The Shiny New MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6 and New 1.75mm Filament!
Today we are very proud to introduce a fantastic upgrade to your Thing-O-Matic.
It’s the MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6 and it comes as a full kit for those upgrading from a MK3 or MK4 and it also comes as an upgrade kit so that if you have a MakerBot Plastruder MK5, you can just get the upgrade kit and you’ll be ready to rock. With this new extruder you’ll have the option to configure it to use MakerBot 1.75mm ABS filament. Today we’re also launching 1.75mm filament for sale in the store.
A New Day is Dawning for MakerBot Extrusion Technology
The MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6 is the latest and greatest in MakerBot extrusion technology. With it, you get a lot more control over your plastic extrusion because instead of using a DC motor that just goes on and off, the MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6 has a high torque stepper motor that allows you to control the rotation. This stepper motor has 200 steps per rotation and you’ll be driving it using the MakerBot Generation 4 Stepper Driver v3.3 (included in both the upgrade and complete Kits) to get a 1600 step per revolution. That means that you can control the extruder motor and when it goes one step it turns .225 of a degree.
The kit comes with extra parts that give you the option of using either MakerBot 3mm or 1.75mm plastic. Standard 3mm filament is what we’ve used so far and this extruder will happily print with it, but looking to the future, we are experimenting with a thinner diameter filament and you’re along for the ride! We’ve included parts that you can swap in to use 1.75mm filament too. Using this bonus experimental capability to extrude 1.75mm diameter plastic filament allows you to put less pressure on the filament to get the same amount of extrusion. Using smaller filament is something we’ve been wanting to do for a long time and with the MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6 you can swap in parts to turn your 3mm filament extruder into a 1.75mm filament extruder.
We’re clearly declaring 1.75mm filament “Experimental” because it’s new. If you’re someone who likes pushing the edge of the technology, you can use the parts in the kit that are specifically for 1.75mm and try it out. We like it and we think you’ll like it too. You can get 1.75mm plastic individually or in a 1.75mm Mini MegaRainbow Pack.
A few notes about the development of the MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6. We’ve been working on this actively for 9 months. Because there was no stepper motor available that had enough torque for this application at a reasonable price, we went ahead and had one manufactured to our specifications. We were all set and ready to go when we learned under testing that the motor gets pretty hot during printing. So we added a fan and a lasercut bracket to hold the fan over the motor to keep it cool.
This cathedral was printed with a MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6 using 3mm filament.
Thinner 1.75mm Filament Available
You’ll still be able to use your stash of 3mm plastic with your MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6 but you’ll also have the capability of changing some of the parts (included) to be able to use new MakerBot 1.75mm filament. We’re launching this sweet thin material in classic MakerBot colors of Red, Blue, Natural, Black and our new UV reactive “Nuclear” Green! It’s the same green you’ll see in all your favorite video games when you splatter aliens or find nuclear waste.
We’re committed to having the best extrusion material for your MakerBot and so all MakerBot ABS Plastic is sealed in bags with desiccant at the manufacturing facility to keep moisture out and to keep your filament dry. This is an added expense to MakerBot plastic and makes it cost more, but we feel that it’s worth it so that you can get fresh plastic with great extrusion characteristics right out of the bag.
We ran out of MK5 motors two weeks ago and have had Thing-O-Matics on hold as we have been getting parts in for this kit. Orders have been stacking up and so Thing-O-Matics that have been ordered, but not shipped yet will get this upgrade for free as a thank you for their patience. Starting with any Thing-O-Matic ordered today, the price of the MakerBot Thing-O-Matic has gone up to $1299 due to the increase in costs associated with this upgrade.
Have questions about the MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6 and new 1.75mm filament? Leave them in the comments. Ready to upgrade your MakerBot? Go get your MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6 upgrade kit or your MakerBot Stepstruder™ MK6 complete kit now!
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27 Comments so far
Julian
OMFG it is out!!! Sorry I have been stalking the site waiting for news since the cathedral print video. I was about to comment on the new replicatorG post when I refreshed and saw this. Now for the relevant question, with bots that have already been ordered but still in production will a mk6 be included? I have my ToM order in and was wondering if I need to get an upgrade or not.
Charles Shapiro
Hmm. If I have a late cupcake can I just get the upgrade?
tamberg
Like!
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jarek
I think it would be nice if you would sell a T-O-M with the MK6 steptuder so that people buying a new printer and wanting the newest electronics don’t have to get two sets of of electronics. Using the prices for the compleet mk5/mk6 and the mk6 upgrade kit it costs $1337 to buy the T-O-M and upgrade to the mk6 or it would cost $1249 if the mk5 was replaced with the mk6.
Besides the options lack of a full kit I think the increases in print quality will be really promising, and am glad I held of buying a T-O-M knowing this would come out. Now I just have to way for the compleet kit.
Pingu
Omg, the Thing-O-Matic now comes stock with the Stepstruder! Yes!
