Makerbot Industries Driver



This is a fully compatible re-designed stepper driver for the MakerBot Replicator 1 and Replicator 2/2X. The MightStep17 driver is based on the original A4982 stepper motor driver IC which is programmable from the MakerBot MakerWare software. These are hard to come by after 2015, when MakerBot Industries stopped making them. I have searched the Makerbot forums and google groups for some clues but have not managed to get it working yet. Sorry if there is a bit much info but I have tried to be as thorough as possible before posting. Please help HARDWARE -RepRap Motherboard V1.2 (Fully assembled from Makerbot Industries). Hey @Steamby This motor is designed as a replacement for the Makerbot replicator, that’s why you can’t find any schematics or datasheet. Howerver, I’m pretty sure it is not intended to accept 12V and is drawing way too much current. Nema 17 motors are usually rated for under 4V per coil. My Monoprice Maker Select v2 has been sidelined for quite a while now, after I started getting a lot of prints ruined by skipped steps. I more or less forgot about it until I started hearing about the 'silent' stepper drivers. Is it possible to upgrade the steppers on the Wanhao i3/Maker Select, or would I need to swap out the controller? You’re in the driver’s seat now, and everyone benefits from what you learn and share. Oh, most importantly: talk to us! We built the MakerBot Replicator 2X for the people we knew would really test it out and experiment with the technology.

The makerbot_driver module is designed to communicate with a Makerbot Printer via makerbot_driver Packets. The main objectives of this module are to transform certain actions (i.e. move-to-a-position, heat-up-a-toolhead) into packets of information to be sent and to decode packets of information received from a printer into human parsable formats.

VirtualEnv

Due to makerbot_driver's dependency on our (Makerbot Industries) own version of pyserial, and for the sake of not polluting your own system that may have the 'true' version of pyserial installed, we suggest invoking makerbot_driver inside a virtualenv. We provide the necessary files to operate inside a VirtualEnv that will install all dependencies for you without polluting your own machine.

First, obtain a copy of our version of pyserial. This can be done VIA git. On the same directory level as makerbot_driver, in a terminal window issue:

Dependent submodules must be up to date to run the virutalenv. In the root directory of makerbot_driver, issue:

To create the VirtualEnv, inside the root directory of the makerbot_driver folder, issue:

To configure the VirtualEnv, navigate to the root directory of the makerbot_driver driver and, in a terminal issue:

To activate the VirtualEnv, in the root directory of the makerbot_driver driver, issue:

AVRDude

makerbot_driver uses AVRDude to upload firmware to the machine. Because AVRDude is platformspecific, the user needs to copy over the correct AVRDude executable to makerbot_driver/Firmware.

On all platforms, the protocol for invoking AVRDude is to first search for a local AVRDude executable.In the event that no local binary is found, we attempt to invoke an AVRDude defined in the user's path.

Mac and Windows Distributions

Makerbot Industries Drivers

Running the copy_avrdude.py script will copy the correct avrdude executable from conveyor_bins.To execute:

Linux Distributions

On linux systems, we request that the user use a distribution service (i.e. 'apt-get') to pulldown AVRDude.

Machine Connection

To connect to a machine, you will need the following module:

  • pySerial.

To run the unit tests, you will need the following modules:

  • Mock (Note: Use version 0.8 or greater)
  • unittest2 (Python 2.6 and earlier)

Example: Connecting to a Replicator

Import both the makerbot_driver module and pyserial:

Create an makerbot_driver object, and attach it to a serial port:

Note: Replace port with your serial port (example: '/dev/tty.usbmodemfd121')

Aoc driver for macbook

Home the x, y, and z axes:

Instruct the machine to move in a square pattern:

Note: All points are in steps, and all speeds are in DDA. This is s3g, not gcode!

Now, instruct the machine to heat toolhead 0, wait up to 5 minutes for it to reach temperature, then extrude for 12.5 seconds:

Finally, don't forget to turn off the toolhead heater, and disable the stepper motors:

Those are the basics of how to control a machine. For more details, consult the s3g protocol and the s3g source.

There are a few specific data formats that are used throughout this module, that warrant further explanation here.

Points

Points come in two flavors: regular and extended.

Regular points are expressed as a list of x, y, and z coordinates:

Extended points are expressed as a list of x, y, a, and b coordinates: Drivers zetera.

Axes Lists

There are several commands that require a list of axes as input. This parameter is passed as a python list of strings, where each axis is its own separate string. To pass in all axes:

The makerbot_driver module will raise an exception if it encounters a problem during transmission. Conditions, such as timeouts, bad packets being received from the bot and poorly formatted parameters all can cause the makerbot_driver module to raise exceptions. Some of these states are recoverable, while some require a machine restart. We can categorize makerbot_driver's error states into the following: Download thorlabs usb devices driver.

