Electronics Installation
This section will show you how to install the electronics in the Thing-O-Matic.
Before You Begin
Wiring up the electronics is a critical part of the build. There are quite a few wires to connect, but they are all fairly straightforward. To simplify the instructions, we’ve photographed each connection step. This is to show you clearly what things connect, and where. When you wire up your electronics, each step will build on the last and you will end up with dozens of cables going from board to board. Don’t worry, this is normal. Your Thing-O-Matic is a nicely complicated piece of modern technology that you will have built yourself.
Static Safety: these boards, like all electronics, are extremely vulnerable to damage by static electricity. Always ground yourself before handling electronics by touching a plugged-in power supply or another unpainted, conductive, grounded object.
Power & Connections: never, ever “hot-swap” any components, especially stepper motors. Always power down before plugging or un-plugging any electrical connection. A powered, enabled stepper driver will momentarily induce a serious amount of current when unplugged, and almost invariably damage the stepper driver in question. Making or breaking other connections may cause damage as well.
Power Supply Notes: The included Power Supply has protective circuitry that will prevent it from turning on immediately after a power outage. For that reason if you turn it off and it does not power up turn it off and wait five minutes for it to reset.
The included Power Supply has been tested for the US North American Market and though our manufacturer has specified that it will work with 220 50hz power if there are problems we suggest you replace it with a power supply from a local vendor.
Preparing Your Workspace
As is always the case when handling bare electronics, you should try to keep yourself and your workspace static-free. Touching a sink or large metal object is a good way to make sure that you’re not carrying a residual static charge that could damage a board. Working while wearing slippers on a thick pile carpet is not recommended.
Disabling Auto-Reset Functionality
A classic problem with Arduino devices is that they are designed to be reset when certain serial lines are toggled. Unfortunately, the serial drivers for many operating systems toggle these lines by default when a serial port is opened. For many Arduino applications, this isn’t a problem; however, if you’re in the middle of a multi-hour print, accidentally resetting your machine can be very traumatic. We avoid this problem by cutting the reset trace on the Arduino MEGA, disabling the auto-reset functionality.
Note: If you received your Arduino MEGA as part of a Thing-O-Matic kit or a Generation 4 electronics kit, skip this step. We’ve already done it for you at our factory! You should only need to cut the reset trace yourself if you’ve purchased an Arduino MEGA separately from us, or from another source.
Overview
Here is a stylized diagram that shows the overall electronics setup in for a Thing-O-Matic. You’ll need to read the rest of this page for details, but this should give you an overview of what you’ll be doing here.
Assemble the Motherboard Stack
Note: Recent kits ship with the Arduino and motherboard pre-assembled. Just skip forward to the next section.
The motherboard is designed as a “shield” that plugs into the Arduino MEGA. Take your motherboard, line up the pins with the sockets in the Arduino MEGA, and with a slow, steady pressure fit them together. You may have to rock the board back and forth a little bit to get the motherboard seated properly. Take your time and don’t put too much pressure on any one edge or corner of the board to avoid bending any pins. Once the boards are tightly plugged together and you can no longer see a significant gap between the headers and the sockets, your board is fully assembled.
Attach Rubber Feet to Bottom
Included in your hardware burrito are four small rubber feet. These are adhesive backed, so peel off the backing and then stick them onto the bottom plate as shown.
Attach Boards to Bottom Plate
The very first step is to get all the boards attached to the Bottom plate.
Attach MotherBoard to Bottom Plate
Attach Motherboard to Bottom Plate using four 3/4″ spacers and four M3x30 bolts
Attach Extruder Controller to Bottom Plate
Using four 1/4″ spacers and four M3x16 bolts, attach the Extruder Controller to the bottom plate.
Attach Stepper Motor Drivers to Bottom Plate
Using twelve 1/4″ spacers and twelve M3x16 bolts, attach all four Stepper Motor Drivers to the locations shown.