Bre Pettis
Documentation is developing for gen3 upgrades to the MakerBot Stepstruder MK6.
http://wiki.makerbot.com/stepstruder-mk6-with-gen3
We’ll have a blogpost about that as soon as documentation is complete.
We’ve included the kit in the Thing-O-Matic going forward and increased the price to 1299. I’ve updated the blog to refect this.
jarek
Well that was fast, now with the mk6 in the T-O-M it seems like it’s time to buy one.
coasterman
I wish there were Cupcake profiles and drivers for the Stepstruder, I really want one and still have a cupcake. Remember that there are over 2000 cupcakes in the wild and they need drivers and profiles, too.
Thaed
Ordered the upgrade kit. It will be fun reconfiguring this puppy given the new control over flow rate.
hargabyte
so we just ordered our thing o matic a couple weeks ago and got the email today saying were getting the upgrade for free! thats awesome! Thanks Makerbot. Q for anyone that has a thing o matic. I keep seeing all these time lapse videos but I am interested in how fast the printer prints. How sped up is that video. any info would help. thanks
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Zh4x0r
I’m kind of dissapointed in Makerbot seeing this, While I’d love a StepStruder, this one’s not really an option for me, as I have a late model Cupcake (#2203), and I’m no good at programming / firmware / compiling, so I’m pretty much stuck… It almost seems like the moment the TOM came out, MBI sort of forgot about all us Cupcake owners… Don’t get me wrong, MBI is an AMAZING company, and I Love my Cupcake! It’s just too bad that the cupcakes out there are getting left in the dust…
David R
Zh4x0r: I totally disagree with getting left in the dust. They are providing upgrade kit with just the parts needed to upgrade, and documenting how to make it work on the old hardware. Give them a couple more days to finish writing the documentation on how to do the upgrade.
tre3
That’s one beefy motor!
Out of curiosity – why so strong? I thought the Chinese manufacturer figured out you could use a much smaller stepper while still directly driving the filament…
Or, do you need the extra cost/torque to support modularity of 3mm and 1.75mm?
Lastly, welcome to the upgraded world of 1.7mm filament! 1 step (har har!) closer to the A-team of rapid prototyping
elspeth
Ok, but I just placed my order and it was at the $1225 price. My order status says “payment review”; is this why?
Should I try to cancel all the filament I placed with my initial order and just run with the 1.75mm?
Oh, Bre, what should I do?
me2
So, just out of curiosity, what makes this better than the MK5?
AVataRR
It’s driven by a stepper motor as opposed to a regular DC motor which gives you greater control on the filament flow. The biggest advantage is, the control is so fine that it’s possible to eliminate oozebane from your prints completely!
Eagerly awaiting the vertict on Cupcake compatibility. I have #124.
Although I have a Thingo-O-Matic as well, it’d be nice to upgrade both my Makerbots to have the MK6 extruder. :}
TATSUYA
Waited seven weeks, looks like it was finally shipped yesterday.
My T-O-M is MK6upgrade kit are included?
Or Do I have to buy in another?
From JAPAN
megazoic
Way to go Makerbot – never standing still! I have been notified that my T-O-M order will ship with the new MK6. One minor question, anybody know if the included 1 lb of ABS be 3 mm or 1.75 mm? I’d like to order more plastic to be shipped with the T-O-M and want to get my hands on some of the 1.75 mm. Thanks for any input and all that the folks at MB industries are doing ;>)
Martin
Well… finally. This should *help* address some of the major issues that you guys have had with motors that burn out on a regular basis (ours burt out after about an hour of usage).
What I dont understand is why you didn’t reduce the gear ratio and get the torque this way (or perhaps that’s what your “custom” motor is for). I’m going to guess that this motor’s going to burn out pretty fast too.
I’ll wait and see. Still haven’t ever gotten a good print out of our MB.
Duann Scott
WooHoo
Congratulations on the evolution(s)
yvess
I’m new to 3D printing and ordered recently a ToM. So I’m a totally newbie
What are the benefits of the new 1.75 filament? More precise printing? Smoother surface?
Does the printing take longer?
When my ToM arrives in 7 weeks or a bit less, is it recommended that I already build it with the 1.75 configuration? What do you think, will 1.75mm printing still be experimental in 2 Months?
Is the switching between 1.75mm and 3mm printing complicated? As I understand it, it’s not something you can change in 5min, or am I wrong?
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TATSUYA
THK!
MK6 included ^^
Brian
Got our T-O-M several weeks ago. Can only work on it occasionally. Got it live Saturday – 3/19. Yahoo! Now, where/how do we hookup the stepper fan? Will replicatorg use the keyboard for axes control (arrows and pageup/down)? GREAT JOB MakerBot. I wanna build another!
Brian
Disregard the fan question. We three missed the one very clear instruction and picture in the installation instructions. Our Bad! But, what about those keyboard arrow controls for ReplicatorG?