When it comes to endstops is 3 or 6 better. Ive had 3 in the past and it seemed to work just fine. Only time i wish i had 6 was when i was calibrating the system and it would go and smash into one of the sides
I have been looking around to see if any end stops quote repeatability but haven’t found it easy/possible to compare.
On X and Y, you don’t really need repeatable endstops. For Z you do, but microswitches (preferably without the lever) seem to fall into the “good enough” category.
Personally, i’ve only ever used three endstop bots and never felt the need for six. They can be helpful to keep your bot from slamming into the opposite end of the axis, for example when you’re not paying attention during testing or when it is skipping steps, but once your machine is tuned in, you don’t need them.
thats kind of what I figured only good when you are calibrating. Plus you have to wire them all
Ultimaker has 4 endstops for X and Y. I once managed to ram the XY axis past the homing endstops (when I replaced the slider blocks), no harm done, but I never even touched the far two endstops. They’re just a waste of time, if you ask me.
Ya thats what im thinking the only time would be when your firmware is off which would be when you are calibrating for the first time
@Brad_Hopper we tested the repeatability of the Z endstop on an Ultimaker. It had a slight variation of 2 micron. If you only accounted for the switch.
The wood on the Ultimaker original can bend which can cause up to 500 micron variation, which kinda sucks.
6 endstops are for safety, 3 for homing. But a printer hardly needs safety as it cannot really destroy itself.
I’m planning to put 9 on a large CNC mill, 3 for homing, and 6 for hard shutoff safety, in case something goes haywire. But this machine could damage itself quite badly.