WIRELESS 3D PROBE CONVERTER · IN DEVELOPMENT
Every touch,
on the record.
ncProbe turns the popular, affordable USB-C 3D touch probe you already own into a wireless one, with a battery you recharge over USB-C. It plugs into the probe's USB-C socket; nothing on the probe changes. The probe stays in the tool rack, the cable is gone, and every touch reaches the controller in about 4 ms.
Comes as a pair: the transmitter on the probe and a receiver that wires to your controller. Any CNC controller with a probe or tool setter (TLS) input works, not only grblHAL or ncSender.
Wireless, without the usual catch.
Keep the probe you trust. ncProbe adds the radio and a battery you charge over USB-C.
The affordable probe you already have, made wireless.
The TR-3C style 3D touch probe is accurate, popular and cheap, but it needs a cable to the controller. ncProbe plugs into its USB-C socket, powers it from a rechargeable battery and sends every touch to the receiver. Nothing on the probe changes.
- Costs as much as a small machine
- Its own receiver and interface to install
- Battery service through the maker
- Fiddly to set up and pair
- Batteries drain quickly
- Disposable cells, not rechargeable
- Converts the affordable USB-C probe you already own
- Rechargeable Li-ion, charged over USB-C
- Sleeps in the rack, wakes on motion
- Receiver wires in like a wired probe
A probe the tool changer can load.
No cable means the probe gets a tool number like any bit. Probe the part mid-job, with nobody at the machine.
- 01 · RACKAsleep in its slotDraws almost nothing, and so does the probe.
- 02 · PICK UPWakes on the liftA motion sensor wakes it as the spindle takes it.
- 03 · PROBETouch, in ~4 msStraight to the controller's probe input.
- 04 · RETURNBack to the rackThe next tool change puts it away. Cutting resumes.
Silence means stop. If the receiver stops hearing ncProbe, because the battery is flat or it is out of range, it reports the probe as touched and the controller stops the move. Never a crash into the stock.
1000 touches on one edge. Here is where they landed.
G38.2 · F150 · grblHAL · 0 missed · 0 resets812 of 1000 within ±5 µm of the median: the core repeatability is about 2 µm.
991 of 1000 within 50 µm. The tail is the radio resending a packet, which shows as a slightly deeper touch.
+3 µm drift from the first 20 touches to the last 20. Prototype numbers, re-measured on production boards.
The receiver wires into your controller.
A small box with screw terminals. It takes power from the controller and drives the probe or TLS input like a wired probe would. Any CNC controller with one of those inputs works, no special firmware or software needed.
- 5 to 24 V inPowered from the controller through the same terminal as the probe output.
- Two extra inputsHook up a tool setter or another sensor, 3.3 to 24 V signals. Each one shares the probe output.
- Flip a switch to invertA DIP switch per input sets normally open or normally closed.
- Lights you can readA status light for the link and a blue light per input when it triggers.
The numbers
- In the box
- Transmitter and receiver, paired
- Probe connection
- USB-C plug, 5 V probe supply
- Link
- 2.4 GHz direct, no Wi-Fi needed
- Latency
- 3.6 ms median, 95% under 16 ms
- Fail-safe
- Lost link reads as touched
- Power
- Li-ion, USB-C charging, wake on motion
- Controller
- Any with a probe or TLS input
- Updates
- Over the air from ncSender
PROTOTYPES GOING TO FABRICATION
One email when ncProbe is ready to order.
Pricing is announced at launch.