Christmas robot shopping

I went to the hardware store after work today to pick up the items on my shopping list.  Walking to their register I fell victim to their bargain basement aisle.  In the process I dropped the $3 superglue I had found and picked up four times as much for $2.  Sure, its a no-name house brand…  but as long as its reasonably sticky there shouldn’t be any problems.

I also picked up some 3-in-1 oil for the various rods.  I installed the Z-axis rods without cleaning them properly (too enthusiastic to get building).  I also bought a large flexible magnet in sheet form (the kind used for fridge magnets – only in an 8.5″ x 11″ size), work gloves, and another utility knife.

Adding the circuit boards

Once I had the opto-endstops all soldered up, I really wanted to keep going.  I made the Y-endstop cables, bolted the opto-endstops on, and bolted the motherboard and stepper motor boards to the MakerBot.  Clipped in the cables and it looks like a robot after all!  I’m going to need to organize those cables, but that will have to wait until all the other parts are in place.

An interesting side note – as I was moving the various axes someone noticed that little lights started flashing on the stepper motor boards!  Cool!  I presume moving the platform caused the motors to act like generators and pushing power to the boards, lighting up the LED’s.

Once the opto-endstops were done, I couldn’t resist bolting them on.  Once I started doing that, I wanted to make the Y-endstop cables, then the ribbon cables, and wire it all up.

If nothing else, it looks like a robot now!

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