Route the Wires
Your wires should all be routed at this point, but here is summary of recommendations. The wires are to be run down on side of the machine to allow easy access to the electronics. The wires are separated into groups to avoid electrical noise.
| Wire Type | Routing Hole |
|---|---|
| Thermocouple | Back Left |
| Fan | Back Left |
| X-Stage Stepper | Back Left |
| Filament Tube (opt.) | Back Left |
| DC Extruder Motor | Back Right |
| Extruder Heater | Back Right |
| Z-Stage Stepper | Back Right |
| Z Endstop | Back Right |
| Platform Wire Harness | Front Right |
| Y Endstop | Back Right |
| X-Stage Endstop | Front Right |
Set Stepping Modes
Ensure both switches on the stepper driver are set to “ON” as shown. This puts the drivers into “microstepping” mode, which makes your Thing-O-Matic perform smoothly.
Separate the Wires
The stepper drivers are connected to the motherboard via a 6-pin IDC cable. You must make these cables yourself, which is a fairly simple task. Once that is complete, you just plug and play.
The stepper motor drivers ship with a 10-wire IDC cable in order to be compatible with the Generation 3 Electronics. You’re going to be using all Gen4 stuff, so let’s turn the 10-wire IDC cable into a 6-wire IDC cable.
All you really need to do is remove 4 wires from the cable. We’ve used rainbow cable for clarity, but yours may be either rainbow colored or grey. If you have a rainbow cable, we highly recommend removing the one brown wire from the left, and the three gray/black/white wires from the right to leave you with six pins of bright rainbowy goodness. If you have a grey cable, remove the four wires on the side without the red stripe.
Attach IDC Connectors
IDC connectors are an awesome connection technique for making mass connections. The idea is pretty simple: the connector has metal “teeth” that “bite” through the wire insulation and make an electrical connection when the connector is clamped onto the cable. If you look into the IDC connector, you can see the individual teeth in two offset rows.
Making the connectors is pretty simple, if you follow these rules:
- The cable color order must match on both ends of the IDC connector.
- Have someone double check your work before you clamp it down.
- Only apply force straight down into the top of the IDC connector.
To actually make the cables, take one cable and two IDC connectors (one for each end). Insert the cable into the gap in the IDC connector, and make sure everything is lined up nicely. Make sure the color order (when viewed from the same side) is identical for every single connector you make.
Once you have it right, gently press down on the connector with your fingers. This will make the connector grip the cable and keep it from slipping out when you go to clamp it.
Vise Based Clamping
Clamping the connector is easiest when you use a benchtop vise. If you have a vise, put your connector into it and then clamp it until the connector is closed like the pictures above. Do not clamp it any farther as you will crush the connector.
Alternative Clamping
Making these connectors has been achieved with pliers, C-clamps, or even a piece of wood. We don’t recommend doing it this way, but if you absolutely have to improvise, then make sure that you are applying even pressure straight down into the connector from the top. Any other direction and you risk breaking the connector.
RS485
The RS485 connection is how the motherboard and extruder controller communicate. We’ve provided an Ethernet cable that connects the two boards. Neither of the boards supports Ethernet, we are simply re-using low-cost, off-the-shelf components.
Do not plug either of these components into the network port of a router, home computer, etc. Bad things may happen if you do.
Wire up Steppers Controls
Once the IDC cables have been made, it’s very simple to wire things up. Simply plug each cable into the appropriate stepper and appropriate header on the motherboard as shown.
Extruder Controller
Extruder DC Motor (MK5)/ Stepper Motor Cooling Fan (MK6)
If you’re building a Thing-O-Matic with a MK5, the DC motor for the Plastruder MK5 has a red and black wire. Connect the red wire to 1A and the black wire to 1B.
If you’re building a Thing-O-Matic with a Stepstruder MK6, this terminal will be used for the stepper motor cooling fan. Connect the red and black the same way for the MK6, but make sure they lead to the cooling fan’s red and black leads.
Extruder Heater
The extruder heater connection leads to the Safety Cutoff, which will pass the power through to the heater cartridge. It should be wired up to the terminal marked “HEATER” as shown.
Make sure that you put the black wire in the right-hand terminal as shown here (the one next to the “EXTRA” terminals) and that goes to the “FET” terminal on the safety cutoff, as shown here.
Heated Build Platform Heater
The heated build platform heater should be wired into the terminals marked “EXTRA”. The heated build platform heater does have polarity, so make sure you hook up the wires exactly as shown, with the red wire in the terminal closer to the “HEATER” terminals, and the black wire in the terminal closer to the “FAN” terminals.
