GoldenGears hotend zProbe effector (UPDATED) by TommasoEngineering

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

UPDATE:Now added a new version that is a little cleaner and fixes a couple small normally unnoticeable kinks with the current one. Hope you enjoy!
This is my solution to auto bed leveling, I tried to make it as simple as possible. I have not run it through my own personal tests which is why I have it listed as work in progress. as you can see you need 4 springs (can probably get away with 3), I used springs from a spring assortment kit you can buy at home depot (if I remember correctly it is found in the door hardware area). Essentially this allows you to swap out almost anything on your hot end or your hot end entirely and not have to once touch marlin or any settings. you would set the zprobe offset to the distance between the set screw (upwards facing screw below the switch) and the switch in the pressed position. once that offset is set, unless you adjust the set screw you should be able to swap out any hot end and not have to reconfigure. The switch I used was this one from radioshack ( I was surprised to find one still open around me):
https://www.radioshack.com/products/spdt-switch-without-roller?variant=5717496645
Other switches might fit and if not it shouldn't be hard to remix this for another switch.
once you have the switch installed it gets wired as shown in this article:
http://reprap.org/wiki/Mechanical_Endstop
Any suggestions please let me know, I am always looking to improve my printer.
The screws used are:
(3x) 3 mm x 16 mm
(2x) 2.5 mm x 16 mm
(3) 3 mm x 24 mm
and 3 appropriately sized springs and associated nuts
**Edit: short video of it in action! https://youtu.be/l_VesPKXz7g
UPDATE: longer video of my printer auto leveling and then printing the cute Octopus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUAceB9UwOI
UPDATE 9/8/16: I have uploaded the version of marlin I am using, I don't remember of the top of my head what modifications I have made to this version for different projects. So use at your own risk, I always advise checking that the safety features you want (ie watchdog ect.) are enabled