Showin' love for the T-O-M.

Based on ivc's _Spring-loaded Replicator 1 Drive Block_, and coming full circle (more like ellipse) back to the Thing-O-Matic, this is a drive block that uses the Replicator 2 vitamin kit store.makerbot.com/drive-block-hardware-kit.html on the Mk 7 extruder.

**Changes**
* Removed 12mm from bottom to accomodate Mk 7 mounting block
* Changed the lever and base screw hole to accept _Replicator 2_ vitamins
* Changed bearing spindle to work with _Replicator 2_ vitamins
* Mirrored all parts

The design is a version of the great fan block from timmytool.

It has some additional features like:
- fan ejection nozzles on both sides of the MK7 heater. It provides more even airflow over the printing area and MK7 radiator;
- wider ejection nozzles. Again, more air out - better cooling;
- optional connection to additional air supply (compressor) for delicate prints.

This is a universal paste extruder for RepRap and other 3D printers.

It allows you to experiment with various pastes on your 3D printer without the need for any air compressor equipment or valves etc.
It simply uses the existing Extruder motor output from your printer’s electronics.

It's designed to fit on the Quick-Fit X Carriage Thing 19590-

thingiverse.com/thing:19590

And it will also fit on Prusa and Greg style X carriages.

7th-4-2012- Split and added Gear set on two plates for Cupcake and smaller build-bed machines.

11-April - Uploaded Sketchup Source files (sorry for the delay)
I challenge you to make one that works with 50ml Syringes! or do a fully parametric version in SCAD :)

And a very big thank you to Greg Frost (and derivatives) for the wonderful work done on the Parametric Involute Bevel and Spur Gears script, without this, the gear set would have taken me a lot more time to make.
thingiverse.com/thing:3575

Like many Thing-O-Matic owners, I ran into many problems with the automated build platform and eventually replaced it with the simple heated build platform. I printed that way for most of a year, but I finally decided to revisit the ABP and see if its problems were fixable. Thanks to many Thingiverse users' contributions, I have finally found a combination of fixes that works!

With the modifications described here, I now have the ability to quickly switch the ABP and HBP on my TOM, with no need to change any home offsets or Gcode. The belt is now evenly tensioned, free of wrinkles and holds down to the build platform well. Also, since both platforms are removable, maintaining them is much easier.

Most of the design work here is due to others, but one key fix I discovered involves modifying the rollers. Read on for the details.

The Thing-O-Matic is a good machine, but it has one quirk that really irks me: the Z-height calibration never stays quite right. Since it goes all the way to the top to hit the endstop, then counts down 120 or so mm to find the build platform, if there is any change in temperature or humidity, the wood sides of the bot will expand or contract, easily making the nozzle move +/-0.1mm with respect to the platform. That may not sound like a lot, but when you're printing raftless, that's the difference between a first layer that doesn't stick down, and one that's so smashed the bottom of the print is wider than the rest.

This little block fixes all that. By making the Z-endstop contact the platform directly, the nozzle will always find the correct height, regardless of whatever thermal expansion the bot may be experiencing.

This is casing of connector of HBD plug prevent crack to wires connections

26 Feb 2012
I upload the invert wires out version of covers

This is a casing that fits over the heated build platform plug. It holds the wires securely to prevent damage to the soldered connections.

This parametric holder for the BlinkM MaxM is designed to replace 2 spacers on a stepper driver on the electronics board of a ToM. As such it requires no extra bolts to hold it in place and gives easy access to the I2C, DC Input and output pins on the BlinkM.

Information about the BlinkM MaxM can be found here: thingm.com/products/blinkm-maxm.html

Note that this isn't designed to have the daughter board (the included 3 led's) attached as this is for projects that are using the BlinkM to drive external LED lighting.

This "Thing" is part of a larger project for ToM Mood Lighting, but can also be used on it's own if you need to mount a BlinkM MaxM to your electronics.

Pimp your bot ! These instructions detail how to build software controllable RGB Mood Lighting for your ToM. The mood light is controllable via a new menu on the Gen 4 LCD Interface or via GCodes in ReplicatorG.

Your bot can now show it's build status via the color of the mood light.

Video (showing functionality):
youtube.com/watch?v=g3D0ScY6-dg
Video (mood light to music):
youtube.com/watch?v=FQDFPfnHu9o

Additionally, you can set your own RGB color, pick from a predefined list. Also you can pick animated color scenes, for example a Thunderstorm complete with Lightning flashes or signal S.O.S.

