September 9, 2023
Description
I recently upgraded my former model of the gorgeous 3DO HiRes Nozzlecam with Sony video chip .
These are the improvements (Updated once more 15.04.2023):
For assembly and general information see the original design.
You may wish to install a support for the x-axis cable because of the extra weight of the PCB Box attached to it. I designed this cable support device therefore.
The LED is a 3,7 Volt pearl cob led (like this one). You should choose the ‘natural white’ variant with 4000K because it gives the best natural light. With 5V power supply (taken from Einsy Rambo board) you need a 80-90 Ohm pre-resistor to drive the LED. The resistor is soldered directly to the + contact of the LED and isolated with shrink tube.
The Camera housing now is made of two parts (Part A and part B) that snap together with two pass marks. Print quality is better and stronger this way. Still no supports needed. I put them together with a drop of superglue.
After assembling camera mount and PCB Case and securing all cables you can adjust the focus of the cam by loosening the screw next to the cam and pushing the mount a bit for- or backwards So that the focus sits excactly in the tip of the nozzle.
Someone asked me: “why not build it with two leds?“ That’s because the mount must not be too wide or it will interfere with the frame of the Prusa i3. There is just not enough room for two LEDs when mounting the camera this way.
Printed in Prusament PETG (no supports needed).
The assembly is a bit tricky so please refer to my instructions and be extremely careful when handling the camera or the PCB.
Now there are two options for housing and mounting the PCB with the USB Cable mini jack:
OPTION a) On the back of the X-axis cable support. This way the housing is mounted fixed to the PETG parts of the x-axis cable support. Disadvantage is the 90 degree cable angle and that the flat camera cable has to be folded once. This can lead to cable breaking (in one case for me it did) so I decided to build another mounting option.
OPTION b) The PCB is mounted on the cable strain from the X-axis. This way camera and USB cable are in line with no sharp angles for the flat camera cable. There is less stress to the camera cable. And it does not matter what kind of X-axis cable support you use.
To fix the clamp (base for PCB housing) to the cable strain I used two mini zip ties. The PCB box is glued with its base to the flat part of the clamp with some drop of superglue. I hope the camera will live longer this way.
Attention: PCB box and Top in Option A + B are different! OPTION A has the USB cable outlet at the side and OPTION B has the USB cable outlet on the back (in-line).
Though this camera is super fragile I like the macro-pictures of the nozzle while printing. It was quite a long developing process and a had to pay for some of my mistakes in the beginning (breaking more than one 3DO cameras … had to buy new ones). At 3DO they must be wondering what I am doing with all those cameras :-)
Update (Comment):
@SpartanFPV_40710 reminded me, that it is not the stock x-axis cable support, that my camera holder is mounted on. I almost forgot I upgraded this part. So before adding my camera mount upgrade the x-axis cable support with this model:
https://www.printables.com/de/model/139656-prusa-i3-mk3-x-axis-cable-holder-roomy-revo-editio That is the one I have installed a long time ago and it is a great improvement anyway.
This one works aswell (5mm longer)
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3012494 .
IMPORTANT: because the camera sits under the extruder body near the nozzle it will interfere in some circumstances with the cable mount of the heat bed. So I strongly recommend modifying the heatbed cable mount to the flattest version you can find. I discarded the screws, soldered the power cables to the heatbed and used this cover by robomagus for them. This is flat enough. https://www.printables.com/de/model/34459-slim-90degree-mk52-heatbed-cable-cover-for-prusa-m
Update: I designed this cable support device for the x-axis cable with the camera PCB-Box mounted on it. You may install this if you are worried about the weight of the box giving stress to the cable..
Update 5.5.2023: I personally do not use the 3DO cam anymore. Despite superior imagequality (when working) it had the downside, that all cameras broke after a short time because of the long flat cable to the PCB. Sooner or later all had issues with the flat cable and stopped working. After buying almost 10 of those 3DO cams and all stopped working with the same flatcable issue I gave up with this cam and developed another idea. See my other models of nozzle cams and newer designs.
This ist my latest Model that I use for month no: Even smaller and much cheaper and with no need for PCB housings: https://www.printables.com/de/model/493660-my-best-and-most-affordable-nozzle-cam-smallest-no
Please show me your results and send me fotos of your makes. I like to see how you use this model. If you have ideas for improvement don’t hesitate to send them to me in the comments. I will try to incorporate your suggestions and will modify the model for special needs if you ask me to do so.
And of course a like ♥ or a rating ⭐ of the design are always welcome.
happy printing, clamikra
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial — Share Alike
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Clamikra
