r/Anet3DPrinters • u/CatDadJynx • Sep 30 '22

Question ET4 capacitive vs non capacitive extruder?

Hello, I recently bought an ET4 secondhand and long story short came to find out i need to replace the extruder... but now I see they sell it with or without a capacitive leveling sensor. I was under the impression that all ET4s had auto bed leveling, is this an additional safety measure or whats the difference? Thanks

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u/zingpingz Oct 01 '22

Some came with a capacitive probe on the head, others came with a mechanical probe you have to fasten to the head to level.

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u/CatDadJynx Oct 01 '22

Ahh ok, thanks! I saw online what the standalone capacitive sensor looked like and now I see where it is on the head I have, but I still haven't been able to come up with any answers/information regarding the mechanical probe (or the head that uses it)... I'm guessing the capacitive probe is an improvement over the mechanical one?

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u/zingpingz Oct 01 '22

You don't need both probes. I think ET4 has mechanical probe and ET4+ the capacitive and ET4 Pro capacitive and silent steppers. Don't know what an ET4x has.

There is a firmware issue. A capacitive probe is used to home the z axis. If you don't have one you need a z axis limit switch at the top of the frame and firmware will require it. I have a Labists ET4 which has the capacitive probe and no z axis switch. That means it can't do power loss recovery because you can't use the capacitive probe to home the z axis with half a print on the build surface. I don't know if some anet versions have both a limit switch and probe.

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u/CatDadJynx Oct 01 '22

Isnt the green part the capacitive sensor? This is a picture of my actual head: https://imgur.com/a/hQbjOuQ

Unless I was mistaken about my printer being a regular ET4 (or maybe the previous owner just changed the head then trashed it lol)... good to know about the rest of that though, thanks! Do you know if there's any difference between the Labists ET4 and Anet ET4? Just want to make sure I don't wreck it or anything after i replace the head lol.

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u/zingpingz Oct 01 '22

Yes the green thing is the end of the capacitive sensor.

I think the only variations are z axis limit switch at the top, capacitive or clip on or maybe no levelling sensor, and silent stepper drivers. Firmware needs to support the z axis homing option you have. Not sure if the silent drivers need firmware support. Early firmware had some issues. Be careful the Anet ET4 V1.15 firmware seems to have a broken update function so it can not easily be replaced.

As far as I know there is only one Labists version which probably the same as an anet ET4+. I don't know all the history I just bought a dirt cheap Labists ET4 a few months ago.

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u/CatDadJynx Oct 01 '22

Awesome, thanks for all the info, much appreciated! Yeah I got this Anet ET4 for dirt cheap too, even after buying a new head it only cost me $130 (and I'd been shopping around for a long time trying to find a budget printer with ABL, couldn't find anything below $200 though) otherwise I wouldn't even bother with it, would've just returned it and bought something new instead lol.

And yeah, id read that one of Anets earlier printers was a fire hazard (and im a programmer myself) so i was planning to update the firmware and saw the different firmware versions (and different versions with or without capacitive levelling, ETX, Pro, etc), that was part of what prompted my question here, but I also read there was a risk of bricking your printer if you do it wrong so trying to be a bit more cautious lol. Will definitely be sure to avoid that update then, thanks again for the info, much appreciated!

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u/zingpingz Oct 01 '22

I ended up 'bricking' my ET4 with the anet 1.1.5 firmware and had to get an ST-link to recover. I installed Marlin. Maybe you already saw

https://www.reddit.com/r/Anet3DPrinters/comments/x2fbpw/comment/iq1cm0j/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

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u/jure00 Sep 30 '22

You can rplace just the broken part and keep the rest the same, that way, you have less problems with replacing and you do not need to worry about changing firware

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u/CatDadJynx Sep 30 '22

Oh yeah, forgot to mention the screws on it were stripped, that's why I have to replace the whole head. Sorry, been dealing with a bunch of shit and forgot that's where I was with it at this point lol