3Dom filaments improves print quality with Blade 360 measurement device.
3Dom Europe's has installed Gill Sensors & Controls' (Gill)Blade 360 Rotary Sensor into its 3D printing systems to improve print quality by accurately measuring winding tension.
The 3D printing filaments supplier installed the measurement device to solve current issues with uniformly wound spool and to control the winding tension of its 3D printing filament.
The Blade 360 was best suited for the application due to its solid-state design and 360° measurement range. The Gill Blade360 Rotary Sensor is an inductive rotary position sensor, capable of measuring 360° rotation (0-359.9° with no dead band) and uses induction technology to sense the position of a metallic 'activator', mounted to (or formed as part of) the moving object.
Blade 360 Rotary Sensor
To ensure a uniformly wound spool, no kinks or bends can be fed into the printer as this can cause breakage or jamming. Having a uniform tension means that the extruder wheel that feeds the filament into the printer nozzle can provide a constantly predictable flow of material.
A ‘dancing arm’ assembly is used to control the winding tension and measure any variation changes. These changes translate into a rotary movement which can be measured by the Gill sensor. The 360 sensor provides the control feedback to adjust the winding tension on the spool, keeping it constant. In addition, the lack of any mechanical contact in its functionality also means that there are no frictional variations or ‘sticktion’ delays caused by the sensor itself, thereby only providing accurate measurement of changes in the filament tension.
By exploiting the non-contact, solid state design of the Gill inductive rotary sensor, 3Dom are able to provide customers with a high quality filaments, which include Biome3D and Ingeo PLA, whilst providing them with a long-term, reliable manufacturing solution.