Thermocouple
The thermocouple is the temperature measurement device for the extruder controller. This wire has a positive and a negative. Its important to hook them up right. The yellow should be positive, and the red negative. Wire them up as shown.
Do not hook this up backwards: If you do, the temperature will read zero regardless of actual temperature. This will continually run the heater coil, and will damage your extruder controller and/or Plastruder’s hot end.
Build Platform Temperature Sensor
The temperature sensor should plug directly into the extruder controller as shown. Make note of the orientation, and make sure yours matches the picture.
Do NOT plug it into the port with the word “QUADRATURE” marked below it on the board. Even though it fits perfectly, that’s not where it’s supposed to go!
Motherboard
ATX Power
The motherboard is powered by the big, 20-pin ATX connector. If yours seems to be four pins too big, that is because there is an optional 4-pin connector that piggybacks on the 20-pin connector. It should simply slide off the 20-pin connector. Remove it and then plug the 20-pin connector in as shown.
Note 3/2011: If you have received a newer Sparkle or Coolermaster power supply, and a motherboard v2.4 only, please make sure that the modification on this page has already been done to your MakerBot Motherboard: CoolerMaster Power Supply Fix. Motherboard v2.5 does not require the fix.
End-stops
The endstops are a critical part of your Thing-O-Matic. The very first thing it does when starting a build is to “home” for the X, Y, and Z axes.
X Minimum End-stop
The endstop for the X axis is at the minimum. Plug it in as shown.
Y Minimum End-stop
The endstop for the Y axis is at the minimum. Plug it in as shown.
Z Maximum End-stop
The endstop for the Z axis is different: it is at the maximum of the Z axis. Make sure it makes it into the correct header. It might be hard to plug this one in until you are closing up the bottom of the machine; if that’s the case, it’s OK to hold off until then. But don’t forget, or your Z-axis homing won’t work.
All End-stops Plugged
Here is what all the endstops look like when fully plugged. Make sure yours match this photo.
Connect E-STOP
If your bot is equipped with a Safety Cutoff Kit then you should also attach the cutoff’s e-stop cable to the port labeled “E-STOP” on your motherboard.
Adjust your stepper motor drivers!
Now’s a good time to take care of something extremely important: adjusting the voltages on your Stepper Motor Drivers. There are several different types of stepper motors used in the Thing-O-Matic, and they each work best with slightly different settings.
Set your voltage
Make sure that the red voltage selector switch on the back of your power supply is in the correct position. The switch should be pushed to the right, with the text “115V” visible, in areas with 120V power mains (USA and Canada). The switch should be set to the left, with the text “230V” visible, in areas with 230V power mains (EU, China). Make sure you don’t have the power supply set to “115V” when plugging it into a 230V outlet!
Connect Stepper Motors
Now connect the stepper motors to the drivers. The “ramps” on the stepper connectors should face the inside of the stepper board. They will keep the connector from vibrating loose and force you to insert them in the right orientation.
You probably won’t be able to attach the connector for the extruder stepper (“Stepstruder motor”) to the A-axis stepper motor driver board until you’re closing up the bottom of the bot, so just leave it in position to connect later.
Plug in the power and turn it on
Find the black power cord provided in the kit. Plug one end into the power supply on the left side of your machine and the other end into a wall socket. Flip the switch on the power supply to ON. The fan on the power supply should start up.
Now that you’ve got the power flowing to your bot, you can adjust the stepper motor drivers!
Adjusting Stepper Driver Potentiometers
The Generation 4 stepper drivers have four adjustable potentiometers labeled PFD, RC1, REF, and RC2. This allows modularity in the electronics so that stepper motors of all different specs and sizes can be controlled with the same driver. A brief description of what each potentiometer controls can be found on the page about the Stepper Driver v3.3
The pot labeled REF controls current supplied to the motor. This is the most commonly adjusted pot. Do not adjust the others unless you know what you are doing. Conveniently, each pot has a test point for measuring with a multimeter. Put the positive probe on the test point, and the negative probe to ground.
Note that these values are with the steppers DISABLED, not enabled.
