Just wondering if anyone has used one of these sensors instead of the optical one before? Also does anyone know of a more accurate sensor than the optical one?? thanks
I am using the BLTouch for some weeks now with the DuetWifi. Seems pretty reliable though I had some issue with the pin not going down sometimes. Had to clean and polish the inside and the pin to get releasing reliable without entering alarm state. I used it with the grid leveling of the RepRap firmware which gave me a nice height map of the bed but I have issue with the motion system of my IDEX setup especially the Y axis. I can't believe my bed has those rifts. I am printing a redesigned and cleaned Y motor carriages because the bearings have too much play IMHO, I can flip the whwloe X axis by about 0.5mm up and down, the bearings are fixed and you can see them moving in the carriages... Maybe this is the cause of this problem... But back to the BLTouch, so far it is nice and it seems quite exact. Although the probe itself is not temp dependent you see a difference if you home Z with bed at room temp and at working temp of let's say 80°... So for homing Z you also have to heat up the bed IMHO to get reliable results...
Hi Alex, I am glad to hear that you are using it and it makes complete sense to me that the bed location changes with temp. Thanks for the heads-up on the pin not always cleanly releasing. I was also thinking of grid leveling ( 9 points ); does the firmware do the same interpolation that manual mesh bed leveling does? When I was modifying the firmware a couple of months ago it was hard to tell if most of the unified bed leveling code was actually integrated into RC7; I have to go back and refresh my memory. Or have you moved on to RC8? Gene
I was talking about DuetWifi with RepRapFirmware... Marlin in RC7 has got just auto bed leveling and mesh/manual bed leveling. Auto just does a plane compensation while manual/mesh generates a mesh. I had a look into UBL some time ago but didn't get it to work with the RUMBA and our LCD because the dev of that based it on some other LCD... I moved to DuetWifi with RepRapFirmware. The RUMBA is inactive...
Just to bump this. I have just completed an install of a BLTOUCH on my BB Dual. It's a great bit of kit and saves a lot of time! It took a bit of fiddling but was fairly simple in the end.
I am making a bracket that holds the BLTOUCH to the same mount used for the IR sensor. Is that what you did? I will put the bracket on Thingiverse when I get it just right.
I used one that I found on this forum (it is on thingverse as well u think) but it fits the dual carriage created by Alex9779 which may or may not be what you are using. If you need any help just ask. I'm in the process of writing a small menu for the sensor into the control menu on the LCD panel. It will let you test it and reset it.
Very cool - what version of Marlin are you basing it on? It sounds like RC8 has the mesh bed leveling built into it that would be best to use with the BLTOUCH.
Mine is based on RC6. I didn't want to update to RC7 as I really didn't see any need. RC6 does have auto bed leveling built in but it is commented out of firmware. The main advantage of RC7 is that I believe it has a BLTouch option in the firmware ready to go. As for sourcing the sensor you can get them from Filafarm.de
I used this mount I found on Thingiverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1923187 Use the 2mm higher rev3.0 one.
Thanks for the info. I created a bracket that will hold the bltouch where the IR sensor currently is located. I will put it out on Thingiverse. @Miasmictruth , where are you located? There is a US vendor as well https://www.3dprinteruniverse.com/products/antclabs-bltouch-auto-bed-leveling-sensor
Sorry to bump this but @Alex9779 I have bought a DuetWifi (due to everyone's glowing reviews) and have been looking how to connect the BLTouch as the last thing I read said it did not support servos? Is that still the case and therefore is there a workaround?
Duets do support servos now. There are a few people using bltouch with the Duet WiFi and at least one thread on how to do it on the forum at duet3d.com.
My bltouch has arrived and I've made a mount for my 1.0 BB. You don't by any chance have a picture of how it should be connected to the rumba do you?
I don't as I have upgraded mine to a duetwifi now. However, it is fairly simple. Check out the google+ page for the bltouch and it has a few diagrams there. I should have taken a picture for reference a I will probably fit on to my UM2 clone (once it is built) doh!
That is indeed the image! Your PT100 will be taking up the red and brown though. I used the 5v connection slightly below to the right.