Thing-O-Matic Body Assembly
This is where things really start to come together, literally. We’ll be putting the frame together and then adding a the assemblies that you’ve been working on in the other sections.
Lasercut Parts
First gather the lasercut parts for the body; it should look something like this:
- Laser-cut Stage Parts
- Body Front
- Body Back
- Body Top
- Body Middle (Acrylic)
- Body Bottom
- Body Left Side
- Body Right Side
- Rod Covers
Peel Backing off Middle Plate
Before assembling, peel off the protective sheet from the acrylic middle piece. Start the peel by using a blade at one corner. Be very careful not to cut yourself!
Identify and Mark Middle Plate
Getting the middle plate in the right orientation is a critical part of your build. The middle piece has a top and a bottom. The top has the word “Middle” etched into it. Orient it like this so that the stepper motor mount is in the back right corner.
Note: The word “Middle” is actually etched onto the bottom of the sheet in the first batch, just make sure it looks like the picture above.
Bolt Four Rod Stops to Middle Plate
Make sure to put these on the bottom of the middle piece. Use M3x16s to attach them. Install them with the socket caps up or the Y axis will hit the bolts holding the front (unused) Z rod stops.
Top Rod Caps
Rod Cap As Seen From Side
Lower Left Corner Rod Cap
Lower Right Corner Rod Cap
Bolt Y Motor to Back Right corner of Middle Plate
parts needed:
- Cork gasket
- Y Stepper Motor
- Body Middle
- 4 M3x12 bolts
Add one cork gasket to the stepper motor and bolt it in place with four M3x12 bolts, making sure the wires are facing inward. We’ll adjust it later. When viewed with the motor shaft sticking up, the motor needs to be in the back right corner.
Mounting the Y-Axis Mechanical Endstop
Using two 1/4″ spacers and two M3x16 bolts, attach one endstop as shown.
Y Idler Assembly to Middle
parts needed:
- Body Middle
- idler pulley
- 1 M4x50 bolt
- 3 M4 nuts
Mount the idler pulley to the Middle. Take one M4x50 bolt, one Idler pulley, and three M4 nuts. The stackup looks like this:
M4 bolt + idler pulley (teeth down) + nut + middle + 2 nuts
Join Middle to Left
It’s extremely important to get the orientation of this right — the stepper driver and endstop switch should be towards the back, the fan should be on the left, and the idler pulley in the front. Any deviation from this arrangement will cause trouble later, and to change this, you’ll need to disassemble the body completely.
Join Middle to Right
Attach Top to Assembly
Now for the Top piece, as this will lock things in place. Use some bolts to lightly secure it in place.
Attach End Stop
Using 1/4″ spacers and 2 M3x16 bolts and 2 M3 nuts, attach the end stop to the right side of the back.
Attach Back
Attach the back to the body. Use only the Right Side t-slot for now. You can add the other after adjusting the stepper motor
Attach the Front
Use 2 M3x16 bolts and 2 M3 nuts.
Bolt PSU In Place
Using four shiny 6-32×3/8″ inch screws, attach the power supply to its designated spot on the left side.
If your power supply doesn’t line up properly, you may have installed the left panel of your Thing-O-Matic backwards.
Some recent orders may have included a “Sparkle” brand power supply that needs to be installed slightly differently. Here’s a photo of an installed unit. As you can see, the wings of the power cord port overlap with the lasercut side. To help with installation, you should have received 4x 1/8″ spacers — this will push the PSU back so the wings don’t need to protrude through the side opening.
In this photo, you’ll install a spacer for each bolt, indicated by a red arrow. Put the spacer between the lasercut side and the PSU itself.
Place XY Stage in Bot
The Front part of the XY stage should face towards the front of your Thing-o-matic.
Thread X Stepper Motor Wires
Thread the wires from the X Stepper through the hole in the back-left corner of the bot.