If you do not have a multimeter, counter clockwise rotation will decrease the value, and clockwise will increase for REF and PFD — but it’s the opposite for RC1 and RC2. There are small indications of the total range for each potentiometer engraved in its case. Suggested values for the stock Thing-O-Matic steppers are:
| Stepper Motor | REF Voltage (V) | Rotation between Max and Min |
|---|---|---|
| X | 0.600 | Between 1/8 – 1/4 |
| Y | 0.600 | Between 1/8 – 1/4 |
| Z | 0.617 | Between 1/8 – 1/4 |
Note: If you set the current too high, the motor will be eventually get too hot to touch.
If your Z axis stepper motor is making high pitched noises while set to the above REF value, then you will need to change the other potentiometers as well.
Since the motor suppliers have changed over the course of the Thing-O-Matic’s lifetime, you first need to identify which motors you have from the image below, and then adjust their respective potentiometers accordingly.
| The suggested pot values for the Z-axis stepper motors ONLY | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stepper Motor | PFD (V) | RC1 (V) | REF (V) | RC2 (V) |
| Makerbot Leadscrew Nema17 | 2.311 | 0.952 | 0.617 | 0.963 |
| Moons Leadscrew Nema17 | 2.311 | 0.952 | 0.617 | 0.963 |
| The suggested pot values for the X&Y-axis stepper motors ONLY | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stepper Motor | PFD (V) | RC1 (V) | REF (V) | RC2 (V) |
| Makerbot Nema17 | 1.952 | 0.953 | 0.600 | 0.955 |
| Moons Nema17 | 1.952 | 0.953 | 1.68 | 0.955 |
| The suggested pot values for the Stepstruder MK7 stepper motor ONLY | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stepper Motor | PFD (V) | RC1 (V) | REF (V) | RC2 (V) |
| Stepstruder MK7 | 1.952 | 0.953 | 1.68 | 0.955 |
| The suggested pot values for the Stepstruder MK6 stepper motor ONLY | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stepper Motor | PFD (V) | RC1 (V) | REF (V) | RC2 (V) |
| Stepstruder MK6 | 2.31 | 0.94 | 1.56 | 0.94 |
Attach Bottom to Body
It’s time to close it up! (OK, you might actually want to do your firmware installation before this.)
Connect any cables that wouldn’t reach with the bottom open. Then attach the bottom plate to the body.
Fully Assembled
Congratulations!
You’ve successfully completed the mechanical build of your Thing-O-Matic!
45 Comments so far
Robbie
I’m missing three 1/4″ spacers from my kit.
Using twelve 1/4″ spacers and twelve M3x16 bolts, attach three Stepper Motor Drivers to the locations shown.
Robbie
There is no connection header for this on my extruder controller??
The temperature sensor should plug directly into the extruder controller as shown. Make note of the orientation, and make sure yours matches the picture.
Also where does the blue wire go?
Justin
Yeah same here.. missing spacers and also wondering what the blue wire is, and what the second tow pin plug on the heater board is for…
Justin
ok, this helped: http://wiki.makerbot.com/forum/t-368830
and the other two pin plug is for ABP only. Still missing those spacers so i only screwed three per board.
CptAaron
I was short on 1/4″ spacers too but had extra 1/8″ ones. Seems to work ok using 1/8″ for Y and Z axes. I haven’t completed my build yet but the switches click. I don’t think it will work for X axis though.
jp
Hmm making IDC cables are confusing. Picture that shows both ends of IDC connector and picture where cables are connected between motherboard and stepper drivers are not same. MB/Stepper has straight cable eg. red cable is on pin 1 of IDC. But if looking picture where both ends are shown between fingers, cable is mirrored on other end.
Steef Verboom
If you put the rubber feet closer to the srews holding the bottom it wil give greater stability to the structure
Hpower3
Currently building my TOM…… I’m also missing 2 1/4″ bushings as well as 2 3/4′” ones for the motherboard.
Although this doesn’t fix the root cause of Makerbot mis-counting parts, here’s a quick fix. I had left over rubber tubing (black) that was used for the rollers of the ABP. I cut off the lengths I needed and they worked out well as replacements for the white spacers. The hole in the tubing is just about 3mm.
Onward……
Pip
We can’t find a picture of how to connect the Stepstruder motor to the board. The plug doesn’t have an alignment barb/clip so it could be plugged in either way. Also it seems the orange/black wires are swapped compared to the other stepper motors?
