Arduino Based Weather Station

[Gina]

Printing second layer now.  First layer printed well

[Gina]

Now of fifth layer and all's well   Tested the scrap of ASA filament I cut off the reel and it does dissolve in acetone   Means I can solvent weld ASA just like ABS to glue the parts together  

[Stub Mandrel]

But is it legal, decent, honest and truthful?

[Gina]

???

[Stub Mandrel]

The old slogan of the Advertising Standards Authority - ASA

Rigid Ink say same print temperature as ABS:

https://rigid.ink/blogs/news/175845063-the-difference-between-abs-and-asa

[Stub Mandrel]

Interetsing Rigid ink 1kg ASA - off their website a steep £42.95, from them via eBay a mind boggling - £57.99!

[Gina]

Mostly I buy directly from Rigid.Ink - orders over £60 are carriage free.  For one reel Amazon works out about the same or cheaper.  ebay seem to have got expensive lately - I keep finding things cheaper on Amazon.

[Stub Mandrel]

I seem to have had my best results with PrimaValue PLA, which is a mid-price filament, about £20-25 a reel.

[Gina]

I never seemed to get on with PLA.  Don't really know why.

[Gina]

Hope I'm not counting my chickens but this is looking good so far.  15mm and still on the bed

[Gina]

Now at 24mm and the narrow end has lifted about a mm from the bed which shouldn't be a problem.  The ASC base end is still flat on the bed.

[Gina]

Finished   Yes, slight curvature at the very end but this shouldn't affect its use.  Waiting for it to cool now and release from the bed.

Edited December 11, 2017 by Gina

[Gina]

The curvature is negligible.

[Gina]

Now to the wind sensor casing part.  Now printing.

[Gina]

Perfect!

[MarkyD]

Is there a way to place a carbon stiffener on the bed and print on that to incorporate it into the finished piece

[Gina]

I don't know but I would think it may be difficult.  ASA is pretty stiff anyway.  My prints will be well up to the job - probably rather over engineered in fact.

[Gina]

Here is the new look ASC and wind sensor unit.  Axis of anemometer and vane is 18" (360mm) from the centre of the ASC.

Edited December 12, 2017 by Gina

[Gina]

Cap to hold direction sensor chip and its breakout board.

[Gina]

Printed the bottom plate, inserted bottom bearing, assembled axle unit including aluminium disc and added bottom plate.  Tested rotating the axle and found a problem.  In spite of using commercial spacers which should be square, the disc is not perpendicular to the axle and is out of true on the edge by about a millimetre.  This is far too much for the magnetic damping.  If I can't fix this I shall have to consider a different damping system or none at all.

Edited December 12, 2017 by Gina

[Gina]

Some photos.  I've sorted out the damping system by both improving the disc mounting and moving the magnets further apart.  Tests show quite good damping even with this 4mm gap between the magnets.  The disc clears the magnets adequately.

[Gina]

Still have a few things to work out but getting there

[Gina]

Looking now at the direction sensor...  From the datasheet for the chip the centre of measurement is 1mm from the centre of the chip towards the side with pins 1-4 and since the chip is soldered in the centre of the breakout board the latter will want moving 1mm towards the 1 & 8 holes.

[Gina]

Sensor holder.

[Gina]

When I've got the breakout board connected to an Arduino Nano and the sketch uploaded I shall try the sensor chip the other way up with the magnet near the back and see if that works.  I think it should and if so it will make the direction correct and the board easier to mount.  If not I can correct the direction either with the DIRECTION setting in the chip or in code in the Arduino sketch - I guess the latter would be easier.

Edited December 13, 2017 by Gina