World Maker Faire New York 2014 is coming and I’m so excited! To celebrate I’m releasing this update that should make your M3 sooo much more awesome. It’s
Do you read our forums? I post super secret stealth updates there that are only for the brave, the strong, the handsome, and the dedicated. eg you. After months of working with agents around the world, I’m pleased to have major new features ready for a wider audience. Makelangelo update #70 is a big one, ladies and gents.
M3 acceleration
I’ve added acceleration to Makelangelo 3. Ever seen a car burn rubber before moving? If the old Makelangelo software tried to go too fast it would make mistakes in the same way. If you update your M3 firmware with this new version the robot will know how to ease the gas pedal to get faster speeds more often for faster drawing. This will also radically change the machine song. My previous top speed was 5000 steps/min and now I can draw well at 7800 steps/min. Spiral drawings that used to take 45 minutes now get done in SIXTEEN. That’s almost 300% faster!
Other firmwares
AMS1 and AMS2 firmwares have been merged. You have to change the MOTHERBOARD value at the top of the file based on your settings. the AMS boards are NOT able to accelerate.
Makelangelo_rumba firmware unofficially also supports Mega + RAMPS configurations now, for those of you who want to source your own parts. Same idea, change the MOTHERBOARD value at the top of configuration.h to set the board you’re using. Mega + RAMPS will support acceleration.
Control software
Etch-a-sketch drawing has been redesigned and the layout has been flipped to better accommodate the tall/narrow design of most machines. Will you be the first to make an Instructable about it?
I’m also interested to know at what kinds of speeds you can draw well with your M3. In the GUI command line you can type “G0 A[number]” to change the acceleration, and “M114” will now display your acceleration. I’ve reached top speeds of over 9000 (yes, you read that right) but I haven’t played enough to get good quality drawings with those kinds of speeds.
Maker Faire New York 2014
I have free passes to Maker Faire New York to anyone who can bring their Makelangelo on Saturday, September 20, or Sunday, September 21 to the New York Hall of Science. Tweet a picture of your robot drawing something to @MarginallyC and I’ll pick winners on Friday, September 5th. DIY kits you built yourself are eligible. Bonus points for mods, clever hacks, and anyone helping spread the word.
Our new shipment of NEMA17 stepper motors has arrived and I’m delighted that they come with a new feature. Each motor has headers installed so that they’re even easier to install in your next robot or 3d printer. All RAMPS kits and RUMBA boards already have male headers that match. Together it’s a plug-and-play way of building robots. No more worry about wiring the motor correctly!
I’ve updated my crab robot simulator (with all it’s movement styles and hexapod kinematics) to run on much of the same code as the other Marginally Clever projects Learn more, get the demo
MECH-0072 Prusa Heated bed MK2 comes fully assembled with LEDs that warn you if the bed is heating and excellent thermal conductivity for fast, even heating.
My favorite feature is the mounting hole in the top center. Once you’ve mounted the bottom two holes and calibrated so the X axis is level, a single screw in the top center can be twisted to adjust your Y axis for a quickly calibrated, flat print bed. So much easier than the earlier versions with four spring loaded screws on each corner.
This bed is 8″x8″ (~203mm). For best results, put a piece of glass on top that has a sheet of BuildTak, held in place with some alligator paper clips. That will distribute the heat more evenly and make sure your first layer stays right where it belongs.