Add Y Stage Rod
The Y belt should line up with the motor. Insert the Y rods at the same time to lock it in place. These will be the middle length rods; they are only slightly shorter than the Z rods.
Thread the Second Rod
Thread the second rod through the XY Stage. Align the bearings by wiggling the platforms gently. This will align the bearings close to their ideal position for smooth operation
Add Rod Covers to Front
Add the rest of the rod covers to lock the rods in place. Bolt them in with more M3x16 bolts.
Place the Y Belt over the Pulley
Place the belt over the idler pulley.
Pull Belt Over Y Stepper
Loosen the bolts holding the stepper motor in place. Slide the stepper motor toward the machine’s inside. Place the belt over the stepper motor pulley. Note that the belt may be a tight fit at first, try placing the belt at an angle over one of the pulley edges to fit it on.
Adjust Stepper Position
Slide the stepper motor back to tighten the belt. Tighten the bolts.
Now is the time to check if your pulley needs to be adjusted upwards.
Move the Y stage back as far as it will go, and check if the belt is rubbing against the lower edge of the hole where it goes thru the Y stage. Here is an example of a pulley installed too low:
This is too loose:
This is correct:
Make Adjustments
To adjust the pulley, with the Y stage all the way forward, loosen the bolts and slide the motor forward to loosen the belt and slip it off the pulley. Even if the set screws are below the level of the acrylic, you should now be able to slide the motor back and get enough clearance along the groove to get your Allen wrench to the set screws.
Loosen the set screws, and slide the pulley up a few millimeters. Put the belt back on, put a little tension on it and gently secure the motor in position, hand-tight for now. Now adjust the height of the pulley so that the belt clears the holes and runs level. This may require as much as 8mm of adjustment, but as long as the set screws can still tighten onto the motor shaft, it will be fine.
Run the Y stage back and forth, checking the pulley height. Tighten the set screws on the pulley, adjust the tension on the belt and bolt down the motor.
Insert Z Stage
Insert the Z stage with the large piece towards the bottom. Insert the Z rods at the same time. These are the longest rods. Slide them all the way into their respective holes in the Middle where you’ve already mounted rod caps.
Attach Z Motor
This will be the motor with the threaded shaft attached to it. Use a cork gasket between the Top and the motor
Align Z Stepper
Mount Z stepper with four M3x12 bolts to the rear of the Top piece. Make sure the lead connection is facing to the right.
Thread Rod Through Z Stage
Turn the rod to thread it through t the bearing of the Z Stage
Tighten Motor in Place
Tighten the four M3x12 bolts
Add Rod Caps
Attach Stepstruder
Using the two M5 thumb screws that you made, attach the Stepstruder to the Z Stage. Secure it to the innermost holes on the bottom of the Z Stage. Make sure all your wires exit the heated area cleanly without coming in contact with heated parts. Tighten the bolts. It should now look like the picture below.
(the MK7 is similar in terms of attaching the thumbscrews)
Thread Fan Wires
Thread the fan wires through the hole in the top-back-right hole.
Stepstruder DC Filament Drive and Thermocouple
The wire for the DC motor is a powerful emitter, and should be kept as far from the thermocouple wire as possible. Route the thermocouple through the back left and the DC motor through the back right.
Attach wires to Z Stepper
Thread Z Stepper Wires
Thread the Z Stepper wires through the hole in the upper right corner.
Add Ties
Add ties to keep wires in place.
Attach Heated Build Platform Cable
Attach the cable, tie up extra wire and then thread the wires through the front right corner hole.
Clean up Heater Cartridge
Mark Holes to Fix Safety Cutoff in Place
(This section is for the MK6. If you have the MK7 you’ll have already mounted the safety cutoff )
With a pencil, align and mark holes to mount the safety cutoff on the Z Stage. Drill holes and then use 1/8″ spacers and 2 M3x16 bolts and 2 M3 nuts, secure the safety cutoff into place.
