MakerBot Support Forum/Technical Support/Plastruder-specific Support
Problem with new plastruder filament drive motor
Tom Finding
asked this on February 10, 2011 16:41
I have only just completed building my Makerbot cup cake with the Plastruder Mk5. I was so pleased how well all the parts went together .... it really was a pleasure to build.
But I'm having trouble with the plastruder not extruding. It worked ok on day 1 but on day 2 (today) the drive motor started being erratic and has now stopped altogether. Once it started when I was trying to check the voltage at the circuitboard terminals and I thought it was a case of bad connections so I stripped the wires back and remade the connections but it still didn't work. I am getting a voltage at the terminals when the moter should be running so I know the electronics are working. is there a known problem with the drive motor?
Any help would be gratefully received as this Makerbot is for use in a university and as yet it has only produced a couple of samples.
Thanks
Tom
Comments
Ok I've had a quick response from Makerbot support.
Apparently there is a problem with the motor supplier and the official fix is to drive the filament motor with a relay.
I'll go with that and see if it's satisfactory.
did the relay fix your problem?
Yes it's running faultlessly now.
Me too!
The motor direction will be changed by Machine -> Update onboard machine option. In my case, X and Y were inverted.
By the way, the filament does not goes well with three metal washers. I removed one to push it and goes smoosly, hoever my Bot do no print out. The filament stay at the nozle. What wrong?
The manual shows thick filament only.
Thanks
Jiro