Skip to content
    • Email
    • 9:00am - 5:00pm
    • 312-858-8433
  • About Us
  • Communities
  • Jobs
TH3D Studio LLCTH3D Studio LLC
  • Wishlist
  • Login / Register
  • Cart / $0.00
    • No products in the cart.

  • Cart

    No products in the cart.

    • Home
    • Store
          • Auto Bed Leveling Kits
          • Build Sheets/Flex Systems
          • 3D Printer Boards & Addons
          • LCD Conversion Kits
          • Lighting Kits & Power
          • OctoPrint
          • Nozzles
          • Hotends & Hotend Parts
          • Extruders
          • Filament Sensor Kits/Parts
          • Fans
          • Power Supplies
          • STL Files
    • Filament
      • PLA FilamentsPLA is a biodegradable, renewable plastic that is easy to print and affordable.
      • PETG FilamentsPETG is an alternative to ABS for those who do not have an enclosure to print in. PETG filaments have excellent layer adhesion and handle heat up to 70-80C for higher ambient temperatures.
      • ABS FilamentsABS is a very strong plastic with high-temperature resistance (100C+). ABS should be printed inside an enclosure to ensure part strength and reduce warping.
      • Nylon FilamentsNylon is a very STRONG filament where durability and layer adhesion is needed. These filaments are typically able to be printed without an enclosure and need a high nozzle temp of 230-250C and bed temp up to 80C. These are more expensive than PLA or ABS but their strength is unmatched.
      • Recycled FilamentsRecycled filaments are made from recycled materials. If you’re eco-conscious these are worth checking out!
    • Merch
    • News
    • Help Center
      • Product Information
      • Downloads
      • Guides
      • Customer Service
    • Contact Us
      • Contact Support
      • Check Ticket Status
      • Report a Firmware Bug
      • Job Openings
    • Tools
      • EZFirmware
      • EStep Calculator
Other, Updates

ABL Sensor Wire Comparison – EZABL Pro VS BLTouch

Posted on August 24, 2021August 24, 2021 by Tim Hoogland

Sensor Types

If you have ever looked up what ABL sensor to get for your printer most people will be talking about our EZABL VS the BL Touch. We designed our EZABL to be a more reliable competitor to the BL Touch as well as a sensor that includes technical support in case you are not an expert (or you don’t want to spend hours on forums/discord/groups).

The BL Touch is a probe that has a physical pin and a hall-effect sensor that is used to read the bed. The BL Touch deploys the pin before the printer probes and the pin is retracted on contact with the surface. This process is repeated over and over again until the probing is complete. Our EZABL, on the other hand, is fully solid-state and has no moving parts.

This post is just covering what we feel is one of the most important factors on a sensor because a 3D printer has many things (stepper motors, heater lines, fan lines) on it that can introduce electrical interference (aka EMI) into the sensor lines. When we designed our EZABL Pro we wanted to make sure that we could mitigate that as much as possible by using very high-quality shielded cable so that the EMI stays out of the sensor lines.


Why shielding?

It’s very simple, it improves accuracy and mitigates issues with accuracy that could be caused by EMI on the lines. If there is too much interference it could make your control board read the signal too early/too late, thus reducing accuracy.

You can also further mitigate interference at the firmware level by having heaters, fans, and/or motors turn off during probing but this does not always remove all interference. Many of these cheaper printers come with low-end power supplies that also introduce interference to the power lines. This is one of the reasons our EZABL also has onboard power filtering on the control board to smooth out incoming power to our sensor.


Wire Gauge, Type, Consistency

Our EZABL uses 24awg COPPER wire. We do not use Copper Clad Aluminum wire (which is cheaper and weaker) for our sensor cables. The wire also has strands of fibers built into the cable itself to provide for extra resistance against strain on the cable. Because we are the only ones who make and sell the EZABL we are able to guarantee that all the EZABL cables are up to our standards and consistent from batch to batch. We also include a 1.5 Meter cable with ALL kits, BL Touch kits all vary based on the reseller and what they decide to include for wire length.

BL Touch on the other hand can vary widely because they sell their sensors bare to other companies and they make their own harnesses. This leads to confusion with users because of differences in colors that companies use as well as highly varying wire gauges and quality. We’ve seen BL Touch cables with wire gauges ranging from 24AWG down to 26AWG. This smaller wire gauge is fine but coupled with no shielding can result in poor performance. Some BL Touch users have even gone as far as to spend extra money purchasing separate shielding to apply to their cables to mitigate interference issues.


Detailed Pictures of the Cables

These are pictures of our EZABL cable and a cable for a BL Touch from a Creality printer. Most BL Touch cables are the same wire gauge as shown and include no shielding. Do note that because many vendors resell and bundle the BL Touch with their printers the type of cable you get with a BL Touch may vary from what is shown here.


Closing

We posted this because many ask us about our EZABL and why we feel it is better than a BL Touch. The wiring is one main thing and we wanted to highlight this as we’ve very proud of it. We hope you enjoyed this little write-up and if you want to pick up your own EZABL kit, click the link below. 🙂

  • EZABLâ„¢ Pro - High Accuracy Auto Bed Leveling Kit
    EZABLâ„¢ Pro – High Accuracy Auto Bed Leveling Kit
    From: $62.99
    Select options
Tim Hoogland

Unified 2.34a is now live! | Firmware Update
Ask Tim – 3D Printer Q&A Help Stream | Livestream | 5PM CST 8/25/21
Company Info

Hours:
M-F 9AM to 5PM CST
Closed Weekends

Phone:
312-858-TH3D(8433)

Mailing Address:
TH3D Studio LLC
P.O. Box 137
Hobart, IN 46342

Community Links
  • Discord Server
  • Facebook Group
  • YouTube Channel
  • Odysee Channel
  • Join Our Email List
  • Get YouTube Notifications
Latest News
  • Server Maintenance – HelpDesk/Ticket System – 6/18/22 June 18, 2022
  • Ask Tim – 3D Printer Q&A Help Stream | Livestream | 4PM CST 6/8/22 June 8, 2022
  • Ask Tim – 3D Printer Q&A Help Stream | Livestream | 4:30PM CST 6/2/22 June 2, 2022
  • Ask Tim – 3D Printer Q&A Help Stream | Livestream | 4PM CST 6/1/22 June 1, 2022
  • Memorial Day 2022 – We are Closed May 29, 2022
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Review & Testing Policies
Copyright 2022 © TH3D Studio LLC
  • Home
  • Store
    • 3D Printer Boards & Addons
    • Auto Bed Leveling Kits
    • Build Sheets/Flex Systems
    • Extruders
    • Fans
    • Filament Sensor Kits/Parts
    • Hotends & Hotend Parts
    • LCD Conversion Kits
    • Lighting Kits & Power
    • Nozzles
    • OctoPrint
    • Power Supplies
    • STL Files
  • Filament
    • PLA Filaments
    • PETG Filaments
    • ABS Filaments
    • Nylon Filaments
    • Recycled Filaments
  • Merch
  • News
  • Help Center
    • Product Information
    • Downloads
    • Guides
    • Customer Service
  • Contact Us
    • Contact Support
    • Check Ticket Status
    • Report a Firmware Bug
    • Job Openings
  • Tools
    • EZFirmware
    • EStep Calculator
  • Login
  • Cart / $0.00
    • Cart

      No products in the cart.

  • About Us
  • Communities
  • Jobs

Login

Lost your password?

Register

Your personal data will be used to support your experience throughout this website, to manage access to your account, and for other purposes described in our privacy policy.