Assembling my Farmbot, missing instructions. Help needed

Troubleshooting
1

I am trying to assemble my Farmbot v1.2

I have completed the assembly up installing the Z-axis, but have trouble with the lack of instructions at this point.

How do I correctly identify all the cables? I need to identify the correct cables so I can build the cable carriers only once.

I have a set of 4 thinner motor cables with a white connector at one end, and a black standoff connector at the other.
Long, Medium, Medium and short.

I have a set of 4 thicker encoder cables with a white connector at one end, and a multiple black standoff connectors at the other.
Long, Medium, Medium and short.

The Medium and Short set is for the second and first X-axis motors, respectively.

That leaves me with the Y-axis and Z-axis motors. Am I correct in assuming the longest set goes to the Z-axis motor?

3

Yes, you are correct. Longest cable goes to z-axis. BTW, use a wire tire or some color electrical tap or something like that to wrap around the cables on both ends of the z-axis cable before you put it into that gantry tray so that you can later tell which set is the z-axis and which is the y axis.

I just started assembling on Friday. I’m 20+ hours into it, near the end, and there’s a bunch of the documentation that is wrong or missing.

I also have some extra parts and was missing at least one part so far. On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the most difficult, this project is about a 9.8 given the state of the documentation.

Also, the wiring hookup to the UTM is practically a joke. I had to completely re-engineer how that is done as it really badly designed. Seriously, wiring a bare wire to the end of a threaded screw?

I’m taking a bit of a break till it gets a bit cooler in my greenhouse, then I’m back at it to figure out how the next bits.

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4

Thanks-
Did you use electrical lugs under the screws, soldered to the cable leads? And I can’t see any wiring IDs on that cable. :frowning:

Where is the section on wiring the water solenoid and the vacuum pump? Seems to be completely missing.

5

You are correct on those as well. I just started a thread on all the missing documentation.

You are correct, the wire cables can’t be read. I ohm’d them out one at a time. I bought some small (20 ga) 90 degree ring terminals and soldered/crimped them. Then I added a lock water and nut on top of the ring terminal to hold them on each screw head.

So, the stack is lock nut, then ring terminal, then lock water, then jam nut – on each pin.

I would never suggest a simple wire tie for this job. That part will be a bear to take apart and clean the corrosion off the pins later.

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6

Oh, and I almost forgot to add, to mark one of the two hoes so you know which is which after the installation.

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7

Roger that…I’ve been marking everything along the way.

I’ve finished cabling and on to the UTM. Unfortunately I’ll have to ID and solder everything in the field, since the cable is already mounted.

At least I can pre-mount all the lugs on the tool head which will make it a tiny bit less fiddly.

Grrr…

8

These are like the lugs that I used:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Zierick-124-160-Solder-Terminal-Lug-90-degree-169-ID-Copper-Lot-of-50-5701-/262612261908?hash=item3d24e91c14:g:hFwAAOSwgmJXzt18

You could of course bend some normal ones to 90 as well.

9

I ordered these from Amazon… http://a.co/dnq5ECF

10

Those should work. You might have to place a washer under them (between it and the lock nut) because their hole diameter is 5.2mm.