I use the legs of the resistors or capcitors that I have cut off after soldering the components on a board. Learned that from my pops. He has a little box full of cut-offs for use as bridges. If you need something thicker to carry more current, then the legs from the 30Ohm ceramic resistors are pretty good. A small piece of hookup wire with the ends of the sheath removed can also be used, but thby Matthew - Controllers
I use thermal paste (just standard stuff, not arctic silver or anything) on the middle of the heatsink and a drop of superglue on the edges of the heatsink. I tried 2 types of thermal epoxy, but both were very expensive and messy (2 components that you have to mix at the right ratio) and they never really stuck that well. I've had very good results with the superglue trick.by Matthew - Controllers
This looks promising. I have a few questions: Will this be a 2 layer or 4 layer PCB? What chips are you using to drive the stepper motors? Like Pololu or something else? Will MOSFETs be used to drive the heating elements? Is the firmware configurable from a separate user interface or does it have to be configured by altering the source code directly, like in the current firmware? Have you goby Matthew - Next Wave Electronics Working Group
That's quite a good price, about 3 pounds per set. May I ask where you are ordering these from?by Matthew - Controllers
Try letting go of the reset button as soon as the size of the sketch is displayed in the output window of arduino. Have you connected the USB-TTL cable to the extruder board?by Matthew - Controllers
However the NTD451A has better thermal dissipation capacity than the NIF5003 and is more readily available. This means that a heated bed (like the one from Makerbot) can be run quite happily from one of these without the MOSFET overheating. At the time of production of these boards, there was a lead time on NIF5003's of 6-9months (there still is a 26week lead time at mouser)! Some times we haveby Matthew - Controllers
Hi guys, I've got a South African company assembling some electronics for me. The company is run by my father and he has 35+ years of experience in electronics design. They usually make insrumentation and other products, but I convinced him to start making reprap electronics (gen3 at the moment). If anyone is interested in get electronics from a South African in South Africa (no more extreme oveby Matthew - South Africa, Johannesburg RUG
The extruder controller gets power through the motherboard through the Cat5 cable for the makerbot version. The reprap version, the motherboard is powered through the USB-TTL cable, but the extruder controller gets power directly from the power supply. This is why the RJ45 connectors are usually removed for reprap config.by Matthew - Controllers
What is the right way to alter the .h file so that you can run a stepper motor from the reprap extruder controller?by Matthew - General
What was the problem/solution? I'm having similar problems not being able to get a stepper motor to work with a reprap v2.2 extruder controller? It just buzzes and skips back and forward.by Matthew - Reprappers
thanks for the reply mccoynby Matthew - Plastic Extruder Working Group
how much current does the nichrome wire draw? I'm battling to find the 14A nif5003 mosfets, but can get ones with less current capability (7.2A) would these be sufficient?by Matthew - Plastic Extruder Working Group
www.iprint3d.org - check it out!by Matthew - Wanted
Thanks Marius! I installed the libusb-win32 and I got a blue screen! But now i see that you have to remove the avrstudio drivers first. I hope this helps (I followed the video instructions). Does this mean that I won't be able to avrstudio any more is the libusb just a replacement for the drivers that avrstudio installs? Thanks again.by Matthew - Controllers
Thanks Triffid. I read through the chip documents and all about the lock bits, but I was kind of hoping someone had a sort of how-to guide so that I don't make any stupid mistakes. Otherwise I'll just plod my way through it.by Matthew - Controllers
Thanks for the speedy repliesby Matthew - Controllers
Howzit Marius. I also have a MKII, but i can't get it to work with arduino software on win7, so I decided to use avrstudio. I want to burn a bootloader. Have you got any experience in that? Thanks, Matthew South African in Belgimby Matthew - Controllers
