Tag Archives: opto

Adding the circuit boards

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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!

Things I learned while soldering opto-endstops

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The opto-endstops marked the very first parts I had to solder for this MakerBot.  Not having soldering anything more complicated than two wires together, this was an adventure and learning experience.  Here’s what I learned today:

  • The 3-pin connectors used for two of the opto-endstops (on the Y-axis stage) are in the Generation 3 MakerBot Electronics Kit (Mostly Assembled) with some of the other connector bits.  I was a little confused about this for a while.
  • It helps to lay out all the little bits in an organized fashion beforehand.
  • Keep a long thin rigid stick handy for bending delicate leads into the circuit board holes.
  • Although I read the RepRap electronics fabrication guide and found it helpful, I still felt a little lost.  I found the most effective way to solder the parts in was to:
    • Get the soldering iron good and hot
    • Put the leads through the holes
    • Bend the leads a little so that they stayed in place
    • Flipped the board over so the leads were sticking up
    • Touched the solder to where I wanted the joint
    • Gently stroked the solder with the soldering iron tip towards the joint
    • This process seemed to create a pretty good joint
  • You’re going to burn a finger at some point, accept it.1
  • This almost goes without saying, but go slowly.
  • Check and double check the orientation and placements.
  • I found it helpful to take a large sheet of aluminum foil and shape it into a tray.  This helped contain the parts I was working on and was a good way to catch the flying leads that I clipped off.
  1. I burned two. [↩]

Opto-Endstops arrived today!

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Huzzah!  I have been both excited and a little bit apprehensive about these parts.  I have to admit I was almost relieved that they were accidentally swapped out – forcing me to skip their assembly for a little while.  Now that they’ve arrived I need to actually solder these itty bitty parts.

I have a soldering kit I use about once or twice a year – and never for anything more interesting than connecting two wires.  For some reason I find soldering little bits more intimidating.  With my trusty soldering iron and a steady hand, on to adventure! 1

  1. “Oh, sister Magdelene won’t you fetch the
    Doctor’s flask.
    He is going to need a steady…
    A steady hand”
    Cracker – Take me down to the infirmary [↩]

Soldering?

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I have NO idea what I’m doing!

If you’ve got a Batch IX MakerBot all the surface mount boards should have arrived pre-soldered.  This means the first actual material step to building the robot is to solder the opto-endstops.  These are little circuit boards that contain optical switches that will prevent the machine from moving the build platform (and print head?) too far in a particular direction.  You can find the kits for the opto-endstops in the MakerBot store.  According to the page for these kits:

An optical switch usually used to detect when your robot has reached the minimum or maximum position of travel.

An optical endstop AKA opto endstop is a switch made out of light. When something interrupts the light-beam, then it signals the motherboard. Useful for detecting if your robot is attempting to self-destruct. ;)

Also, there are no moving parts to wear out, so they will last pretty much forever.

So, when all is said and done, hopefully I will have taken this:

OptoEndstops Parts

OptoEndstops Parts

To this:

OptoEndstops v2.1

OptoEndstops v2.1