Reuse Your Ender 3 / CR10 Z-Stop as a Filament Sensor!

thingiverse

Since I purchased a BLtouch a few weeks ago, my Z-stop switch has been collecting dust in my parts box... well, it's time to give it new life! Do you have an EZABL, a BLtouch or any other clone or switch in use for auto-bed-leveling? If so, then you probably removed your Z-stop switch. Put it back to work! Make it a filament sensor! I designed this around the small switches that Creality uses labeled "1830" on the circuit board they use for stop-switches. I personally use my switch with Octoprint in conjunction with Filament Sensor Reloaded (https://plugins.octoprint.org/plugins/filament_sensor_reloaded/). Here are the instructions: Just make sure to support the cylinder that holds the bowden tube on the right when printing. To install, take two small sections of bowden tubing and insert them on either side of the switch. Mount the switch into the mount using the two OEM screws that held it onto your frame. Then, just fiddle a bit of filament through the sensor and into your extruder. The sensor and the enclosure are very lightweight, and the incoming filament keeps it upright on my Ender3. You'll need to run the cabling to your printer/raspberrypi yourself. I extended mine with some spare network cable using good old fashioned solder and heatshrink tubing. My original bowden tubing fit snugly in my mount and didn't come out when the printer rectracted. Consider gluing yours if you have any issues, or calibrate your prints! Enjoy! Share anywhere! My designs are always open source and free for all.