Connect Ground and Power to Safety Cutoff
Using a small flat head screw driver, loosen the end terminals and place the red wire connected to the black wire the IN terminal and the black wire to the FET connection. Tighten the end terminals to secure wires in place.
Connect Thermostat’s Wires to Safety Cutoff
Using the same method as before secure the wires into place on the safety cutoff. It does not matter which wire goes to which terminal.
Connect Heater Cartridge Wires to Safety Cutoff
Attach End Stop Cable to Safety Cutoff
Attach Cable to End-Stop on Body Back
This one is tricky, but attach the cable to the end-stop on the back. Then thread the wires through the back -right hole.
Connect Cable to End-Stop on XY Stage
Connect a cable to end-stop on XY Stage and then thread the other end through the front-right hole.
Connect Cable to Y End-Stop
Connect cable to Y end-stop, then thread the other end through the front-left hole.
Congratulations!
You have completed the body assembly.
29 Comments so far
Ricardo
I think that it should say that bolts for y motor are 4x M3x10 instead of 4x M3X12. You can not tightent the motor if the lenght of the bolts is 12
Tim
Are you sure you did not forget the cork gasket?
Tim
I am at that stage now too and it seems that you are right. With M3x12 bolts the stepper keeps sliding back despite giving the impression that it is properly tightened. M3x10 bolts do not give that problem.
dnewman
In as much as it is the thermostat which is connected to the safety cutoff and not the thermocouple, the section “Connect Thermocouple’s Wires to Safety Cutoff” is incorrectly titled. It should read “Connect Thermostat’s Wires to Safety Cutoff”.
jim
So, uh, anyone have a pointer to instructions for mounting the MK7 Stepstruder? It lt looks like you could just line up the holes in the Z Axis platform with the holes on the MK7 mount plate, but confirmation would be nice…
Steve cooley
Yep, i found them here.
http://www.makerbot.com/docs/stepstruder-mk7-assembly/
Patrick
Do yourself a favor and bolt on the power supply to the left side before you finish the assembly. The directions later on don’t tell you to do it so this is the right time.
Misha
Steve, Thanks for the link. I just bought a kit with the new MK7 and am still struggling to figure out how to combine these instructions with what looks like an MK7 upgrade instruction set.
Kendall Lui
Did anyone else’s power supply get flipped? the switch is on the bottom and power cord is ontop? This ain’t good. PS. I checked my left isn’t installed wrong. It seems to be newer.
jenna
we have the same issue as kendall. if anyone knows what the deal is, we’d appreciate a head’s up. do you thinks it’s safe to drill our own holes?
Sean
@kendall, i have run into the same problem with the psu. It seems that the entire unit is flipped around. Even if i was to take apart the body and flip the panel, the mounting holes do not line up correctly.
Hopefully the guys at makerbot have a solution. I think i can just flip the panel and drill some holes, but i’m not confident this is even the correct psu at this point….
Eamon Egan
I had the same anxiety about the PS. I went and checked and re-checked that I hadn’t mixed up “left” and “right”
.
It is a different model and the switch and power entry are reversed. You can tell it’s different because the power entry jack is a different design (no flanges), allowing it to be mounted in the upper position.
Eamon Egan
The instructions for the X stepper motor lead routing read:
Thread the wires from the X Stepper through the hole in the front-right corner of the bot.
But the picture shows them threaded through the left rear hole! And they are exiting the X stage right there as well.
I’m doing like in the photo for now.
Sean
I share the same problem as Kendall and Eamon regarding the PSU. The unit seams to be constructed opposite from what is shown in the instructions. Flipping the left panel around seems to be a good fix, but the mounting holes do not line up correctly in this position. I don’t mind drilling new holes as a solution, but would like some clarification from makerbot as to whether or not the correct PSU is being shipped…. I would hate to drill holes only to find out that I have the wrong PSU.
Hopefully the Makerbot Team will respond with a solution soon….
