/anycubic-kobra-max-timelapse

Smartphone timelapse trigger mount for a Anycubic Kobra Max 3D printer

Primary LanguageC++MIT LicenseMIT

Anycubic Kobra Max-timelapse

Smartphone timelapse trigger for a Anycubic Kobra Max 3D printer.

It works by triggering a button at the end of the X axis after every layer which sends take picture key press (volume down button) to your smartphone via bluetooth.

The smartphone will take a picture of the print after every layer that can be combined in an external video editing program (such as built-in Photos app in Windows) to a timelapse video.

Firmware

Communication to the smartphone is done using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) microcontroller that mimics a wireless HID keyboard. You just bind it with your phone and whenever the trigger button is pressed by the script, the phone takes a picture for every layer that can be combined into a video.

Using a camera app where you can fix focus and exposure is recommended (such as Open Camera on Android).

The firmware is made for Adafruit Feather nRF52840 Express/Sense but could likely be easily adapted to any MCU with BLE running MBED stack.

It's easiest compiled with Platform IO but normal Arduino IDE should work fine too.

Adafruit Feather nRF52840 Express

Hardware

The trigger uses a basic momentary limit switch in a custom 3D-printable mount. This can be printed with either filament or resin printer.

You need a cable between the switch (common and normally open terminals) and the microcontroller (ground and digital input, firmware is using A0 for the Adafruit Sense board that is next to ground). The pins can be edited in firmware.

Setup

Compile and upload the firmware, power the MCU with USB and add it as a bluetooth device on your smarphone.

Open a camera app that takes a photo when volume buttons are pressed (the keycode sent can also be modified in the firmware) and press the momentary switch, your phone should now take a picture.

Somehow fix the phone so that it faces the thing you're printing and let it do it's thing. You should end up with a bunch of images, one for each layer of the print. Combine them to a video in Windows Photos app or similar.

Cura script for triggering after every layer

Below is the script used in Ultimaker Cura slicing program that moves the X axis to the end of it's travel at the end of every layer, pressing the trigger button.

To use this do the following:

  • Open Cura
  • Open Extensions > Post Processing > Modify G-Code
  • Click Add a script
  • Choose Search and Replace script type
  • Enter ;LAYER: as the Search field.
  • Enter the single line script where all linefeeds are replaced with \n

Note that you can't copy the multi-line replace script in the text field (at least in Cura v5.0.0). To use it, modify the script as needed and then create a version of it where all linefeeds (\r\n in Windows) are replaced with \n. Such a modified single line version of this script is below.

;LAYER:
;Take timelapse photo script
G91 ;Use relative positioning mode
G1 F2400 E-6 ;Retract filament
G0 F6000 Z2 ;Move Z up 2mm
G90 ;Use absolute positioning mode
G0 F12000 X400 Y200 ;Quick move to center of right edge
G4 P1500 ;Pause for 1.5 seconds
G0 F12000 X200 Y200 ;Quick move to center of the build plate
G91 ;Use relative positioning mode
G1 F6000 Z-2 ;Move Z back down
G90 ;Go back to absolute position mode

Single line version:

;LAYER:\n;Take timelapse photo script\nG91 ;Use relative positioning mode\nG1 F2400 E-6 ;Retract filament\nG0 F6000 Z2 ;Move Z up 2mm\nG90 ;Use absolute positioning mode\nG0 F12000 X400 Y200 ;Quick move to center of right edge\nG4 P1000 ;Pause for 1.0 seconds\nG0 F12000 X200 Y200 ;Quick move to center of the build plate\nG91 ;Use relative positioning mode\nG1 F6000 Z-2 ;Move Z back down\nG90 ;Go back to absolute position mode