Wanted to see if anyone has experience with optical end stops: specifically their reliability/accuracy in comparison to micro switches and Hall effect sensors.
On my quest to have a silent printer, I would like to ditch even microswitch end stops for something silent. While I do have Hall effect sensors around, putting a magnet/making perfectly magnetic components seems like a pain.
Just wanted to see what other people have experienced with them.
while i do not use one on my printer, i would expect an optical endstop to be better than a mechanical one. assuming the trigger is something fixed and solid.
as a side note - do you know about Rene’s project for water cooled e3d? on my printer the e3d fan is by far the noisiest thing…
Interesting. I actually like the “click” sounds of endstop it’s so satisfying to hear for some reason…
I was Surprised about Tom’s results. But I think he delivered reasonable results.
@Sven_Eric_Nielsen autolevelling is different to end stop - for an endstop i would suspect that a contactless (ie without a mechanical fatigue point) would work better and longer - a magnetic or optical endstop in theory would outperform a mechanical switch. but for the precision of a 3d printer endstop i think either would do…
@Cristian_Nicola yep! Already on the list.
I’ve been using optical endstops since day one, and I never have to recalibrate my bed.
I never understood the need for auto-levelling.
Hall end stops are awesome since they hardly fail and are noiseless.
@Alex_Skoruppa why did you switch from them?
@Rien_Stouten It’s more about structural drift of the bed mounts, such as PLA parts creeping or leveling screws shifting a little with vibration. An all-metal triple-lead-screw bed never goes out of level.
Typical opto endstops are not as accurate as you’d expect. The triggering position varies slightly with ambient light levels, and they have been known to be confused by bright sunlight around the printer.
I have had exceptionally good repeatability and reliability with hall endstops. Just glue a tiny magnet onto the carriage to trigger the endstop.
When I built my machine I started with a kit of optical end stops but they were not as precise as I expected. I changed to mechanical end stops and after 5 years of printing I am very satisfied with them. True they make a ‘Click’ but they are trustworthy.
Note: in 5 years and a lot of prints, not even once had to calibrate them again.
A NC mechanical end stop would most certainly fail in an open state, which would be the safest option. An optical or Hall as an end stop could possibly fail in either state and let the machine beat itself up.
I use the Sunx/Panasonic gx-f8a inductive proximity sensors on my printer for my endstops. They are a little bit costly at about 25 a sensor but I got a bunch of them for a good price awhile back.
These are not the cheap cylindrical ones from China you see on Amazon and eBay they are very reliable and repeatable.
On my deltas I mount them on the end of the linear rail for each Axis and have a stainless screw fixed into the carriage that is the sensing target.
@Griffin_Paquette I think if you really just want a silent switch, get something like a silent cherry MX switch and just use that as a 2-wire end stop. To make it even more silent I guess you could print a keycap for it out of flexible material/rubber. That should get rid of the “click” sound.
It would be pretty cheap too
I have used both opto and mechanical switches. I prefer the mechanical ones. The microswitches are designed to withstand some 100 000 to 1 000 000 clicks, this should be enough for the lifespan of any 3D printer. I have also watched Tom’s video and they were the most precise option.
The inly “problem” would be the clicking sound, but since you would only ear it once every print, is it worth the extra money for the other sensors?
