AUTOMATIC LEVELING DEVICE OF 3D PRINTER AND 3D PRINTER

Abstract

An automatic leveling device of a 3D printer, and a 3D printer is provided. The automatic leveling device includes a photoelectric switch, an electromagnetic assembly and a probe assembly. The photoelectric switch is arranged in a housing and defines a photosensitive groove. The electromagnetic assembly is arranged in the housing and defines a sliding hole. The probe assembly is slidably engaged in the sliding hole, and an end of the probe assembly is engaged in the photosensitive groove. The electromagnetic assembly is capable of driving the probe assembly to make the end of the probe assembly move out of the photosensitive groove. The automatic leveling device has the advantages of simple structure, low manufacturing difficulty, low production cost, simple and stable leveling mode, high detection repetition accuracy and no complex circuit and software cooperation.

Claims

1. An automatic leveling device of a 3D printer, comprising: a photoelectric switch, defining a photosensitive groove; an electromagnetic assembly, defining a sliding hole; a probe assembly, slidably engaged in the sliding hole, and a first end of the probe assembly is engaged in the photosensitive groove; wherein the electromagnetic assembly is capable of driving the probe assembly to make the first end of the probe assembly move out of the photosensitive groove.

2. The automatic leveling device of a 3D printer of claim 1, wherein the probe assembly comprises: a connecting post, a first end of the connecting post is engaged in the photosensitive groove, a second end of the connecting post is engaged in the sliding hole; a probe head, a first end of the probe head is connected to the connecting post, a second end of the probe head extends out of the sliding hole; an elastic piece, sleeved on the probe head, one end of the elastic piece abuts the connecting post, and the other end of the elastic piece abuts an inner surface of the sliding hole.

3. The automatic leveling device of a 3D printer of claim 2, wherein the probe head comprises: a probe portion where a protrusion is protruded from the probe portion along its circumferential direction, and a diameter of the protrusion is larger than a diameter of the sliding hole; a connecting portion with a first end of the connecting portion connected with the probe portion, and a second end connected with the connecting post, and the elastic member is sleeved on the connecting portion.

4. The automatic leveling device of a 3D printer of claim 1, wherein the probe assembly comprises a permanent magnet probe, the permanent magnet probe is slidably arranged in the sliding hole, when the electromagnetic assembly is energized in a forward direction, the permanent magnet probe slides away from the photoelectric switch, when the electromagnetic component is energized in a reverse direction, the permanent magnet probe slides toward the photoelectric switch.

5. The automatic leveling device of a 3D printer of claim 1, wherein the electromagnetic assembly comprises: a mounting member that defines a mounting slot extending along its circumferential direction; a coil that is engaged in the mounting slot; an electromagnetic housing that is sleeved on the mounting member to close the mounting slot.

6. The automatic leveling device of a 3D printer of claim 5, wherein an annular convex plate is protruded from a first end of the electromagnetic housing, the annular convex plate is spaced from an inner peripheral surface of the electromagnetic housing to define a positioning groove, where one end of the mounting member is engaged in the positioning groove.

7. The automatic leveling device of a 3D printer of claim 6, further comprising: a housing, connected to a nozzle assembly of the 3D printer; wherein the photoelectric switch and the electromagnetic assembly are both arranged in the housing, and the housing comprises a front housing and a rear housing, one of the front housing and the rear housing is provided with engaging protrusions, and the other is provided with clamping holes engaged with engaging protrusions.

8. The automatic leveling device of a 3D printer of claim 7, wherein the automatic leveling device of the 3D printer further comprises a circuit board, the photoelectric switch is connected to the circuit board, the circuit board defines wiring jacks, the housing defines an outlet hole communicates with the wiring jack.

9. The automatic leveling device of a 3D printer of claim 8, wherein positioning posts are protruded from an inner side of the front housing, the circuit board defines positioning holes, each positioning post is engaged with one positioning hole.

10. A 3D printer comprising: a nozzle assembly; an automatic leveling device connected to the nozzle assembly, the automatic leveling device comprising: a photoelectric switch, defining a photosensitive groove; an electromagnetic assembly, defining a sliding hole: a probe assembly, slidably engaged in the sliding hole, and a first end of the probe assembly is engaged in the photosensitive groove: wherein the electromagnetic assembly drives the probe assembly to make the first end of the probe assembly move out of the photosensitive groove.

11. The 3D printer of claim 10, wherein the probe assembly comprises: a connecting post, a first end of the connecting post is engaged in the photosensitive groove, a second end of the connecting post is engaged in the sliding hole; a probe head, a first end of the probe head is connected to the connecting post, a second end of the probe head extends out of the sliding hole; an elastic piece, sleeved on the probe head, one end of the elastic piece abuts the connecting post, and the other end of the elastic piece abuts an inner surface of the sliding hole.