Mark Z
Also was short 1/4″ spacers. Suspect that problem lies with directions for mounting endstop switches. Instructions say to mount them with 1/4″ spacers but it looks like 1/8″ spacers would work fine and there are 4 of them left over. Just made replacements from piece of PTFE rod I had on hand. More of an irritation, I’ve run out of M3 nuts and still have at least 10 or 12 more bolted connections to go.
tim
The missing 1/4 spacers from what I can tell are because you guys have the new mark 7… it has the 4th motor driver but unlike the mark6′s it does not have the 4 1/4″ spacers in the mark 7 extruder box.
someone from makerbot can you confirm this…
dnewman
There’s no explanation of where to connect the safety cutoff’s power (FET + 12V). You have to find the Safety Cutoff Rev D installation directionsto then find that these indeed go to the extruder controller’s heater ports. Unfortunately, in the electronics installation direction those ports are identified as polarity not being relevant and there’s no labelling on the board to tell which of those two ports is postive and which is negative.
From the extruder controller v3.6 docs it looks like the heater pin to the left (next to “1B”) is the positive while the one to the right (next to the “EXTRA” pair) is the negative.
Fredrik
Ran out of 1/4″ spacers and M3 nuts as well, looks like I have the same problem as Mark Z. I see a trip to Home Depot in my near future…
dnewman
Should update the suggested REF pot. values to reflect new Stepstruder MK7 setting of 1.675 – 1.680 VDC as per the calibration section of the Stepstruder MK7 Assembly directions.
jim
Did I miss instructions on installing the power supply someplace?
Also, I got a Coolermaster power supply and there is a gigantic mess of other power leads also emerging from the enclosure that are clogging and bunging up the limited space inside the electronics compartment…is there any reason (other than runing the PS for other, future uses) I can’t just clip off the offending leads?
jim
Also, high five to dnewman for pointing to the proper directions for the FET + 12V input on Rev D Safety Cutoffs.
And you’re definitely supposed to use the .125″ standoffs for the Y and Z end stops; that frees up the remaining 4 .250″ you need for the A Axis stepper driver board.
Fredrik
Does anyone know the calibration values for the Stepper Driver for the extruder (MK7) on the A-axis ? Is it the same as the X and Y axis ?
fredrik
Found the answer myself on the MK/ page,
If you haven’t already, set the potentiometer values on your stepper driver board as shown here. Keep in mind that the MK7 ships with a Moons Stepper, and the REF voltage should be between 1.675 and 1.680 volts.
PDF: 1.952 V
RC1: 0.953 V
REF: 1.68 V
RC2: 0.955 V
Steve cooley
Seems weird the docs don’t point you to the logical next step:testing the bots functionality. Here’s the link.
http://wiki.makerbot.com/thingomatic-doc:testing-your-bot
Larry Moss
Some pony beads lying around the house were the perfect size to replace the missing 1/4″ spacers.
Like JP, I’m confused about the conflicting images for the IDC cables. Which is correct? I’m assuming the later image showing the cables connected is correct, but I’d like confirmation before I damage a board.
txoof
I was also missing the 1/4″ spacers, but cutting down a bic pen into 1/4″ lengths worked great!
Thanks to Justin for helping out with the Blue wire mess too!
Ben Harris
So can I trim and cap all the extra wires coming from the ATX supply to make more room?
Ben Harris
So what he heck is holding the power supply in?
jac
So this seems a little incomplete. the power supply is sown installed in the pictures but not called out in any of the documentation on how to install, and what to do if the supply provided does NOT have the same hole pattern as the ones provided. i agree with Ben Harris can we cut and cap the extra wires from the supply.
you guys should consider revamping these instructions for each type of bot you sell so we don’t have to go hunting for the instructions that are need to make this the best piece of equipment in our shop.
Joe
Note that if you have the Automated Build Platform (the conveyor belt thingy), you need to look at these instructions on how to wire up the conveyor belt motor (blue wire): http://wiki.makerbot.com/thingomatic-doc:electronics-installation
As with others, my kit did not have enough spacers, but the bic pen trick worked great. Now that my bot works, I guess I can print some proper spacers!