I've had troubles getting arduino0017 to work, so I thought I'd give avr studio a go as I am using an atavrisp mkII. I want to load the bootloader (for at168 and for at644p), but I'm not exactly sure which locking bits to activate so that it goes into the bootloader section of the chip and does not get erased when programming later from USB-TTL. Any ideas? Thanksby Matthew - Controllers
Hi, I was going through the Extruder controller v2.2 build instructions and i noticed an optional 180ohm resistor that is supposed to be inserted if you are only using one extruder per motherboard. It is a termination resistor for the RS485 communication port. Is this necessary?by Matthew - Controllers
You can purchase PCBs and full kits (assembled and DIY) from iprint3D. check out www.iprint3d.org. Regards Matthew store owner of iPrint3Dby Matthew - Reprappers
hi Freds, The heatsink is an industry standard part and is made by Fischer Elektronik. It has a Thermal Resistance of 63°C/W and is adhesive mount.by Matthew - Denmark RepRap User Group
Hi all, I said I'd let you know when I was up and running, so here we go... We're a Belgian based shop that is selling Gen3 electronics, motors and cables. Go to and have a look around, I hope we have something for you. This is a self made site (so it might have gremlins). If you notice any bugs or problems, just use the contact us link on the page and let us know. We'll get on it ASAP. I'mby Matthew - For Sale
Hi all, We're a Belgian based shop that is selling Gen3 electronics, motors and cables. Go to and have a look around, I hope we have something for you. This is a self made site (so it might have gremlins). If you notice any bugs or problems, just use the contact us link on the page and let us know. We'll get on it ASAP. I'm trying to cater for as many custom demands as possible, so if it's noby Matthew - Denmark RepRap User Group
Hi all, We're a Belgian based shop that is selling Gen3 electronics, motors and cables. Go to and have a look around, I hope we have something for you. This is a self made site (so it might have gremlins). If you notice any bugs or problems, just use the contact us link on the page and let us know. We'll get on it ASAP. I'm trying to cater for as many custom demands as possible, so if it's noby Matthew - Finnish RepRap User Group
Hi all, We're a Belgian based shop that is selling Gen3 electronics, motors and cables. Go to and have a look around, I hope we have something for you. This is a self made site (so it might have gremlins). If you notice any bugs or problems, just use the contact us link on the page and let us know. We'll get on it ASAP. I'm trying to cater for as many custom demands as possible, so if it's noby Matthew - For Sale
The boards are all 2 layer. Most pcb houses don't like having multiple designs in one run, unless you're making prototypes, but then you wait longer and pay a little more and get less quantity. Like, I said, I've got boards and kits, but I'll harp on more about that later.by Matthew - Denmark RepRap User Group
I have the complete gen3 electronics: Motherboard V1.2 Extruder Controller V2.2 Stepper Driver V2.3 Opto Endstop V2.1 Of those, I have three versions, ie. one version with the RJ45 connectors (makerbot style) and a reprap version with the screw in headers. I also have a light version which doesn't have any headers so you can choose your own or hardwire straight to the board (it's a little cheapby Matthew - Finnish RepRap User Group
Unfortunately I don't have the startup budget to offer the plastic parts at the moment. So, for now, I'm only offering electronics. I'm having some difficulty getting some of the parts in and there seem to be some extra costs involved that I hadn't foreseen, so i'll have to change my price structure very slightly, so I can't give a good estimate just yet. You'll know within the week, but I can atby Matthew - Finnish RepRap User Group
Hey NRS, where are you situated? I'm starting up a webshop to supply electronics kits (do-it-yourself soldering or semi and fully assembled) for europe. I'm based in belgium.by Matthew - Reprappers
PS The big problem with the budget that is displayed at reprap.org is that the assume a cost of 20 pounds for the rep rapped parts, but at the moment this is impossible unless you have a repstrap or a good buddy? in terms of electronics, if you buy everything from me, i should be able to come in close to the listed price in their budget (notice these are razor thin margins and not really helpfulby Matthew - Finnish RepRap User Group