Generation 4 Electronics on the Thing o Matic
Generation 4 Electronics on the Thing o Matic
by robosavvy
Mon Nov 29, 2010 2:47 pm
Hi
Among the many new and improved things on the Thing o Matic is the 4th Generation of Electronics.
The Electronics pack on a Thing o Matic is composed of:
•MakerBot Motherboard v2.4
•Extruder Controller v3.6
•Stepper Driver v3.3
•Mechanical Endstop v1.2
•Thingomatic Heater Board v1.1
At the heart of all these personal 3D printers is really just an Arduino controller.
There is of course much more to the electronics tino. The most important and critical part are probably the High Power mosfets that drive power to the Extruder, heater, etc.
Naturally, you don't actually send a 3D file directly to the Arduino:
You fisrt pass your 3D file though a program on the PC that translates the file into simple instructins called "g code".
This gcode is then fed to the Arduino controller which runs and controls the whole machine.
Gen 4 Electronics is really a big milestone for Makerbot as they have really stepped up their game:
- Upgraded the Arduino to an Arduino MEGA. This means more room for hacking your machine. From the Wiki:
"The motherboard has built in support for up to 5 stepper drivers. You could control an XYZ platform and 2 stepper driven extruders. Or you could make a 5 axis CNC. The sky is the limit. We've also added an interface header with 18 I/O pins that can be used to drive an LCD screen and buttons, or to hook up custom electronics that you've designed yourself. Of course the increased FLASH and RAM mean you can write bigger, more complex programs to drive your machine."
- Higher power MOSFETs to drive all the accessories that have been added over time (including the Heated Build Platform) and bypassing the need for a Relay board.
- Microstepping: better stepper drivers with improved control up to 1/8 step microstepping.
- Upgrade from Thermistors to Thermocouples for a more accurate measurement of temperature on the extruder (and hence better printing results).
You can find all about Gen 4 electronics here http://wiki.makerbot.com/generation-4-electronics
RoboSavvy
Among the many new and improved things on the Thing o Matic is the 4th Generation of Electronics.
The Electronics pack on a Thing o Matic is composed of:
•MakerBot Motherboard v2.4
•Extruder Controller v3.6
•Stepper Driver v3.3
•Mechanical Endstop v1.2
•Thingomatic Heater Board v1.1
At the heart of all these personal 3D printers is really just an Arduino controller.
There is of course much more to the electronics tino. The most important and critical part are probably the High Power mosfets that drive power to the Extruder, heater, etc.
Naturally, you don't actually send a 3D file directly to the Arduino:
You fisrt pass your 3D file though a program on the PC that translates the file into simple instructins called "g code".
This gcode is then fed to the Arduino controller which runs and controls the whole machine.
Gen 4 Electronics is really a big milestone for Makerbot as they have really stepped up their game:
- Upgraded the Arduino to an Arduino MEGA. This means more room for hacking your machine. From the Wiki:
"The motherboard has built in support for up to 5 stepper drivers. You could control an XYZ platform and 2 stepper driven extruders. Or you could make a 5 axis CNC. The sky is the limit. We've also added an interface header with 18 I/O pins that can be used to drive an LCD screen and buttons, or to hook up custom electronics that you've designed yourself. Of course the increased FLASH and RAM mean you can write bigger, more complex programs to drive your machine."
- Higher power MOSFETs to drive all the accessories that have been added over time (including the Heated Build Platform) and bypassing the need for a Relay board.
- Microstepping: better stepper drivers with improved control up to 1/8 step microstepping.
- Upgrade from Thermistors to Thermocouples for a more accurate measurement of temperature on the extruder (and hence better printing results).
You can find all about Gen 4 electronics here http://wiki.makerbot.com/generation-4-electronics
RoboSavvy
