Ender 6 filament detector by snebragd

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

Filament detector for Creality Ender 6. Replaces the original, provides two reliability improvements:
Less friction, filament runs between two ball bearings
More reliable switching (not using a long lever)
Apart from the print you will need:
Two 9x4mm (M4 inner) ball bearings
One 10mm M4 screw with (countersunk head)
One 12mm M4 screw with (countersunk head)
One Microswitch (mine was 20x10.7x6.5 mm) without lever (just remove it)
One LED+current limiting resistor as needed
(possibly a resistor to pull-up signal, I use it without)
Cable suitable 3-pin connector
You will probably need to tweak measurements to exactly match your parts and printer. It took me three prints to get it right for myself.
This design is provided as-is, I have no intentions of doing anything with it. Feel free to use it in any way you wish. Don't expect to just print this and have it magically replace your current detector. You need to know what you're doing, both print-wise and electronics-wise.
In retrospect it would be easier to keep the entire circuit board (with switch) from the original detector. The only down-side with that would be that you need to break off the lever from your original switch. The positive would be that you don't need to do any electronics.