First post. My modded m2 ServoFi'd

chad · Post by **chad** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 4:30 pm

Hi All First post.
I read here frequently but haven't posted yet. I have had my MakerGear M2 for about 10 months, I love it. I don't think there is a more solid printer for under 20k. I have been thinking about some upgrades for a while and finally started to implement some of them first being a servo mod. IT is sooo much nicer not having to listen to the steppers buz and whine for hours on end.

In the vid the noisiest thing are the fans. This is printing at 8000 mm/min. I am still fine tuning the servos and firmware but it is making decent parts ( ignore the corner lift

).

Here are a couple of clips of my Servoed M2.
http://youtu.be/UlFRfQgXTI0
http://youtu.be/8XPAdBrYZHs

chad

jimc · Post by **jimc** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 8:51 pm

man that is quick...and quiet.

jsc · Post by **jsc** » Wed Jul 02, 2014 10:39 pm

I don't understand. You replaced the stepper motors with servos (presumably modified for continuous rotation)? How does that even work, I didn't think you could get enough accuracy with servos.

chad · Post by **chad** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:24 am

jsc wrote:I don't understand. You replaced the stepper motors with servos (presumably modified for continuous rotation)? How does that even work, I didn't think you could get enough accuracy with servos.

These are not RC car servos. These are brushed DC servos with encoders. They always know where they are. They will not ever skip a step or loose position.
They have 3 times the torque and twice the speed. And they are very quiet.

chad

jimc · Post by **jimc** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:27 am

i am guessing your not running marlin anymore? is there a firmware out there for running servo motors or did you have to modify and rewrite some of marlin? is the rambo still the controller?

chad · Post by **chad** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:49 am

jimc wrote:i am guessing your not running marlin anymore? is there a firmware out there for running servo motors or did you have to modify and rewrite some of marlin? is the rambo still the controller?

Still running marlin and the rambo is the controller. Had to do a few small tweaks to marlin but as far as the controller is concerned it still thinks it is driving steppers.

chad

jimc · Post by **jimc** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 12:56 am

huh, i see. interesting mod. i saw a printer on kickstarter about 6 mos ago and it used servo motors. i dont know what ever happened to it or if it got funded or not. if you ever feel like sharing you should post here a list of materials with part #s and make the modded version of marlin avail for download. im sure it would be appreciated by some members.

Dave K · Post by **Dave K** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:11 am

When I first saw the video it looked almost comically fast, like watching a Keystone Cops short. Very cool.

chad · Post by **chad** » Thu Jul 03, 2014 2:27 am

jimc wrote:huh, i see. interesting mod. i saw a printer on kickstarter about 6 mos ago and it used servo motors. i dont know what ever happened to it or if it got funded or not. if you ever feel like sharing you should post here a list of materials with part #s and make the modded version of marlin avail for download. im sure it would be appreciated by some members.

I thought about that. This is about $800 worth of stuff. I had this stuff laying around, well most of it, I do this kind of thing for a living. I am actually working on a retrofit kit that will be significantly cheaper. A friend and I are designing our own servo drives and I have some nice motors that will just drop in.

Anyway I don't want to post parts lists yet because it isn't correct for the machine, The drives are too big, it just isn't properly matched.

chad

Levi8than · Post by **Levi8than** » Fri Aug 22, 2014 10:46 pm

I'll bite.

When you come up with a list of parts let me know.
Right now I have to put the dog outside while printing or else he goes nuts.
I'd need to test out one of these servos to see if it bothers him, but assuming it doesn't this is probably worth its weight in gold.

First post. My modded m2 ServoFi'd

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