Imagine yourself walking away as the first layer of your 3D printer is being printed. There’s no babysitting your machine, hoping the filament won’t peel off the surface or the nozzle doesn’t get too close to the bed. That’s because of the Beacon sensor by Beacon3D that was mounted on the 3D printer. Seconds before your print, you generate a mesh of your bed surface that’s precise down to the sub-micron level. This mesh is what your printer software uses to make micro-adjustments in your print, ensuring the perfect first layer.
Even under the naked eye, surfaces are naturally uneven. Even flattened metal surfaces are susceptible to warping at extreme temperatures. This is a major problem for 3D printing, and can lead to printing failures and productivity losses. Mesh leveling is a process to compensate for irregular bed shapes. The bed is represented by a “mesh”, which can have hills and valleys according to real swells or dips in the build plate.
The mesh indicates the micro changes that the nozzle position must make to compensate for during a print.
Each of us has had to deal a filament sticking to the surface or thenozzle getting too close in certain areas. Filament clogging the nozzle can also be an issue. A level bed is the best way to achieve a high-quality print without any issues. But flat beds are a myth. The first was done with basic techniques, such as manually leveling the bed using paper and a pencil. The ABL sensor (auto bed leveling sensor) replaced the paper with an electronic inductive sensor (or capacitive IR, piezo or etc.). This sensor could make bed meshes.
While we replaced the paper with a sensor, we didn’t replace the grueling work that comes with bringing the nozzle down, taking a measurement, bringing it back up, moving it to another position, and repeating. Continue to do this. Continue to do so. Beacon3D developed a scanner mode sensor that measures bed mesh without having to move the z-axis. There’s no up and down; it’s that simple.
“With the launch of Beacon, we can scan a bed surface quickly, which means we can do it right before a print starts and at the exact printing temperature” explained Matt Baker, creator of the Beacon. “This is a game changer for the accuracy of the first layer because we’ve captured any variations in the bed surface due to time and temperature.”
Beacon, an eddy-current sensor that is optimized for 3D printers, can be found here. It is easy to mount the sensor to your printer head and then install the software. Beacon creates eddy currents within a metal target using a high frequency magnetic field and measures their strength. High-speed, high resolution meshing is possible thanks to continuous and rapid measurement of distance.
The process of bed meshing used to take between 10 and 15 min. The same task can be done by Beacon in 15 seconds and results are down to the sub-micron range. That’s because it’s capable of creating a bed mesh so quickly that you can scan before every print.
Specifications for beacons:
- Meshes with 0.5um resolution — at up to 500mm/s with 1Khz bandwidth
- Supports homing for first layer offset — with active temperature compensation
- No z-axis movement necessary — meshes most surfaces in under 20s
- Rated up to 110°C ambient – with low thermal drift
- Weighs only 3.5g — a low profile and weight for easy mounting