12. The 3D printer of claim 11, wherein the probe head comprises: a probe portion where a protrusion is protruded from the probe portion along its circumferential direction, and a diameter of the protrusion is larger than a diameter of the sliding hole; a connecting portion with a first end of the connecting portion connected with the probe portion, and a second end connected with the connecting post, and the elastic member is sleeved on the connecting portion.

13. The 3D printer of claim 10, wherein the probe assembly comprises a permanent magnet probe, the permanent magnet probe is slidably arranged in the sliding hole, when the electromagnetic assembly is energized in a forward direction, the permanent magnet probe slides away from the photoelectric switch, when the electromagnetic component is energized in a reverse direction, the permanent magnet probe slides toward the photoelectric switch.

14. The 3D printer of claim 10, wherein the electromagnetic assembly comprises: a mounting member that defines a mounting slot extending along its circumferential direction; a coil that is engaged in the mounting slot; an electromagnetic housing that is sleeved on the mounting member to close the mounting slot.

15. The 3D printer of claim 14, wherein an annular convex plate is protruded from a first end of the electromagnetic housing, the annular convex plate is spaced from an inner peripheral surface of the electromagnetic housing to define a positioning groove, where one end of the mounting member is engaged in the positioning groove.

16. The 3D printer of claim 15, further comprising: a housing, connected to a nozzle assembly of the 3D printer; wherein the photoelectric switch and the electromagnetic assembly are both arranged in the housing, and the housing comprises a front housing and a rear housing, one of the front housing and the rear housing is provided with engaging protrusions, and the other is provided with clamping holes engaged with engaging protrusions.

17. The 3D printer of claim 16, wherein the 3D printer further comprises a circuit board, the photoelectric switch is connected to the circuit board, the circuit board defines wiring jacks, the housing defines an outlet hole communicates with the wiring jack.

18. The 3D printer of claim 17, wherein positioning posts are protruded from an inner side of the front housing, the circuit board defines positioning holes, each positioning post is engaged with one positioning hole.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] FIG. 1 is an isometric view of an automatic leveling device of a 3D printer according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0020] FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the automatic leveling device of the 3D printer according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0021] FIG. 3 is a schematic view of a probe assembly of the automatic leveling device of the 3D printer in a retracted state according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 4 is a schematic view of a probe assembly of the automatic leveling device of the 3D printer in an extended state according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0023]

TABLE-US-00001 LABEL OF COMPONENTS Housing 1 Front housing 11 Clamping hole 111 Outlet hole 112 Rear housing 12 Engaging protrusion 121 Photoelectric switch 2 Photosensitive groove 21 Electromagnetic assembly 3 Mounting member 31 Mounting slot 311 Coil 32 Electromagnetic housing 33 Annular convex plate 331 Positioning groove 332 Probe assembly 4 Connecting post 41 Probe head 42 Probe portion 421 protrusion 4211 Connection portion 422 Elastic piece 43 Circuit board 5 Positioning hole 51 Wiring jack 52

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] In order to make the technical problems solved by the present disclosure, the technical solutions adopted and the technical effects achieved more clear, the technical solutions of the present disclosure will be further described below with reference to the drawings and specific implementations.

[0025] In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that the terms “upper”, “lower”, “inner”, “outer”, “axial”, “radial”, “circumferential”, etc. indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, it is only for the convenience of describing the present disclosure and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore it cannot limit the present disclosure.

[0026] In the description of the present disclosure, it should be noted that the terms “installed”, “connecting”, and “connected” should be interpreted broadly unless otherwise clearly specified and limited. For example, they can be fixed or detachable connected or integrally connected; they can be directly connected, or indirectly connected through intermediate components, and they can be the internal connections between two components. For those of ordinary skill in the art, the specific meanings of the above-mentioned terms in the present disclosure can be understood in specific situations.

First Embodiment

[0027] Reference to FIGS. 1-4, an automatic leveling device for a 3D printer according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is described following.

