Hi all,

I am in the process of prototyping several tools, and realized life would be so much easier if I had a touch probe to find hole centers, accurately setup material, etc. in particular for CNC machining multiple parts.

So, I searched cnczone and googled, but could not find many affordable (<= 100$) 3D touchprobes that both look to be really well made and accurate enough (<0.01mm). Thus I decided to make my own :-) It will be based on a conventional ball bearing and spring loaded pin/tip, classic system.
I already designed the printed circuit board and I am waiting for the PCB fab to send them. It will have an internal schmitt trigger circuit to reduce noise and bounce effects, and an LED to signal contact. Center point will be adjustable in order to reduce runout.

I have most materials on hand and what I did not have, I found suppliers for. I have a good supplier for the probe body, which will be a nice steel "can" and shaft. The probe will be ruby ball (5mm) tipped, M4 thread, 30mm long. Since I had to order the circuit board and electronic/electrical components in quantities bigger than 1, I was wondering if anybody would be interested in purchasing one of those probes ? I think I could sell those between $80 and $120, depending on how many units of certain parts I can get. Maybe even cheaper.

I am just gaging potential interest... If there seems to be a need, I will produce a batch.

As soon as I get the first probe assembled, I will publish pictures and do some precision and repeatability measurements.

So, anybody with interest, let me know and I will make sure to keep you in the loop.

Cheers !