Buy a Max at the Maker Faire? LOGISYS POWER SUPPLY help!!

[designfactore]

Hi,

Can anyone please tell me what the correct wires are on a LOGISYS power supply on a Rostock Max? THe Assembly PDF doesn't match up with what I have. It asks for a 22 pin connector, I have a 24, then it asks for a 6, I have none. THen, the stepper motors have a yellow wire, which I was just about to wire as black (follwing the PDF), and I just found a forum posting saying that this is not correct!

Did anyone else buy a Rostock Max at the SF Bay Area Maker Faire and were not told that there would be no printed instructions in the box, or, that there would be no single assembly document, that you'd have to hunt them down, and then on top of that hunt down correct info in the forums for out of date materials? As of right now, they're not answering emails for days, and aren't even answering the phone! I don't want to be the guy to post bad reviews but so far the experience has not been good. I'm four days into a build I was told would be 8 - 15 hours.

If this company were as concerned about happy customers post-purchase, I think they should have made an effort to have a single assembly document for what they sold at the Maker Faire. Or AT LEAST give me a sticker telling me which documents I'd need and where to get them! I didn't buy a base kit with a bunch of upgrades, I bought what I saw, which was presented as a current model that you would think would have it's own manual. It's not my responsibilty as a buyer in good faith to have to piece together assembly instructions, someone's dropping the ball here and costing me money as this machine is for office use.

[geneb]

The connector on the end of the wire is irrelevant. The type was just stated as a location where you could find some power wires.

Check out the draft of the 2nd edition of the manual. It's not yet complete, but you can find it here:
http://www.geneb.org/rostock-max/Rostoc ... -Guide.pdf

The website clearly states:
"We will be out of the shop from Friday, May 10th through Monday, May 27th traveling to the Bay Area Maker Faire in California!!! If you're on the west coast, stop by and visit us

We will have limited shipping and staff during our travels, but will be answering emails regularly. We apologize for any inconvenience, and want to thank everyone to help make SeeMeCNC awesome!!!"

They're currently driving from Washington State to Indiana. Answering support emails via smart phone is a bit much to expect.

Who *specifically* told you the build would take 8-15 hours?

g.

[cambo3d]

all yellow are 12v, all red are 5v, all black are ground.

If your not happy return it while you still can.

[dsnettleton]

designfactore,
I was also frustrated when I assembled my Rostock MAX. The assembly manual was out of date as of a couple months ago. But I don't really blame SeeMeCNC for this, because I've realized how often they improve and iterate upon their design. In the end, this improves rather than diminishes the customer experience. I found this forum to be an invaluable resource during my own build, and I'm surprised you're four days into a build and this is your first post. Feel free to ask more questions if you get stuck.


geneb's right that the number of connectors makes no difference whatsoever. All that really matters is the color of the wires. Black is ground, Orange is 3.3V, Red is 5V, and Yellow is 12V. I'm pretty sure the Rostock MAX came with a diagram indicating which voltages go where. If your RAMBo is oriented the same way as mine, with the power inputs on the right, you should have black, yellow, black, yellow, black yellow. If you're installing an LCD screen, the instructions for that differ greatly as well, but I found SeeMeCNC's newer solution to be superior to that in the instructions. There's a connector board that you have to solder together. Much easier than splitting all the wires individually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_supp ... omputer%29
http://reprap.org/wiki/Rostock_MAX#RAMBo_Boards

[foshon]

Relax, bookmark the forum, and build.

[JohnStack]

The responses here are very true to the characteristics of this forum and to @SeeMeCNC's desire to build and deliver great product.

By their nature, kits on rapidly iterated designs are tough on everyone. I'm experiencing hot end issues right now - but being in the forum for a while, I'm comfortable that with a little help, I can work through it.

I think the same can be said of your ultimate product. Whether or not your Rostock is for production purposes or maker purposes, it doesn't matter. You'll get the help you need.

There are a couple of ways that I would propose you handle your kit issues:

Work on something until you're stuck. Document your question and move on to the next item/process while you wait for an answer. Needless to say, I doubt whether or not you'll wait more than 3 - 4 hours if you're in the US for a detailed response.

As everyone says, hang tough. This is very new stuff (only months old) but people are really working solutions here. @SeeMeCNC is working under ideals - and I for one would prefer them to provide 2nd level support. You'll find the first level support here - superior.

[Flateric]

I understand your a little panic'd and concerned. This was my first 3d printer build as well. And it was more challenging then I had originally anticipated, it is also far more rewarding then I even had any conception of. This was in my mind simply going to be another printer in my hardware stable. A 3D one yes but just another printer I assumed.

I could not have been more wrong. It is your ticket to become a part of a community that will help you and open your eyes to things you couldn't imagine can be done with this things. Even if you have been researching them for months prior to purchase. I had.