My power supply fit the mounting holes (I believe it’s just a standard PC power supply), and there were some longer silver screws in one of the packet that worked perfectly.
I would not recommend clipping the “extra” wires – just bundle them up with a zip tie. Not only might they be useful for future expansion, but if you do clip them you’d have to carefully terminate (shrink wrap) the end of each wire or you might get a short if something brushes up against the ends of the cut wires the wrong way.
des
Just completed assembling the device.
I feel the instructions lacking in completeness and finality. The instructions seem to get more ragged toward the end?
Ran into the usual problems – where does the blue wire go – although the wiring diagram shows it – and had to dismantle base to reset the voltage for Mk7 extruder.
The assembly needs some tidying up in the wiring – really needs a method of tieing the loom together.
Ran out of 1/4″ spacers – this seems a consistent problem.
Am wondering why the power supply is so large – and with an ungainly set of wires used in a typical computer power supply. It is difficult to fold the wiring neatly into the base and close up the Assembly?
If I add up all the power loads – of motors, extruder, heater – it is well below 460 w.
dnewman
Yes, you can trim the PSU wires but be very careful to not cause shorts!!!! The way I did it was to take a bundle and cut each wire in it to a different length. That way, no two wire ends in the bundle would make contact. Then wrap that bundle with electrical tape. The one likely problem would be if someone tugged on some of the wires in a bundle: it would conceivably be possible for a longer wire to get pulled back sufficiently to contact a shorter one and cause a short. Of course, the ends would also need to meet such that the cut copper within the insulation met as well.
I left one bundle with 4pin molex connectors uncut. I later used a yellow/black pair from that bundle for my LED lighting.
Ethan
Hi everybody,
I’ve made some edits here to clarify things, including the heater wiring. As fredrik mentioned, yes, the MK7 does use a Moons Nema17 and should be adjusted as such.
About the PSU installation — that should have been mentioned on the body assembly page, and it does look like that’s been omitted. We’ll work on resolving that. Btw — if your PSU holes don’t line up, it’s likely you’ve installed the side of your Thing-O-Matic backwards.
And as always, if you need clarification or see issues with the instructions, please email support@makerbot.com
Txoof
I’ve made up a (mostly) complete table of MK7 stepper values as well as routing and hookup information for all the wires.
Check it out here: http://www.txoof.com/2011/12/building-makerbot-electronics.html
Sean
I’m also having a problem with the psu lining up. Even if i flip the panel around the mounting holes do not line up correctly. I believe i can just drill some new holes to fix the problem, but hopefully someone at makerbot can explain this problem and a viable solution. Honestly, i have lost confidence throughout this assembly and would like some confirmation that this is the correct psu, just wrong configuration. I would hate to drill new holes only to find out the entire psu was shipped incorrectly.
Thanks
George
The power supply we got has the on/off switch and the power receptacle reversed, but the holes still lined up. We needed to sand the wood near the top of the receptacle/switch hole until it was a rectangle, and then the power supply fit well into the rest of the body
wildroo
So- my machine was running the Axis limit test bit but it had a loud nose when the Z axis moved. Per what I’ve read this means the Potentiometers needed adjusted, so I got my multimeter out to test it.
The first thing I tried adjusting were the Potentiometers on the Z Axis — when I did a red light came on it and I heard a click sound.
Per prior instructions I turned the power off, then back on- and nothing happened.
It’s still not turning back on and I’ve got no idea what happened.
michael shiloh
Surely the power cables from the power supply need to be plugged into the motor controllers before “Adjusting Stepper Driver Potentiometers”? I can’t see where it says that, or I missed it.
Odie
I was confused at first by the IDC cable pictures, but then realized I was looking at two flavors of cable. The key thing is that the connector has two sides: the “keyed” with the two ridges, and the “flat” on the other side. Correctly made cables have the same colors in the same order when you look at the same side of the connectors on both ends of the cable, just like the first instruction example. The reason we get confused is that this is still true even when we see later examples where the other end of the cable is going *into* the other connector instead of coming *out* (the two flavors seen in later examples). As long as the wire order is the same (such as red stripe on the right when facing both keyed sides of the connectors on both ends) it does not matter which direction the cable enters the second connector: the pinout will be right. IDC connectors rock
SteveW
“Using twelve 1/4″ spacers and twelve M3x16 bolts, attach all four Stepper Motor Drivers to the locations shown”
By this point in the build, I only have 10 1/4″ spacers left. I got the “Sparkle” brand PSU, which meant I used the 1/8″ spacers for that, so I can’t use those ones for the extruder board.
