Simple Filament Sensor

This filament sensor activates a switch if the diameter of the filament is large enough to clog somewhere in the hot end.

3D printer parts and enhancements

Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike

Commercial use is allowed, you must attribute the creator, you may remix this work and the remixed work should be made available under this license.

Learn more or download attribution tags

Description

After having a print fail twice in one roll due to large spots in the filament, I decided to make a sensor that would detect large spots and pause the prints.  It turns out that the ink tube from a BIC pen has the perfect ID for the 1.75mm filament.  After printing out the two parts, press a small piece of the ink tube into the arm.  This will be the 'calibrated' size.  The filament should slide smoothly through the tube.

Assemble everything as shown in the picture.  It may be possible to use this without the spring, but I wanted to make sure that the print was not paused accidentally, so I made the arm spring loaded.  As the extruder pulls the filament, if there is a large spot that could cause a clog, it will get stuck in the ink tube that is inside the arm.  That causes the arm to activate the switch and pause the print.  

During assembly, you will need to drill out the holes that the filament goes through to make sure that they do not have any restriction for the filament.  Even large spots in the filament should pass through the holes in the printed base, so make sure they are large enough for some variability.  

If you don't have screws small enough to mount the switch, it should be okay to glue it in place with super glue.  Ensure that the holes line up as if screws were installed.  

I had some 2mm brass rod that I used to hold the spring in place.  A nail or other wire should work just fine.  I made the holes super small, so they will need to be drilled out to whatever size of wire you want to use.  I had two small springs installed when I took the picture, but it is designed for a pen spring.

The printed arm does require some support material to be enabled during the print.  After printing, I removed the dense support material with a small saw and it worked quite well.

Materials and methods

-printed base and arm
-5mm of ink tube from BIC ink pen
-spring from a clickable ink pen
-3mm x 15mm screw
-switch Digikey:SW2003-ND
-2mm wire or nail ~35mm long
-2x 2.5mm or small wood screws (or glue)

Documents

Issues

Issues are used to track todos, bugs or requests. To get started, you could create an issue.

Comments

Fe95768457f19c3321364210e6164180?default=blank&size=40Sampey added this to the 3D collection ago
Mini profileimageJohn added this to the Ultimaker collection ago
A1a99d4257197cf12ff960cc41cf7647?default=blank&size=40osman Ekici added this to the 3b yazıcı collection ago
096ea02bb238dcf181a7ea55137140cc?default=blank&size=40Daniel Eaton added this to the PrinterSetup collection ago
262f7136abfec1a168e304ca8d743dfa?default=blank&size=40moreMix added this to the printer-part collection ago
8f391d7db8e16fb7e99f5964b4a57563?default=blank&size=40Raymond added this to the extruder collection ago
297087dbc1c69530b116a9740431cbc2?default=blank&size=40Hugo Luquis added this to the Printer collection ago
92b4a45e4ea7309dfebbc6eb092892cb?default=blank&size=40Alexander Johansen added this to the print collection ago
8d70ed5f30a5ada44e82e9f742d1478d?default=blank&size=40Peter Murray added this to the Ultimaker2 collection ago
24ee2577539ae18c4b0af758a9234ad4?default=blank&size=40Tongdam added this to the Extruder collection ago
57d0ffc9fac74fe9d6b1b7e08ede9482?default=blank&size=40gadgetsteve added this to the 3d printer parts collection ago
A5c0f84d51eb49dc910dd074c2b19dff?default=blank&size=40ChrissyP added this to the Upgrade collection ago
2aae147e968d16482f7ed198ee77e739?default=blank&size=40yellowlogic added this to the Want To Print collection ago
51df1627020ceaa2798916667f9f8bd2?default=blank&size=40Pyromane added this to the To print collection ago
Mini screen shot 2013 07 15 at 6.49.36 pmErik de Bruijn added this to the Ultimaker 2 upgrades! collection ago
C547b810270b9980d0200c7f15c58e0a?default=blank&size=40ThomasBe added this to the PrinterAcc collection ago
Cc822ecfcf9397af6ad3e81d45016fa1?default=blank&size=40allen kelley added this to the things to make collection ago
Mini profile photoDanJones published this design ago