This is my best nozzle cam so far. It uses the smallest cam available and despite the good and magnifying videoimage quality it is surprisingly affordable (under 20€).
I built a mount to attach a magnifying USB nozzle cam from a cheap „ear cleaning microscope“. These cams cost about 17€ and are available on Amazon or eBay under different names. The image quality is quite good with a short focal point and the optical magnification is very useful for surveillance of the 3D printing process.
Other cams by other vendors are:
https://amzn.eu/d/jgkiZQT
https://amzn.eu/d/0CkkGaj
or on eBay:
https://www.ebay.de/itm/144883605523?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=707-127634-2357-0&ssspo=hyT7Imy1Tei&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=IsLSm0hETPW&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
https://www.ebay.de/itm/155119543847?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=707-127634-2357-0&ssspo=ClmJ78METwe&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=IsLSm0hETPW&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY
you can identify the right ear cams by the slim pen design with a rubber stop around the connection between aluminum case and usb cable (And the price about less than 20€). You might search with keywords like „borecam“ or „ear cams“ as the „brand“-name changes quite often.
Precautions::
- My nozzlecam mount is made for this X-axis holder model:
https://www.printables.com/de/model/139656-prusa-i3-mk3-x-axis-cable-holder-roomy-revo-editio
- Make the cable connection to the heatbed (flat cover) as flat as possible. Otherwise the camera will crash into the cover of that connection sometime. I used this one with soldered cables instead of the screws and sanded it down to be even more flat. Those
Those two preparations above are necessary, because the camera is almost on the same level as the nozzle.
Getting the camera out of the aluminum housing
- The magic trick is to disassemble the pen-like earmicroscope so that only the videochip with its tiny mainboard and the USB-cable are obtained. Those are used for my model. As the circuits are really tiny and hence fragile I recommend you buy at least two of those cameras to have one spare if something breaks during the assembly.
- Begin disassembling at the cable end of the ear microscope. There is a rubber stopper around the cable that sits some millimeter deep in the pen-like aluminium shaft. Carefully press a small screwdriver between rubber and metal enclosure. Remove the stopper. Once the stopper is removed the videochip and the tiny mainboard can be pulled out of the shaft. Be careful not to damage any cable.
- after that you may want to cut off the rest of the rubber from the USB cable with a sharp knife (again be careful).
- Now you have the videochip at the tip of a small metal band (The PCB). This is the smallest nozzle cam you can get (Though it is not sold for this).
- at this stage I recommend giving a drop of superglue (CA) on the cable connector and the colored small cables up to the black insulation. This is to give more strength to this vulnerable part. Let it dry and you have a more robust transition from the PCB to the USB cable.
Assembly
- If not done already print the Model (in upright position). Flat backside on the print bed. I used PETG (ASA would be even better!).
- insert two M4 short (4mm) threaded inserts to the big holes on the side of the mount. Dont push the inserts to far in. They must not obstruct the camera canal. It is better to not fully insert them but to push them to far in.
- Before inserting the Videochip in the camera canal of the mount use a 5mm drill to clean the perforated tube from the inside at the front end of the holder.
- Next gently try to insert the video chip with PCB in the ‘wrong direction’ from the nozzle end (front) of the mount towards the center of the mount. This is to see, if the diameter of the camera canal has printed well. Do this while not connected to USB and with the PCB perpendicular to the bottom layer of the mount, like in the foto shown below:
The PCB should slide in completely without any resistance. Do not apply to much force. Push very gently.
- when you feel the camera canal is wide enough pull out the PCB comple.
- Now check the correct image rotation. You have to connect the USB plug for a short test to a computer or you PI, so you can see the image. The image is orientated well when the PCB is in the same perpendicular way like in the test. Now check the video image that it is not upside down. Remember the correct orientation! It is unnecessarily difficult if you want to adjust that later! When you found the correct orientation of the PCB insert the camera in the same orientation ‘right’ direction in the canal from the middle of the mount to the front. And again. handle the electronics with care. Don’t use to much force.
- you can push the camera all the way through the front canal opening and make final adjustments by turning the videochip a little bit. Remember, the PCB should be perpendicular to the printbed or workspace surface.
- when image orientation is okay push the video chip back into the canal, until the lens is flush with the front camera opening. It should look like this now:
- To fix the PCB in its final position insert two M4 6mm hexscrews or two M4 grub screws in the M4 inserts on either side. Do not tighten them completely now.
To protect the PCB from damage by the grub screws put a little piece of plastic (blue in the picture below) between the tip of the screw and the electronics/cables.
I added two tiny print files to the model (Keil L and Keil R). They can be used for this. In the prototype shown in the picture I used some left over PETG parts from a purge tower (blue).
- Now you can tighten the grub screws, but again GENTLY and by hand (no battery screwdriver). Mind the orientation of the PCB to be seen through the cooling holes of the front part of the mount.
- You are almost done. what follows is attaching the mount to the x-axis cable holder. This took me some time to integrate the USB in the sleeve with the other cables. First close the x-axis cable support by using the right half of the support.
Insert and tighten only the top screw in the back part of the x-axis cable support. Leave the both bottom holes of the support empty for the moment. Then push the camera mount from the bottom up onto the x-axis cable support. Try to match the two bottom holes to the ones on the x-axis support directly in the beginning.
- When the camera mount is in place I inserted only the back screw and left the bottom front hole free. In this way you can adjust the camera angle to the nozzle a bit.
- We are done! Here is a picture taken from the print bed up to the nozzle.
Advantages of using this tiny ear camera:
- great magnification, ideal for surveying the nozzle during print
- The fogging of the lens is gone! It seemed to be caused by the protective plastic lens in front of the housing and the hot surface (with adhesive DimaFix on the printbed causing some gas?)
- the cameras are cheap, so if one breaks a new one is not a big deal.
Downside: Image quality is standard (no 4K….) and frame rate is not very high either. Fast movements result in blurry images. But for monitoring the printing it does the job very well, in my opinion.
Overall, this is the best nozzle cam I used so far. The future will show long term experiences.
when I discover issues I will update the model!
Update 18.6.23: after using this cam for two month now, it works flawlessly. Surprisingly there is absolute no fogging of the lens. This is the only cam I have used with absolutely no fogging and no necessity to clean the lens even after month of printing!
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
The story behind this model
I tried many different nozzle cameras and designed holders for them but none of them fulfilled my needs.
*the classic bore cams had no suitable image quality. Fogging of the lens was no fun.
*the 3DO camera chip had superior image quality but always stopped working after some days. I bought quite a lot (10 I think) of them. I really wanted them to work because of 4K Image and high frame rate. And the PCB connected with a short and bulky flat cable was a serious design problem.
* After sending the 3DO to the trash can I thought; why not use one of those “ear microscopes”? After a lot of prototypes I managed to build a working mount, though this cameras are ridiculously long and the pen-like case and the cable often interfered with other printer parts. The prototype worked for some weeks, though the fogging of the lens was annoying.
The movement of the x-axis resulted in loosening the cable in the shaft and the camera started annoyingly to rotate in the housing according to the x-axis action.
I was on the way to throw this into the trash can but somehow pulled the cable a bit and: voila- there was the tiny video chip. Much smaller and shorter than anything before.
Beginning with that I started designing a mount for this cam. A lot of revisions later I had the best nozzle cam so far for me.
If you are interested download my model und try the cam yourself. Let me know how it worked for you!
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
Clamikra
