Hey all. Someone donated an old Stratsys FDM 2000 to our hackerspace. Does anyone have any idea if it’s usable, or how hard it would be to convert into a functioning printer?
Any tips / suggestions about what to do with this monster would be appreciated. Thanks!
http://users.stlcc.edu/departments/fvengtech/fdm2000prod.jpg
Just think of it as a chassis.
you can either get it running in its original configuration, or you can hack it.
These are the motors (or at least, one of them) http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vPiKPvytSgM/U5tnQe_XaDI/AAAAAAAAoc0/waqQb5cDeQQ/s1600/DSC_9931.JPG
Someone experienced in building repraps should be able to fix and convert that pretty quickly. if it’s only an outdated or bad controller, I think it’s mostly hooking up wires to a new controller and configuring a firmware.
That motor looks like it has more than 4 wires but it is a 1.8’ motor
not sure how you would hook up a ramps or similar board to it, but the motors are going to be fairly standard stepper motors so you should be able to replace them if you have to. Rather nice thing to have donated.
Yep. Motor wiring is easy, the center tap wires are left unconnected. I will note that it is a NEMA23 motor, most RepRaps are NEMA17 size, but the current draw is still well within RepRap controller/stepper driver limits.
Gut it, throw away the proprietary insides, get motor controllers and convert it into something more open. We’ve got a stratasys at my hackerspace as well, and nobody has touched it. It’s garbage. I wanted to throw it out as soon as it got there but the argument was “but it’s free!”. We would have been better off not taking it in the first place.
You can also just gut it, and turn it into a filament cabinet. Maybe keep the heater hooked up so you can keep the inside at a warm temp with some desiccant.
Talk to the guys at http://buildparts.com. They are one of the only supply houses in the world certified to work on their own machines and have also modified some of them to use aftermarket controllers and such. I was talking them about it at IMTS this year. Cool guys. Might be able to help you.
I would defintely have a few people familiar with running and building 3D printers look at it, to see if there is anything wrong with it, other than maybe outdated electronics and old software. I think it would be an interesting controller conversion project, assuming the mechanisms are fine. Even proprietary machines often use parts that can be replaced with off the shelf components.
