Wiring Part I - Printing in Plastic: Build Your Own 3D Printer - page 301

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Wiring Part I
Now that you have all the electronics mounted, it's time to start wiring things up. The wiring process will
be explained over two chapters. This chapter focuses on connecting the four-stepper motor drivers to
the motherboard, along with a few other connections.
There is no soldering required in this chapter, but you will need a good pair of wire cutters and a
wire stripper. Clear yourself a good large area to work, and go slow - the connections you'll make are not
difficult, but you don't want to rush things and cut or damage any wires.
Required Parts Summary
For Chapter 17, you will be using the following components:
• Data cable, minimum three feet in length, (multi-color recommended) minimum
of six-wire strands per cable
• Qty-8, six-wire connectors (these come with the stepper motor drivers from
Makerbot.com)
• Qty-1, RS-485 cable (a standard Ethernet pass-through cable will work), minimum
two-three feet in length
Connect X-Axis Motor Driver to Motherboard
The method used to connect the X-axis motor driver to the motherboard will also be used to connect the
Y-axis and Z-axis motor drivers to the motherboard. The only difference will be in the length of wire
needed.
Figure 17-1 shows a ribbon cable obtained for wiring up the motor drivers. You'll need a minimum
of six strands (this one has 26, and is typical of a cable used to connect a computer hard drive to a
motherboard).