Welcome, being a part of the reprap 3d community is very much a part of owning a 3D printer. This is more valuable then you yet realize.

And while all of these things are very true, it is also true that the manual while not on the absolute peak of up to date is about 99% larger then most of the manuals (I'm trying to say a large proportion of these printers have no manual available at all....ANYWHERE)

You are simply dropped into the 3d printer kit with google as your only aid.

Even that manual that is actually very good is writen by users in this community for the users of this community of their own free will.

3D printers in the market today do not come from multi-billion dollor companies like HP, they also do not come with the staffing of HP. Oh wait there are in fact some 3D printers that do have this level of support and staffing. You will find them in the 150k-300k price range and they take up half a room of space.

So welcome, everyone will be glad to help you and you'll be glad to be helped. wait and see!

[designfactore]

Hey guys,

Thank you VERY much for all your help and supportive thoughts, and even more for your expertise/experience!

--Geneb: thanks for the awesome draft manual. Reading that made me realize (assuming that my gut instinct is you have the most accurate information) that the new yellow wires stepper motor instructions I found on the forum were also incorrect. So now, I've found three conflicting schematics, and for a third time, I'm going to have to re-wire the stepper connectors. I hope I have it right now!!

--foshon: totally appreciate the sentiments

--flateric: thanks man. I am looking forward to the comraderie. I just had minimal and different expectations having purchased in person, and not via the website. I bought what I saw, so I expected that I would get instructions for what I saw.

-- everyone else: thank you thank you thank you!!

So guys, (SeeMeCNC crew included) I'm not holding onto being negative, and I hope you will all continue to welcome me despite presenting constructive critique for SeeMeCNC as a business, who I'm sure are a great group of people. However, rapid development on improving a great product is not an excuse for poor instructions, those things should go in parallel. If you're ready to release your product publically, then be ready to provide correct/complete instructions for what you sell! So the website says the crew is on the road for Maker Faire. I didn't buy from the website. I bought in person at the Maker Faire, I didn't know about their website at the time. In person, I asked about tech support. That would have been a good time to tell me that they would be essentially unavailable to answer questions for the next week since I was asking right then. This is a matter of professionalism, I'm in product development, I'm only holding SeeMeCNC to the same standard as we hold ourselves. You update your product, you update your documentation, it's that simple!! My kit didn't even come with a packing list, and, the one time they answered my email last monday, Steve (who I believe is a great guy) directed me to the outdated assembly instructions on their website, since then, total silence. Steve should have directed me to your draft manual, they must have known that I purchased a kit with an Onyx at the Maker Faire, Deneb, your instructions are much clearer on the Onyx. I've wasted so much time on a scavenger hunt I didn't bargain for, and in the process, I've have to redo things because of poor documentation. I might have blown up my kit and it wouldn't have been entirely my fault.

So-- now that I've outed myself as a total noob, is there anything else that I may have misunderstood? I have not read past the mechanical assembly instructions, will there be any surprises like having to buy additional software to get this running (I have Solidworks, I'm not expecting modelling software, just whatever it takes to print). I believe whatever firmware I need has been already flashed to the Rambo.

I'm asking before searching because, well, I've done quite a bit of covering someone else's due dilligence on updating instructions, frankly, I'm burnt and respectfully asking for an undue kindness.

Cheers,

Rob

[geneb]

Rob, the software that runs the Rostock MAX is all open source. The only software you'd need to purchase is design software, and you've got that already covered. Solidworks generates really nice STL files.

You will have to upload firmware updates to the machine. This is required because while they're all the same kits, tiny variations in assembly mean that there's some parameters that will need to be tweaked. I'm going to be writing up those instructions tomorrow, but I don't know when I'll be done. I suspect Monday, but who knows.

Keep in mind that right now, the Rostock MAX stands out as not only being a full delta printer kit that uses injection molded parts, but from what I've been told, it's the only 3D printer kit that's got more than a wiki for assembly instructions.

One of the problems is that SeeMeCNC's strength is design and manufacturing. When it comes to documentation, they're not so hot. *laughs* I'm trying to correct that - the documentation originally covered the Indiegogo campaign machine that I bought - the 2nd edition covers what they're currently shipping. In the future, I'm hoping that we can work more closely in order to keep the documentation at parity with the currently shipping components. The rate of change should be a lot slower now that the machine is maturing. The most significant change has been the new EZStruder - it's a great replacement for the complex Steve's Extruder. At some point, I expect the hot end will change as well. however when that happens, the manual will be updated at the same time.

An important thing to remember is that with 3D printers of this type, you're riding a wave that's a few feet ahead of the bleeding edge. You're going to get cut a few times. Know that the folks on the forum have a wide and deep base of knowledge on these printers and you're not going to be hung out to dry.

g.