This is a beginners level project, with a tiny bit of soldering, and is designed for ToM Motherboard V2.4 (the version currently shipping).

Required parts are a BlinkM MaxM, RGB Led Strip, a couple of resistors and some bits and pieces you likely have lying around. (full parts list in the pdf).

You'll also need:

- The new Gen 4 Firmware: thingiverse.com/thing:15380
- BlinkM MaxM Holder: thingiverse.com/thing:15374

just a simple design to hold the circuitry board of the safety cut-off module.

A slight modification to Gossamer's thing that adds sections with a narrow diameter at the bottom of the bolt head holes. This makes it less easy to install (you have to completely remove the bolts) but I think this will make it less likely to slip off the bolt heads if tension is high and helps spread the force from the bolt heads across a larger surface area preventing damage to the plywood or acrylic. In my case the bolts had already been over-tightened which lead to deformation of the plywood and cracks in the acrylic.

Note1: It might help to drill some 6mm holes in the left side panel of the printer so you can access the bolts holding the left end piece to the Y-Carriage without having to remove the Y-Rods and Y-Carriage. I made mine at the Y-Home position for easy repeatable location of the bolt heads (see picture).

Note2: A 4.4mm hole allows you to use the little clear plastic collars from the end of the ABP rollers as hole inserts with built in washers to protect the plywood from being damaged if you over-tighten the tension screw. If you do not have any of these to spare you should at least use a washer or two!

So I was attempting to make the HBP Quick Leveler, but I was having trouble getting a clean print where the parts fit together.

So I put it aside.

But then I realized that the thumbscrews alone greatly improve the TOM's out of the box leveling setup.

Simple!

This setup is working very well for me.

I liked tomlombardi's Y-Axis support bracket a lot. Printed it out and it worked as advertised. Only I had another unrelated problem where the wires from my ABP would rub and catch on the same bolts used to attach this thing. I decided to modify this part to avoid any future issue with the wires rubbing too much or potentially stripping.

So I upgraded this part by fully recessing the nuts by making the part a little thicker. The holes are also large enough to not need any drilling, and you can also use the same bolts that were originally used - longer bolts are not needed. I also created a large radius on the right side to allow the problematic wires to freely slide over this area without catching.

Top-plate for the X Axis Stepper on the TOM.
I noticed that with all the Adjustments on the X axis tension, my wood began to warp and crack a bit around the channels. Especially around the T-Slot for the left side.
This plate should reinforce the wood making things sturdier.
Also a tensioner is integrated for making belt tension adjustments without disassembly.

This design uses countersunk M3 bolts rather than the stock ones in order to allow a thicker ABS Plate. This will provide more strength with the same height.

I liked it so much I put one on the Y axis too.

I just noticed there is a similar design here on thingiverse:
thingiverse.com/thing:11502

ToM Y Axis Carriage for Linear bearings LMB6UU (3/8")

This is really just a little project that I've been fiddling with over the last few months when I have a moment to spare.
Purely for my own enjoyment (yes, I know, I should get out more), but you are welcome to try if you wish.
I'm sure there are a whole raft of engineers ready to tell me that this is wrong in so many ways and I look forward to being enlightened by their candid observations and everyone's improvements & modifications.

For anyone who'd like to try it, it really is a work-in-progress and although it works quite happily at 50mm/s feed rate, it is not yet what I would consider finished.

This version requires an X carriage of its own because I've centred the X pulley. As it sits lower on the rods, it gives you > 126mm on the Z axis, so you'll need to place your HBP very high to stop the Z stage falling off the lead screw. (I'll make it ride higher in the next version which will give the stepper more clearance over the bed as well).

I should have moved the Y limit switch but to save any hassle I added a long arm to the centre section that operates it in its current position.

I also think the X limit switch should be moved to the side of the carriage to clear the pulley bolt.

I ended up using 4 bearings although I started out with 3. The inertia of the motor side is too great for the bearings on the right to stop the carriage twisting, I think I may try moving the motor to the right and go back to 3 in a later version.

I also intend to move the bearings closer together and remove more material from the base of the carriage to make it lighter.


I'll post some photos of it installed when I get a chance.

This is the final version of my X & Y tensioner. It is now a universal one usable on both Axis. It is slipped over the 4 bolts attaching the motor and utilizes the existing tension slots.

You will need to drill one hole for each tensioner. The Y uses a 20mm 3M Bolt and the X uses a 16mm one. The X can be a tight fit for thickness, so I suggest you try your first one on the X, if it's too thick you can still use it on the Y.

