Jun.12
CNC Touch Probe addition
Over the last day or so I’ve been working on adding a touch probe to my CNC router, this will hopefully allow the software to know exactly where the end of the tool actually is.
The touch pad is milled from a block of HDPE plastic to ensure electrical isolation from the bed surface, a milled pocket is centrally located in the block.
A 30mm x 30mm section of double sided PCB is mounted via four small cap head hex bolts each of which are spring loaded to allow for 5mm of Z travel just in case the system does not register a touch and starts driving the tool through the plate. It should be just enough time to hit the estop before damaging the tool, or driving it straight through the milling bed.
I’ll post a few pics from both the CAD model and the finished product when I get some time over the next few days.
About Luke Nyhof
Previously employed in the Telecommunications industry as a Technical Manager supporting innovative geospatial data exploration and visualisation tools enabling strategic network planning. His role at the company as Integration Data Interlock Engineer gave light to his work on predictive maintenance systems, machine learning and network operations & geospatial analytics.
Luke's post-graduate career path began at the Centre for Intelligent Systems Research (CISR, now named The Institute for Intelligent Systems Research & Innovation, IISRI), where he was an active and published academic who's engineering research projects included robust adaptive signal processing for biomedical applications, robotic systems, autonomous ground vehicles and advanced robotic motion simulators.
Before joining the Centre he completed his bachelor's degree in engineering, majoring in Mechatronics and Robotics graduating with 1st Class Honours. During this time he was also employed by Robert Bosch Australia. Based at the Australian Automotive Research Complex in Anglesea, the role gave him the opportunity to work as part of a highly competent team of engineers developing chassis control systems for development vehicles. He truly passionate about his work and always eager to connect with other researchers for collaboration.
While Luke have been involved in both collaborative and independent work, his favorite part of project work has been in developing unique solutions for intriguing problems.