Don Knull
About the power supply – the one in my kit not only had the switch and power inlet reversed, the inlet body DID have flanges so the power supply could not be attached flat to the side panel. I needed to cut out that area to the same width as the switch area (so the T-shaped slot became a rectangle).
jhosef
it would be a good idea to dry fit the power supply before attaching any body parts.
my power supply has the switch/socket and fan locations mirrored but I could measure and drill the holes to make it work. Unfortunately this was only after I had to partially disassemble the body to flip the panel around.
Ethan
Hey everybody —
Thanks for letting us know about these issues. The Sparkle brand PSU which has shipped with recent orders looks a bit different than what’s shown here — the power switch and power cable are inverted in comparison to what’s shown here. Make sure that the opening for the switch and power cord are on the left. See the edited instructions above.
Having the power plug on top makes the wings stick out too far — use the supplied 1/8″ standoffs to mount the PSU so the plastic from the cord mount doesn’t protrude through the lasercut opening. You can also cut out a bit of wood from the lasercut side if you prefer.
If you’re running short on these 1/8″ standoffs, please reach out to us at support@makerbot.com.
Thanks,
Ethan
Sylvain
Hi,
Here is a missing info about the “Sparkle” brand power supply :
” mount with M3x16mm bolts instead of the shiny machine screws.”
Find here:
http://wiki.makerbot.com/thingomatic-doc:body-assembly
BR,
Sylvain
Mike Kidulich
The provided 6-32 PWS mounting screws don’t reach with the 1/8″ spacers, and the M3x16mm bolts are the wrong thread. (They sort of grab, but it’s not an ideal match.) I used a slightly longer 6-32 screw to mount the Sparkle PWS.
Dave
Is it OK to shorten the heater cartridge wires? Since I got carried away and did it already.
green berry
the 1/8th spacers are fine but the screws are too short to reach the power supply w/ them…..
green berry
it’d be nice if there a quick pdf of the new powersupply outlet shape for others than they can print, affix and use it as the template to cutout the shape of the new power supply…
Mac
Hello,
There is an error in the documentation here. Where it says “Connect Thermocouple’s Wires to Safety Cutoff”, it should read “Connect Thermostat’s Wires to Safety Cutoff”.
James D
I had the same problem as Mike and Green. The provided 6-32×3/8″ screws are too short. 3/8″ length screws – (1/4″ wood + 1/8″ spacer) = 0″ left for the PSU. It’s a small oversight, but it cost me $1.50 and a trip to Lowe’s.
Forrest
Sorry if this a dumb question…but why are we installing 4 rod stop caps on the acrylic base plate when there are only 2 rods in use?
Mike
Connect Ground and Power to Safety Cutoff? Where does those wires come from??
AMZs
For the step:
“Connect Ground and Power to Safety Cutoff
Using a small flat head screw driver, loosen the end terminals and place the red wire connected to the black wire the IN terminal and the black wire to the FET connection.”
The “and place the red wire connected to the black wire” part is a bit confusing! Looking at the next step Electronics Installation – Overview, the schematics shows a red/black wire from the In 12V and FET connect to something on the electronics board (also see the Stepstruder MK7 construction/installation instructions, which detail this.). I say “something” because I haven’t got to that step yet!
Plus, the step after “Connect Heater Cartridge Wires to Safety Cutoff” saying “Attach End Stop Cable to Safety Cutoff” should read E-Stop instead of End Stop?!? Since the step after that is “Attach Cable to End-Stop on Body Back” would imply that this cable needs to be attached to the Z End Stop, which is not correct or I am just not following…so I decided to look at the schematics on the Electronics Installation – Overview page.
Mike
Mike
Thanks, I did find the schematics, You are right, bit confusing!
James McMurray
This body assembly shows the fan wires going through the back right hole to the Motherboard, but the chart that reminds us where to route the wires says it should go through the back left??? The thermocouple is in the back left so maybe the list is correct and the image and instructions are wrong??
James