Even if I had twelve spacers, that mean I only use 3 spacers per board. Does it matter which corners I support, or is much of a muchness?
It just seems strange that with so many bolts, washers, etc left over, you’d run out of 3mm 1/4″ spacers.
Mark Fiscella
I am in the final debugging of my Thing-O-Matic with new MK7 Stepstruder. I have been able to get the X, Y, Z stepper motors to operate coorectly. But I have not been succesful with the Stepstruter yet. I double checked all the wiring and I believe I am OK. When I start the ReplicatorG I see in the command window that Motherboard firmware v3.0 is loaded, and Toohead 0: Extruder controller firmware v3.0 is loaded. When I go to the control window to toggle the setting, something is wrong? I can turn the cooling fan on and off without a problem. When I try to enable the automated build platform motor, only the fan comes on? My toolhead head thermocouple reads 24 C, but I verified the temperature to be 21 C. The build platform temperature reads 17 C (should be 21 C). I tried to heat the tool head and nothing happened. I try to reload the firmware through the ReplicatorG, but I get an error that it will not load. What should I try next?
Mark
Jason
I gave up on the instructions and managed to solve all of the problems except those that are designed into components. The Mark 7 Stepstruder is impossible to feed plastic into because there are too many washers. If someone bothered to measure this in the design phase they would have realized three washers on the plunger means it is a press fit with no adjustment. If you ditch the washers and find a decent spring the problem is solved. I still can’t get the motor on the Automated platfor to operate despite checking and rechecking the wiring. Solution-take it off and file it under R in the round filing cabinet next to my desk. I wish I had spent the $2,500 on an industrial 3D printer.
JoshM
The block diagram lists the terminals for the thermocouple as [ + | - ] (looking from the edge), but the silkscreening on my extruder board lists [ T- | T+ ] and the photo in the ‘Thermocouple’ section indicates that the example unit is hooked up the same way.
It would be good to update the block diagram to make it match as-built.
HG Sharma
In the heated platform,motor red wire is supposed to go to the second Pin , specifically mentioned as adjecent to the connector.Where as the over view here shows it as first pin for Red wire.Is there any mismatch .
HG Sharma
I have assembled my Bot .
It occured to me that I shall first put on the supply and observe for some time , as to what happen, even before we adjust stepper drivers POts.It may serve as pretest to check correctness of connections.
I find some of the LEDs are glowing and Stepstruder (MK6+) motor is getting heatedup (quite hot) ,the fan above it not running .Is it Ok or it calls some remedy.
I wish a small not be added to instruction on this happening.What should one look for after putting on supply & before starting next step.
HG Sharma.
HG Sharma
I have assembled my Bot ,Installed PSU and made all connections as advised.
But when I put Supply on (adjusted 230V-as applicable),I find that Stepstruder Motor (MK6+)is getting very hot and Fan mounted above the Motor is also not running.(Red wire from motor connected to 1A and black to 1B).Wha..at could be the reason? can any one help? Terminal 1A and 1B on controller Board show no supply (V).
Also, if and when motor runs ,is it expected to blow air on to motor or away from it?
Rob
My kit did not come with enough hardware, particularly nuts for the bolts.
Fortunately I have the aluminum plate kit.
I had to buy more from hardware store 8-(
Please make sure there are adequate volumes of nuts shipped with each kit!
Thanks!
Rob
P.S. also not enough spacers… I also cut up the spare length of tube for automated platform to use as electronics board mourning spacers… They work ok but I probably will need alternative to avoid them melting!
P.P.S…. Far too many bolts!
Rob
Again… making IDC cables are confusing. Picture that shows both ends of IDC connector and picture where cables are connected between motherboard and stepper drivers are not same. MB/Stepper has straight cable eg. red cable is on pin 1 of IDC. But if looking picture where both ends are shown between fingers, cable is mirrored on other end.
Rob
I don’t know how many people got caught out by this….
But the power supplies have o be connected to EVERY board!
It should be noted in the build notes…