Generation 3 Electronics/Tech Zone Remix

General

These electronics are based upon the generation 3 electronics provided by Makerbot Industries.

We are calling them the TechZone remix (TechZone is short for TechZoneCommunications.com llc). The version numbers have been preserved, to indicate which version of the Makerbot they are comparable to.

These are the same circuit; but, the layout has changed.

We have alot of people as if these will work with the Mendel; The answer is: "YES! That is what they are designed for."

Description of this electronics set

The primary changes to the boards have been to reduce size, and incorporate the connection changes as shown here in the RepRap web site.

I have also changed the footprints of some components; either for size, availability of the component, or for price of the component.

For those of you who want to build these yourself, you should note that we did not try to stay with larger sized components, some of our capacitors are the 0402 size, and some of the chips are the fine pitched TSSOP, or QFN packages.

The TechZone Electronics kit includes:

(1) Mainboard v1.2

(1) Extruder Controller v2.2

(3) Stepper Controller v2.3

(3) Opto Endstops

(1) USB >> TTL adapter v1.2

(1) Cable set

(1) Power Supply - this item is optional

If you are going to use these electronics with a Makerbot system and want to preserve the cabling used in the makerbot, you will probably want to make cable adapters.

Mainboard:

The TechZone Remix is drastically reduced in size, The SD card slot has been replaced with a microSD card slot, which is on the back side to further reduce size of the board. extra pins on the I2c communications have been removed (which results in the same number of pins and connections as what you end up with when you modify the makerbot as per the directions here).

We have also added an additional footprint for the processor, to allow the use of the QFN pack instead of the TQFP (it is much more difficult to solder, but, it is much easier to find and purchase)

Extruder Controller:

Again, the TechZone Remix is considerably smaller. This circuit has the least modification, since there were no extraneous pins or connectors.

We did change the screw down terminal used for the temp connection to a 2 pin .1" jumper terminal.

We also used higher amp mosfets in a Dpak configuration (almost all standard mosfets in a Dpak will work on this board, so you can select values which are correct for your use, if you are building your own.

We added an additional footprint for the processor (like on the Mainboard, and for the same reasons) and we added a footprint to the full bridge control chip(s). We are currently using the additional bridge motor control footprint for testing... so, more to come on that in a few weeks we hope.

Stepper Controller:

I don't think we made any chages here, except for the size, and pre-changing the connections as per the RepRap configurations (here)

Opto Endstop:

This board is not based upon the Makerbot, but it uses the same opto-sensor... it may still be a derivative of the makerbot board.

It behaves differently, the LED lights up when there is NOT an object in the sensor, rather than when there IS an object in the sensor

Opto Endstop NOTE

For those of you who were early purchasers of our kit, the endstop has may have problems, please read HERE (link coming soon) to see if this affects you, and what you can do to have it fixed.

USB to TTL:

This board is not available in the makerbot set, they sell a cable instead. As an alternative, at other places in the reprap forum you can find instructions for using a generic breakout board and Serial adapter.

This board also has footprints for two other usb to serial chips, one is just an QFN package of the ft232rl the other is for an CP2102 chip (which we still need to test)

Cable Set

When you purchase a complete electronics kit from TechZoneCommunications.com (kymberlyaandrus in the for sale forum); We include a cable set which uses IDC connectors and ribbon cable, it is not pre-cut and assembled. You have to assemble your own cables, this allows you to get the lengths you want, for where you locate your electronics.

Power Supply

The power supply is a generic 12V with at least 5Amps of power, we use higher amperage when it is available for a comparable price.

The power supply is universal, so that it will work in most parts of the world (assuming a standard power system of some sort).

The Ever-Controversial File Section (These are our sources folks!)

Mainboard layout files for PCB (see here for Schematic) File:TechZoneMainboard.zipFile:Test.zip

Extruder Controller layout files for PCB (See here for Schematic) File:TechZoneExtruder.zip

Stepper Controller layout files for PCB (See here for Schematic) File:TechZoneStepper.zip

Opto Endstop layout files for PCB (No Schematic for this version .. I might get one made sometime) File:TechZoneOpto.zip

USB >> TTL layout files for PCB (I used the schematic from the sample application on the data sheet [1] for the ft232rl chip) File:TechZoneUSB-TTL.zip

There is also a revised Bill of Materials. File:Gen3ElectronicsTechZoneRemix-BOM.xls

Shared Your Experiences with these Electronics in your projects

You are invited to share your experiences with these electronics here, just add links to your blog, or create an additional wiki page, then link to it here... or if what you want to share is short enough, just add it in to this page! Everything helps, and you can edit it later to clean it up.