Remote Control Makerbot

A Thing Rube Goldberg would probably be proud of.

This originally started out as just a camera to be able to watch my Cupcake while it printed from another room and grew from there. After getting an automated build platform I got an idea..

Adding an Arduino Mega with and an ethernet shield, the webcam gained pan/tilt and the Cupcake got the ability to be turned on/off/reset remotely.

Revar's keypad, 16 optocouplers, a second display for the keypad and another arduino later and I got even more control over the bot.

Then I included a Mac Mini. A webserver, Applescript and RepG later and I was able to upload STL's and automatically convert them to s3g for the bot.

Then I thought to myself why not automatically move the s3g file directly to the Cupcakes SD card? Electrically switching the contacts didn't work as the wires were too long. Then a wise guy at work joked about using a robot arm to move the card from one slot to the other...

The end result is an over the to