[0028] Referring to FIGS. 1-4, an automatic leveling device is disclosed. The automatic leveling device is employed in a 3D printer. The automatic leveling device includes a housing 1, a photoelectric switch 2, an electromagnetic assembly 3, and a probe assembly 4. The housing 1 is connected to a nozzle assembly of the 3D printer. The photoelectric switch 2 is arranged in the housing 1. The photoelectric switch 2 defines a photosensitive groove 21. The electromagnetic assembly 3 is arranged in the housing 1. The electromagnetic assembly 3 defines a sliding hole. The probe assembly 4 is slidably arranged in the sliding hole. One end of the probe assembly 4 is arranged in the photosensitive groove 21. The electromagnetic assembly 3 moves the probe assembly 4, such that the end of the probe assembly 4 arranged in the photosensitive groove 21 moves away from the photosensitive groove 21. During leveling process, after the current is applied to the electromagnetic assembly 3, the probe assembly 4 moves downward under the attraction of magnetic force. During the downward movement, an upper end of the probe assembly 4 is pulled out of the photosensitive groove 21 of the photoelectric switch 2, and the photoelectric switch 2 is turned on to control the nozzle assembly of the entire 3D printer to move downward. The nozzle assembly drives the automatic leveling device to move downward. When the lower end of the probe assembly 4 touches a printing platform, the lower end of the probe assembly 4 is pushed upward and moves upward for a preset distance, so that the upper end of the probe assembly 4 enters into the photosensitive groove 21 of the photoelectric switch 2 and blocks light signal. At the time, a circuit board 5 receives an off signal of the photoelectric switch 2, the nozzle assembly stops moving down, and transmits data as to current height of the nozzle assembly to a control board of the 3D printer, thereby completing a leveling operation at one point of several points. The automatic leveling device drives the probe assembly 4 up and down through the electromagnetic assembly 3, and control the on and off states of the photoelectric signal of the photoelectric switch 2 as the upper end of the probe assembly 4 moves into or moves away from the photosensitive groove 21, thereby obtaining a signal of the probe assembly 4 making contact with the printing platform. The working process of the automatic leveling device is simple and stable, with high repeatability, and does not require complex circuits and software cooperation, the structure of the automatic leveling device is simple, the manufacturing difficulty is low, and the production cost is low.

[0029] In an embodiment, the housing 1 includes a front housing 11 and a rear housing 12. The front housing 11 defines four clamping holes 111 on a front wall of the front housing 11. The front housing 11 defines an outlet hole 112 on a top wall of the front housing 11. Four spaced positioning posts protrude from an inner side of the front housing 11. The four clamping holes 111 are divided into two groups. Two clamping holes 111 in each group are spaced in a vertical direction. The two groups of clamping holes 111 are respectively located on the left and right of the front wall of the front housing 11. Four engaging protrusions 121 protrude from the rear housing 12. Each of the engaging protrusions 121 can engage with a respective clamping hole 111. The engaging protrusion 121 is detachably connected to the clamping hole 111, on one hand it has a simple structure and is convenient for manufacturing the front housing 11 and the rear housing 12, and on the other hand, it facilitates the installation and disassembly of the front housing 11 and the rear housing 12, and thus it facilitates the assembly and maintenance of the automatic leveling device. The circuit board 5 defines four positioning holes 51 and wiring jacks 52. Each positioning post is engaged with one positioning hole 51, and the wiring jacks 52 communicate with the outlet hole 112.

[0030] If the circuit board 5 is not installed in the automatic leveling device, the photoelectric switch 2 and the electromagnetic component 3 would all be connected to the control board of the 3D printer through wires, which would not only make the wiring of the 3D printer more complicated, but also reduce working reliability of the automatic leveling device. However, according to this embodiment, the circuit board 5 is separately provided in the automatic leveling device, which facilitates the control of light sensor switches and the control of the electromagnetic component 3. During the installation process, only one data cable is needed to connect the circuit board 5 with the 3D printer, which not only simplifies the wiring of the 3D printer, but also improves the working reliability of the automatic leveling device.

[0031] Specifically, the electromagnetic assembly 3 includes a mounting member 31, a coil 32, and an electromagnetic housing 33. The mounting member 31 defines a mounting slot 311 extending circumferentially. The coil 32 is engaged in the mounting slot 311, and the electromagnetic housing 33 is sleeved on the mounting member 31 to close the mounting slot 311. An annular convex plate 331 protrudes from one end of the electromagnetic housing 33. The annular convex plate 331 is spaced from the inner peripheral surface of the electromagnetic housing 33 to define a positioning groove 332. One end of the mounting member 31 is engaged in the positioning groove 332. The electromagnetic assembly 3 is cylindrical, on the one hand, the simplicity and the volume of the electromagnetic assembly 3 are reduced, on the other hand, the magnetic field strength of the electromagnetic assembly 3 is increased when the electromagnetic assembly 3 is energized, so as to ensure that the electromagnetic assembly 3 can stably drive the probe assembly 4 to move. The mounting member 31 is inserted into the positioning slot 332 on the electromagnetic housing 33 to ensure the connection stability and connection sealing performance of the mounting member 31 and the electromagnetic housing 33, so as to better ensure that the coil 32 is in a sealed space and protected from external contaminants, thus the coil 32 can work stably and reliably.

[0032] In an embodiment, the electromagnetic housing 33 is a metal housing, and the metal housing forms an electromagnetic shielding layer to avoid interference from external electromagnetic signals.

