Question: Recommendation for mechanical endstops

wieman01

@bot

Haha... I probably won't... just yet.

fcwilt

I use these or ones very much like them:

Optical Endstop

Frederick

dc42

@wieman01 said in Question: Recommendation for mechanical endstops:

Hello,

I am looking for mechanical endstops that are compatible (I have read the specs regarding current, etc.) with the Duet 2 Wifi.

Has anyone got a recommendation by chance?

Thank you / wieman01

Omron microswitches are good. Ideally they should be low-current ones with gold-plated contacts, but ordinary ones seem to work well.

theruttmeister

@dc42 said in Question: Recommendation for mechanical endstops:

Omron microswitches are good. Ideally they should be low-current ones with gold-plated contacts, but ordinary ones seem to work well.

Seconded.
Actually, there a tons of snap-action micro-switches out there. They will give you more repeatability than the rest of your printer (unless you are using fancy ballscrews I guess...) and they don't need a flag, you can just run the gantry into them.
Plus I've never heard of anyone having micro-switches effected by sunlight

A Former User

@theruttmeister said in Question: Recommendation for mechanical endstops:

Plus I've never heard of anyone having micro-switches effected by sunlight

definitively not in the UK! (not that I'm any better off).

I take it optical switches don't have modulation and/or filtering to help with sunlight?

theruttmeister

@bearer
Early gen3 electronics for reprap/makerbot seemed to have issues homing if they were in direct sunlight...

Who knows if that was real. Its not like they were reliable at the best of times!

Baenwort

@bot which exact one do you recommend for $50?

bot

@Baenwort a bit more than I remembered, but I believe this is the one I use, but I bought it under this listing which is more expensive. I guess Misumi charges you more if you don't know the brand name. (It's literally the same metrol switch with the metrol P/N on it, listed under an obfuscated Misumi P/N.)

wieman01

I have now ordered mechanical and optical end-stops. I need a lot of them anyway, so I'll see how it goes and report back. It's crazy, but I have 7 motors just for the XYZ movements, but I could not do it with fewer. Consequently I upgraded my Duet 2 with an Duex5 extension board.

Thank you for your input. I am learning, but I am very excited about my project (clay printer).

lord binky

I prefer the contactless approach and just wire in (directly with no extras has worked fine for me) A3144 digital hall effect sensors (~$1 ea.) for my endstops and slap a magnet on the moving part. You can home fast and do a slow back and return and the repeatability has been hands down better over time than contact switches I've tried.

wieman01

Maybe another question for the pros... I will have 4 motors for the z-axis (Duet 2 & Duex5).

Will I install 1 stop-end per motor to make sure they stay in sync? Or should I use only 1 stop-end and do a z-calibration once in a while to ensure all 4 motors are in the same position?

I suspect the latter as I have not seen an option in the reprap configuration tool to add more than 3 stop-ends.

I am learning... bear with me.

fcwilt

@wieman01 said in Question: Recommendation for mechanical endstops:

Will I install 1 stop-end per motor to make sure they stay in sync? Or should I use only 1 stop-end and do a z-calibration once in a while to ensure all 4 motors are in the same position?

If you are going to have a Z probe (which you should) you can make use of the auto bed leveling feature that can be used with a multi-motor setup like you are going to have.

And a Z probe will work as an "end stop" as well.

Frederick

Phaedrux

@wieman01 https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Wiki/Bed_levelling_using_multiple_independent_Z_motors

wieman01

Thank you, @fcwilt & @Phaedrux, that was very helpful.

I'll let you know how that goes.