Tag: plastruder

MakerBot Build Status

The body is painted, bolted together, rods have been cleaned, XY stage installed, boards soldered and bolted on, cables run.1  I’ve affixed the opto-endstop triggers on the X and Y axes.

  • I have not installed the Z axis endstops mostly because I’m just not that keen on marring that beautiful clear acrylic sheet that is the Z stage.  I’ve created a little fitting out of balsa wood that will eventually support the opto-endstop triggers.
  • I’ve assembled the two “dinos” but not any other parts of the plastruder.
  • I need to assemble the rest of the plastruder, drop it in, and fire it up!
  1. Even if the opto-endstops are going to the wrong max/min ports for the moment. [↩]

Stopping for now

The body of the MakerBot is complete, rods in, X and Y stages in, pulleys and belts on, motors bolted on.  No opto-ends stops yet for obvious reasons.  The opto-endstops also require popsicle sticks.

On to the plastruder.  I put together the Weird Dino and the Tall Dino, but the idler pulley requires super glue.  I don’t happen to have any lying around, so I’ll need to go out to the hardware store.  But, this is as good a spot to stop as any.

I originally intended to document each step – but the directions on the MakerBot wiki are so good that there’s just no need.  So, the pictures you’re going to see are going to basically jump from a bunch of spraypainted wood giant chunks of the robot already bolted together.

The build process, much of what consists of fitting pieces together and using the MakerBot “t-slot” semi-captive nut method, is very intuitive, relatively easy, and extremely gratifying.  Sometimes its a little bit of effort to get that nut in the notch properly, but it was never that bad.

Test