I recently conducted a Repeatability and Reproducibility (R&R) study using AI for a CNC machine.
To conduct my study, I defined obtaining 30 measurements at 3 distances at 3 different speeds for each X, Y, Z axis. In total, 810 measurements, the tool I had on hand to take the measurements was an analog probe. I knew that taking manual measurements would require me to be close to the machine watching the probe and entering data into Excel every 30s.
So I decided to automate that process.
I bought a digital probe from Autoutlet brand.
This product has serial data outputs for interpretation from a microcontroller like Arduino. The probe is sold under various Chinese brands. I'm almost certain they must manufacture it in the same place and each one puts their brand on it. In fact, that's one of the reasons I want to make these posts, because the serial data output probably works the same for various brands and what we discuss here may benefit more than one person.
I disassembled the probe. The product has 4 terminals in the serial data port. The product manual didn't have pinout information, nor did it have information about the data structure. There was a contact email in the manual, they didn't respond. I searched the website and found another contact and they didn't respond either. Searching on the internet, I found a pinout that I used as a starting point, but I couldn't find the serial data structure.
The pinout of my probe is as follows:
A JST connector was soldered to it and the probe was assembled back together.
| Pin | Color |
|---|---|
| VCC | Red |
| CLK | Black |
| DATA | Yellow |
| GND | White |
Determined to extract data from the probe, I designed a basic circuit with transistors. But that will be discussed in the next post...