MakerBot Support Forum/Technical Support/Older Products
ABP Conveyor Motor Power ?
Bryan Klech
asked this on October 24, 2011 12:49
So, I've got my T-o-M all built up and everything works, except - no power gets to the ABP conveyor motor.
Additionally interesting - when I reach the part in a program where the conveyor motor is supposed to be powered, the extruder fan turns on. (Note, the extruder fan ALSO turns on as expected at times when the extruder is running.)
Hopefully incidental, but for completeness, I did end up failing the blue-wire instruction:
-- The automated build platform motor should be wired into the right-hand terminal of the two marked "FAN".
-- Do not wire it into the left-hand "FAN" terminal; this will cause strange behavior
Is this possibly the "strange behavior"? Any experience in correcting out of this state?
Comments
I asked MakerBot Support about this:
I have finished assembling my new ToM with ABP 2.0 (#6165). I'm using ReplicatorG 0028, and firmware 3.0. When I go into the RepG Control Panel, and click the checkbox for the ABP, instead of activating the motor, the extruder fan gets started. The rest of the ABP hardware works. I checked the voltage levels on the motor wires during a test, and everything is within epsilon of 0 volts.
Their response was:
The problem you're describing is actually a common firmware bug present in v3.0. Please update both the motherboard and extruder controller to v3.1 "unsupported beta" and the issue should be resolved.
Upgrading to the 3.1 firmware fixed my problem; perhaps it will fix yours as well.
I have the same problem and I have firmware version 3.1 installed. It's a bit disappointing but i'm glad others are having the same problem and that yours was fixed in software.
I have a similar problem with the ABP and the extruder fan (and other options):
I'm running ReplicatorG v 0029_r2 on OSX with both the extruder and motherboard at the latest firmware
Enabling the stepper motor in the controls toggles the extruder cooling fan
Disabling the stepper motor in the controls disables the extruder cooling fan
Checking the "build platform belt" checkbox on while the fan is off enables the fan (fan checkbox doesn't change)
Checking the "build platform belt" chekbox on while the fan is on keeps the fan on (fa n checkbox unchanged)
Fan checkbox works as expected - but doesn't represent fan state....toggling ABP toggles fan and so does the stepper motor controls. I didn't start having this problem until I toggled the "Hold Z" setting in the motherboard setting off then back on (Z wasn't holding) - prior to that the stepper motor controls didn't toggle the fan and neither did the belt. I'm guessing its a firmware bug.
As it turns out my problem was caused by a dead conveyer motor.
Check that you have 12 volts coming through to the motor when it's supposed to be turning and check that the motor isn't dead.
There is a known software issue in firmware version 3.0 that causes the ABP motor not to run at all, if you are experiencing this issue, your first step should be to make sure you have version 3.1 of the firmware uploaded to both your extruder controller and motherboard. If that doesn't work you can always send an email to support@makerbot.com and we'll work it out together.