Everything you wanted to know about the Thing-O-Matic but were afraid to ask
Behold! The Thing-O-Matic!
Actually, I don’t think anyone was afraid to ask. 
With the lead up to this last weekend’s Maker Faire in New York there was a lot of speculation and curiosity about the new Thing-O-Matic. 1 After combing through the comments I put together a pretty big list of answers to your questions.
First, some tech specs on the Thing-O-Matic:2
- Interface: Print through USB or print from SD card
- Size: 300 x 300 x 410 mm (12″ W x 12″ D x 16″ H)
- Build Area: 96 x 108 mm
- Build Height: 115 mm
- Generation 4 Electronics
- Supports up to 5 stepper drivers (XYZ + A/B)
- Connect over USB (no more FTDI cable)
- Optional LCD interface support (Not included)
- Full mechanical endstop support
- High current mosfets to drive heated build platform and extruder heater
- Thermocouple support for more accurate temperature sensing
- Standard ATX power supply
- Works with both 110v and 220v power
- Theoretical XY Positioning resolution of 0.02mm (20 microns or 0.0008″)
- Theoretical XY Maximum Feedrate of up to 5000mm/minute (roughly 200 IPM)
- Theoretical Z Positioning resolution of 0.005mm (5 microns / or 0.0002″)
- Theoretical Z Positioning Feedrate of up to 1000mm/minutes (roughly 40 IPM)
- Capable of printing with ABS and PLA
And, your questions:
@James Taylor asked, “Any idea when you will be posting the bits in SVN?”
Bre: Yup, we’ll release them when we ship.
@Rob asked, “Does it ship with any plastic? Is it compatible with the Frostruder MK2 and Unicorn? Will it work fine with the filament spindle box?”
Bre: The Thing-O-Matic will ship include 1 pound of natural ABS and will be completely compatible with the Frostruder MK2 and Unicorn. The Thing-O-Matic was designed to work with the filament spindle box and even has integrated holes to run the tube through the machine in the back.
Ask your questions in the comment below and we’ll do our best to get them answered.
- Photo courtesy of I, Dioloid [↩]
- Mmmm… Delicious stats… [↩]
| Tagged with | faq, maker faire, maker faire new york, makerbot, new york, photos, thing-o-matic | 15 comments |
15 Comments so far
charles
What about practical? What are the best prints you’ve been able to get out of it? Mostly I’d like to see some pictures of things printed on the ToM. The rabbit sitting on the build platform in the promo image looks very good, but it’s too small to see properly. Was it even printed on the ToM? Was it finished at all?
charles
Ah I missed the link! Yay! More pictures!
Rich
Video video video video video
nick
I could be wrong but it looks as though the build area is smaller than the cupcake cnc. Is that correct?
Dave Durant
2 slightly unrelated questions: will there be any upgrade path for existing cupcake owners and will the gen4 electronics work on a cupcake?
With those 2 extra steppers supported, does this mean that we’ll be getting solid support for stepper extruders soon?? That would be very, very nice.
hybot
As for the build area, in the cupcake it is nominally 100 x 100 x 130 mm. From above, this is 96 x 108 x 115, with I’m guessing the smaller dimensions both from the ABP — 4mm on the side for the tip brush, and 15mm on the top for the increased height of the ABP. Even the extra 8mm length is likely attributable to the ABP. The build area on a cupcake with a ABP is going to be about the same XY, with less Z because of the extra height on the non-integrated ABP 1.0. Just my observation, and I’m wrong more than I care to admit.
Jarred
Maybe that means they will offer other platforms for bigger pieces. A good ol’ cupcake platform design would work give a little more height. Of course I do not want to be without the ABP, but a regular platform for the ToM as an extra bit would be nice. Anyone know if the ToM uses the magnetic connection system?
JadeKnight
In the announcement video I saw, Bre said the build volume was 120x120x120 mm.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj2W_V7MBbM
Those numbers seem to disagree with the specs posted here. Which is right? Did I misunderstand something? Are the numbers posted here, 96x108x115, including something that reduces the stated size of 120x120x120 (bolt offsets, etc)?
Bre Pettis
So the heated platform on the Thing-O-Matic is 12x12cm so if you don’t use the ABP you can get a bigger volume out of it. Because there is an ABP integrated into the machine, we published the build area as 96x108x115 because that is the functional build area. If you don’t use the functionality of the ABP you can go bigger, just as you can with the Cupcake’s ABP. Personally, if you do that, I’d suggest laying down blue tape over the entire platform to get the maximium build area.
Al
Does it have a driver for Win7 ?
What kind of software runs the print?
Rob
Thanks for the info, I can order one now. You might want to add the fact it ships with plastic to the store page though. @Al The Gen4 electronics look like they are based on the Arduino Mega so all you need is the USB serial driver which is available for nearly every platform.
Drew
so the gen4 electronics…. microstepping?
And when will they be avalible as an upgrade pack for cupcake owners!?
Rob
Does the Thing-O-Matic ship with the newly announced cork gaskets that you guys announced earlier this week?
Nicolas
Hey, quick question: Optional LCD interface support what’s this for exactly ? What’s the interface for the LCD ? Is there a location on the actual hardware where an LCD could be fixed, if a very specific LCD display was selected ?
Johnny Bazante
Matt,
This, mean we are not going to make but the cupcake?. Another question, the value of USD $ 1,299.00 is the complete machine. This question, as I see they have a very long list of accessories, and good, as is the first time, I’m going to buy a computer these days I like me clarify the subject very well.
Also, I would like to advise me that I need to buy additional accessories?