[0033] Specifically, the probe assembly 4 includes a connecting post 41, a probe head 42, and an elastic piece 43. One end of the connecting post 41 is engaged in the photosensitive groove 21, the other end of the connecting post 41 is engaged in the sliding hole. One end of the probe head 42 is connected to the connecting post 41 by screws, and the other end of the probe head 42 extends out of the sliding hole. The elastic piece 43 is sleeved on the probe head 42. One end of the elastic piece 43 abuts the connecting post 41, and the other end of the elastic piece 43 abuts the inner surface of the sliding hole. In leveling process, after the housing 1 is installed on the nozzle assembly of the 3D printer, a large current is fed to the coil 32, a magnetic field is generated by the magnetic effect of the current, and the connecting post 41 is attracted by the magnetic force to overcome the thrust of the elastic member 43 and move downward, so that the probe head 42 is extended. After the probe head 42 is fully extended, the energization voltage and current of the coil 32 are reduced. Since the energization voltage and current of the coil 32 are made smaller, the generated magnetic field is weaker, and the force on the probe head 42 is smaller. At this time, small pressure allows more accurate sensing by the probe head 42 of the printing platform. In this way, the leveling accuracy of the automatic leveling device can be improved. During the downward movement of the connecting post 41, the other end of the connecting post 41 moves out of the photosensitive groove 21 of the photoelectric switch 2. The photoelectric switch 2 is turned on to control the nozzle assembly of the entire 3D printer to move downward, and the nozzle assembly drives the automatic leveling device to move downward, so that when the probe head 42 touches the printing platform, the probe head 42 is pushed upward by the printing platform and moves a certain distance. At this time, the connecting post 41 also moves upwards and enters the photosensitive groove 21 of the photoelectric switch 2, and blocks light signal. Then the photoelectric switch 2 provides disconnection signal to the circuit board 5, the print head assembly stops moving downward, and transmits the current height of the print head assembly to the control board of the 3D printer, and then the coil 32 is powered off, the probe head 42 is retracted and restored to original state under the urging of the elastic member 43. Then the leveling is finished at one point, and the leveling at the next point is performed. In the actual leveling process, the leveling operation is required at three points at least.

[0034] Further, the probe head 42 includes a probe portion 421 and a connecting portion 422. A protrusion 4211 protrudes from the probe portion 421 circumferentially. The diameter of the protrusion 4211 is larger than the diameter of the sliding hole. One end of the connecting portion 422 is connected to the probe portion 421, the other end of the connecting portion 422 is connected with the connecting post 41, and the elastic piece 43 is sleeved on the connecting portion 422. Because the diameter of the protrusion 4211 is larger than the diameter of the sliding hole, the probe portion 421 is prevented from retracting into the sliding hole, thereby ensuring the working reliability of the probe head 42. In an embodiment, the probe head 42 is a soft magnetic metal piece, which can ensure that the probe head 42 is driven to move stably when the coil 32 is energized, thereby ensuring that the probe head 42 can stably contact the printing platform.

[0035] In an embodiment, the probe assembly 4 further includes a permanent magnet probe, which is slidably arranged in the sliding hole. When the electromagnetic assembly 3 is energized in a forward direction, the permanent magnet probe slides in a direction away from the photoelectric switch 2. When the electromagnetic component 3 is energized in a reverse direction, the permanent magnet probe slides toward the photoelectric switch 2. Compared with the probe assembly 4 including the connecting post 41, the probe head 42 and the elastic member 43 described above, a probe assembly 4 consisting only of a permanent magnet probe is simpler, thereby enabling a simpler automatic leveling device, further reducing the difficulty of manufacturing and assembly of the automatic leveling device, and reducing the production cost of the automatic leveling device.

Second Embodiment

[0036] The present disclosure also provides a 3D printer. The 3D printer includes a nozzle assembly and the automatic leveling device, and the automatic leveling device is connected to the nozzle assembly. The 3D printer uses an automatic leveling device to detect points at different positions on the printing platform, and obtains height data of a plurality of points along a Z axis. A tilt angle of the plane of these points (i.e. the plane of the printing platform) relative to the nozzle can be calculated by a software. Software can determine and provide compensation for the tilt angle, so that the print head will be parallel to the printing platform, thereby ensuring the printing accuracy of the 3D printer.

[0037] In the description of this specification, the description with reference to the terms “some embodiments”, “other embodiments”, etc. means that the specific features, structures, materials or features described in combination with the embodiment or example are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. In this specification, the schematic expression of the above terms does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Further, the specific features, structures, materials or features described may be combined in a suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

[0038] The above content is only a preferred embodiment of the disclosure. For ordinary technicians in the art, the changes are obtained based on the exemplary embodiment and applying scope according to the idea of the disclosure, the content of the specification should not be understood as a limitation of the disclosure.