If you are looking for something that is more securely fastened down or you have issues with warping/pulling off the bolts, there are 2 other options that should fit the bill.

The first alternative uses countersunk bolts and was created by Tunell: thingiverse.com/thing:11775/

The second is the derivative of this one by M_G that adds a layer of plastic under bolt: thingiverse.com/thing:14098

This a 100% printable Z stage bearing replacement upgrade.

It seemed that no matter how carefully I aligned the Z stage bearings - that when assembled into the Thing-O -Matic, the Z stage would chatter when lowering. In addition, there was some binding happening on the upward direction as well causing the Z axis to miss steps.

The result of Z steps missed is apparent in the last picture. That piece worked well enough to fix the problem but a replacement was soon printed. Once it served it's purpose I stress tested it. It was surprisingly strong, taking far more effort to break than I expected. The parts are easily strong enough to support the Z stage, by far.

Another symptom of missed Z steps is the extruder skipping steps or stripping filament. If the Z axis fails to rise for the next layer then the nozzle will be too low and it is harder to push the filament out - resulting in filament stripping or the extruder skipping steps.

It was clear that the Z stage needed an upgrade but I really did not want to have to order bearings or search hardware stores for the right size brass tube, nor did I want to alter the machine in such a way that was not reversible. Using plastic for the bearing surface may not seem to be a precision thing to do but as it turns out this has been highly reliable, repeatable and silky smooth. It is also designed in such a way that the bottom bearing surfaces contact the front of the rods and the top bearing surfaces contact the rear. This means that you can lift (tilt) the Z stage by about 10mm. This can be a useful feature when the nozzle accidentally crashes into a bolt head.

This may not work with an ABP due to clearance issues.

Most of us want to hack into our TOM and, to do so, we need to open it up. There are so many wires in there that it is difficult to completely remove the top cover. These legs are made to hold the top of the Makerbot while you are playing in it.

This is a derivative work from MBI's open source parts files - thingiverse.com/thing:4973.

This is a first attempt to print a replacement for one of the plywood struts which commonly get broken on the ABP during assembly.

I broke mine by fat fingering it while assembling my Thing-O-Matic in Mar. '11. I'd been trying to get this into CAD and learn how to use some idle CNC machines at a local college. But, the MBI files were hard to use several months ago. Rev. F is cleaner. If you work with their files it will help if you delete the hidden block libraries. They are useful for MBI's design efforts but, they will get in your way for use to manufacture the parts. No big deal. Just a hidden caveat.

05/05/11 - I printed the ABP strut replacement. This is the strut with bushing holes. I'd broken a small tang during our original assembly and had just epoxied it together but, my sons did not like that kluge of a fix. I told them that it was acceptable for this low stress member but, they wanted to print a new one. So, after reading in Thingiverse about Webca and others having printed their entire bots [http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3285] we decided to plunge in with the challenge of printing one replacement part.

In my pictures - if the part looks warped it is the black paper that the part is sitting on. The part is very flat.

2/2012 - Part will and does print accurately. The file is good. My mistake as a noob. See new picture in red.

This is based on the LED used by ScribbleJ : thingiverse.com/thing:6244 .
This one use the same 80mm version from Dealextreme.
I wanted something that can be bolted without fear that it will move or fall.
It's easy to bolt it to the Cupcake Z bed and you have place for the wires.
The LED Ring snap in place and stay in place. No Glue needed.
I printed it in ABS to help since PLA is less "flexible".

The electronics bay on the Thing O Matic is really nifty, and looking through the clear floor into it to see the blinkenlights is great. But it's hard to get everything to fit in there, and if you hack on your bot a lot, it quickly gets irritating to have to take it all apart and open it up and do your hacking and then try to fit everything back in (probably more than before, since you're hacking new stuff on it!) and well, I got sick of it.

For a while I ran with the board on my workbench next to the machine, but space is at a premium, so you have this.

This is a completely non-destructive mod; you can see in the photos I was too lazy to even take out some of the bolts from the original configuration. (Ignore the giant hole in my board; it's from an earlier experiment.) So you can try it out for as long as you're hacking on your bot, then stuff everything back in when you want it to look pretty.

This does make it a little harder to get light into your box if it's not lit from above. You might try something like this to solve it the way I did (in advance):

thingiverse.com/thing:6244

These parts aren't exactly what I wanted them to be, but they work, the fit is perfect, and they don't take all day to print. Any improvements are very welcome.