solarbird | basically a one-day build: 3d printing filament-out alarm

I wanted an alarm that would go off with I was just about out of 3D printing filament. So I made one. Took the latter half of one day and another half of a second day so that’s kind of a one-day build. If I had a faster printer it would’ve been a lot less time. xD

It’s very simple, there’s a tube through which the filament passes, it plays an mp3 when there’s no more filament present, and does so loudly enough that I can hear it from other rooms. It’s rechargeable, charges by USB and presents as a (very, very slow) USB drive, so you can change the mp3 it plays. It’s not fancy – and the electronics are all stock, I didn’t make ’em – but it’ll do. Mostly what I made is a case to accommodate the electrics and guide the filament over the switch.

I’ll probably print it again in a prettier colour – this is just my final test print, sorry about the scratches – but this’ll do for now. If I use it much, I’ll definitely print a prettier one. ^_^

Here’s the board I used; I put the case on Thingiverse if you want one; the switch is 20x11mm and wired for normally-on operation. When the filament holds it down, the switch is off; when the filament goes away and the switch pops up, it turns on.

Posted via Solarbird{y|z|yz}, Collected.