3D Printed Compliant Nozzle Probe Concept

So I like where voron is going with the voron tap. Probing off of the nozzle is a great way to reduce the complications of nozzle offsets. The issue I have with their system is mostly based around weight. The 9 mm MGN rail and carriage had a lot of additional weight to the print head. This causes acceleration to be slowed due to the extra weight being moved by the steppers now.

I think it possible solution to this could be utilizing a compliant mechanism instead of the linear rail. A compliance mechanism is a solid piece of material that's designed in such a way that it is able to bend in move.

In this case, we only need to move in one axis, while maintaining rigidity in all others. They're quite a few examples of this style of compliant mechanism in existence, so it should be easy enough to find some reference material.

After scourging through Google for a few minutes, I came up with enough examples to feel like I could start with a proof of concept.

Example mechanism from instructables

To start with the proof of concept, I mostly want to see how rigid a a linear compliant mechanism of this size, print it in ABS material, can be. It needs to be able to move vertically a few millimeters to be able to trigger a optical sensor.

I want to use an optical sensor in this case because the boron development team has already laid the foundation for the use of an optical sensor with the voron tab. This makes it easier for me to feel confident and utilizing the same sensor for the setup.

The initial proof of concepts don't need to have all of the end features that are intended for use in a printer. Currently, I am really only interested to see if the compliant mechanism feels rigid enough in the y and z axis, while maintaining enough flexibility to move in the x-axis roughly 3 through 5 mm.

I generated a few quick CAD models that should allow me to get my hands on these parts relatively quickly. Yet again, the idea here is speed over perfection. I'm trying to eliminate improper techniques early to speed up the development.