Makerbot Industries Driver

TODO: This is largely duplicated in the errors.py doc, consider rewriting as a summary of the base error types only.

Buffer Overflow Error (used internally)

A Buffer Overflow Error is raised when the machine has full buffer.

Retryable Errors (used internally)

Retryable Errors are non-catastrophic errors raised by makerbot_driver. While alone they cannot cause makerbot_driver to terminate, an aggregate of 5 errors will cause makerbot_driver to quit.

Packet Decode Errors (used internally):

Packet decode errors are raised if there is a problem evaluating a return packet from an s3g Host:

Transmission Errors:

Transmission Errors are thrown when more than 5 Retryable Errors are raised.

Protocol Errors

These errors are caused by ostensibly well formed packets returned from the machine, but with incorrect data:

Parameter Errors

Parameter errors are raised when imporperly formatted arguments are passed into an s3g function.

ToolBusError (used internally):

Tool Bus errors are raised when the machine cannot communicate with its toolbus.

Other Errors

Bot generated errors will throw their own specific errors, such as:

GCode Errors

GCode errors are thrown when reading through a GCode file and parsing out g/m codes and comments.Cause By:

External Stop Error

An External Stop Error is raised when an external thread sets the External Stop Flag in makerbot_driver.Writer.StreamWriter to true, which terminates the Stream Writer's packet sending process.

Makerbot Industries Driver Jobs

S3G Stream Reading Errors

These errors are thrown when the makerbot_driver module encounters errors during makerbot_driver stream parsing.
Caused By:

Makerbot Industries Driver Download

Contributions are welcome to this project! All changes must be in the style of the project, and include unit tests that are as complete as possible. Place all source code in the s3g/ directory, and all tests in the tests/ directory. Before submitting a patch, ensure that all unit tests pass by running the unit test script:

Hi,
I just recently bout a makerbot kit and am having some issues trying
to communicate with the motherboard.
I have searched the Makerbot forums and google groups for some clues
but have not managed to get it working yet.
Sorry if there is a bit much info but I have tried to be as thorough
as possible before posting.
Please help
HARDWARE
-RepRap Motherboard V1.2 (Fully assembled from Makerbot Industries)
-USB to TTl cable 232R 5v (Supplied from Makerbot industries)
-ATX powersupply 350w (From old working PC/ tested with power supply
tester)
SOFTWARE
-ReplicatorG 0018
OS
-Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx (Latest updates as of 12/08/2010)
PROBLEM
-Copy of error given
Loading driver: replicatorg.drivers.gen3.Sanguino3GDriver
[10:36:21] Read timed out.
[10:36:21] Read timed out; giving up on query.
[10:36:28] Read timed out.
[10:36:28] Read timed out; giving up on query.
[10:36:28] No connection; trying to pulse RTS to reset device.
[10:36:35] Read timed out.
[10:36:36] Read timed out; giving up on query.
[10:36:36] Unable to connect to firmware.
HISTORY/DEBUG
-Bought Cupcake CNC kit (Batch 10) from Makerbot Industries store
(August 2010)
-Assembled kit as per wiki.makerbot site
-Downloaded latest ReplicatorG program for plastruder calibration
-Used a new 500W ATX power supply to try power the Makerbot
-Connected ATX powersupply
-Connected usb to ttl to Motherboard (Black to green, green to black)
-Turned on wall socked to power supply
-Turned on Makerbot at Motherboard switch
-Plugged in usb to laptop
-Started ReplicatorG 0018
-No lights on any of the Makerbot boards, fan not running on the power
supply, can not communicate with the Makerbot.
-Checked orientation of usb to ttl cable as indicated on the
Motherboard (black to black, green to green)
-Checked the power supply with power supply tester (Everything at
correct levels and fan running)
-Still no lights or power supply activity
-Changed power supply to 350W ATX power supply.
-Lights on Makerbot Motherboard, all stepper motor boards and extruder
board
-Software will not communicate with the Makerbot and generates error
as shown above
-Tried changing to all com ports
-Software will not communicate with the Makerbot and generates error
as shown above
-Disconnected everything from Motherboard except power and usb to ttl
and power cycled everything.
-Software will not communicate with the Makerbot and generates error
as shown above
-Tried with a new install on a seperate PC of the same OS
-Software will not communicate with the Makerbot and generates error
as shown above
-Tried with a virtualbox Windows XP Pro install
-Software will not communicate with the Makerbot and generates error
as shown above
-Tried to update the motherboard firmware using original Laptop
-Fails to connect and to upgrade firmware
-Tried to connect directly to extruder board with no other connections
-Lights on extruder board and a successful firmware upgrade
-Installed auto reset enable wire as shown an wiki.makerbot
-Connected only power supply and usb to ttl to laptop and power cycled
everything
-Software will not communicate with the Makerbot and generates error
as shown above