joantabb)
Veteran Member Moderator
Re: Rewire filament sensor

Hi George,

Have you considered turning the crap filament sensor off.?
or building a Skelestruder and continuing to use the crap sensor because the Skelestruder has addressed the problem.

the crap filament sensor uses 4 wires, thingiverse filament sensors use two or three wires,

I suspect the Crap sensor is attempting to use a more intelligent signalling method than the the type you want to promote.

Prusa are working on a resolution for their sensor,
if you want to revise your printer in the meantime you will have to create a mounting for your preferred sensor and update the firmware to match

personally I am waiting for Prusa to sort the sensor from their side!

my crap sensor only fails on shiny, petg or TPU filaments, so at the moment I turn it off when using those filaments.
there should be a revision for the sensor shortly

regards Joan

I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK

Posted : 30/07/2018 2:30 pm
Bill
 Bill
(@bill-3)
Estimable Member
Topic starter answered:
Re: Rewire filament sensor

The Skelestruder looks interesting, but seems to be more that I am interested in taking on at the moment. I also am not clear on how it solves the sensor issue but either way, more than I wish to tangle with right now.

I have tried turning it off. And if I must keep it off, I will. But, I do like the runout feature so I do not waste rolls of filament that do not have enough left for a complete print.

I was becoming more confident in my crap sesnsor, but last night it failed again on inland (esun) yellow pla. You may recall I was one of the early reporters of shiny filaments. In my case it was esun PETG, causing false positives. But, the crap sensor is beginning to irritate the wife. And, as they say around here, happy wife, happy life. When the wife is not happy, neither am I.

The sensor I linked to uses only two wires as it is a simple switch and does not require any power. The main goal of my original post was hopes that someone might be able to provide direction on which two of the four crap sensor leads could be connected to a two wire simple switch for the purpose of filament run out detection. Also, I know in the self test, the firmware checks for the crap sensor and reports that it is "okay" or not. I wonder if there is a routine check during printing for the crap sensor (like the spinning of the print or hot end cooling fan) which would trigger an error and stop a print mid print. If not, I would not bother modifying the firmware. The only issue I see being created by substituting the crap sensor with the simple one is that the printer would try to load filament when I do not yet have it loaded into the extruder. To me, this is no big deal and easy to work around without having to modify firmware.

Posted : 30/07/2018 8:15 pm
JoanTabb
(@joantabb)
Veteran Member Moderator
Re: Rewire filament sensor

Hi George, to the best of my knowledge, the 4 pins are + - Clock and Data... as standard they are not suitable for a simple switch

Skelestruder adds a bearing that rubs on the filament on one side and is viewed by the sensor on the other side... this isolates the filament from the sensor...

Magic!

regards Joan

I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK

Posted : 30/07/2018 11:31 pm
Bill
 Bill
(@bill-3)
Estimable Member
Topic starter answered:
Re: Rewire filament sensor


Hi George, to the best of my knowledge, the 4 pins are + - Clock and Data... as standard they are not suitable for a simple switch

Skelestruder adds a bearing that rubs on the filament on one side and is viewed by the sensor on the other side... this isolates the filament from the sensor...

Magic!

regards Joan

Well shoot. As you have answered my query, I now understand that my hope for the simple switch is not doable. I guess then I will be doing more studying of the skelestruder. It does look intriguing and if it solves my problems, I will give it a go.

THANKS JOAN!!!

Posted : 31/07/2018 4:10 am
JoanTabb
(@joantabb)
Veteran Member Moderator
Re: Rewire filament sensor

Best wishes, George,

Regards Joan

I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK

Posted : 31/07/2018 1:21 pm
Bill
 Bill
(@bill-3)
Estimable Member
Topic starter answered:
Re: Rewire filament sensor


The Skelestruder looks interesting, but seems to be more that I am interested in taking on at the moment. I also am not clear on how it solves the sensor issue but either way, more than I wish to tangle with right now.

I have tried turning it off. And if I must keep it off, I will. But, I do like the runout feature so I do not waste rolls of filament that do not have enough left for a complete print.

I was becoming more confident in my crap sesnsor, but last night it failed again on inland (esun) yellow pla. You may recall I was one of the early reporters of shiny filaments. In my case it was esun PETG, causing false positives. But, the crap sensor is beginning to irritate the wife. And, as they say around here, happy wife, happy life. When the wife is not happy, neither am I.

The sensor I linked to uses only two wires as it is a simple switch and does not require any power. The main goal of my original post was hopes that someone might be able to provide direction on which two of the four crap sensor leads could be connected to a two wire simple switch for the purpose of filament run out detection. Also, I know in the self test, the firmware checks for the crap sensor and reports that it is "okay" or not. I wonder if there is a routine check during printing for the crap sensor (like the spinning of the print or hot end cooling fan) which would trigger an error and stop a print mid print. If not, I would not bother modifying the firmware. The only issue I see being created by substituting the crap sensor with the simple one is that the printer would try to load filament when I do not yet have it loaded into the extruder. To me, this is no big deal and easy to work around without having to modify firmware.

I feel rather vindicated now 😮

Just ordered a new MK3S non "crap sensor."

Posted : 06/03/2019 3:28 am
robert.t17
(@robert-t17)
Eminent Member
Re: Rewire filament sensor

This works well, uses the crap sensor and is simple to make.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3091625

Posted : 06/03/2019 1:13 pm
robert.t17
(@robert-t17)
Eminent Member
Re: Rewire filament sensor

The MK3S non crap sensor doesn't detect jams.

Posted : 06/03/2019 1:15 pm
vintagepc
(@vintagepc)
Member
Re: Rewire filament sensor


This works well, uses the crap sensor and is simple to make.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3091625

Or better yet, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3431164 if you want near stock Mk3S

Posted : 06/03/2019 1:34 pm
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