Make the Original Snapmaker schematics open-source

Snapmaker Original
1

It is no secret that, since the launch of Snapmaker 2.0, most support for the Original Snapmaker was all but abandoned, in favour of the company leveraging their new platform.

Any future addons for the Original Snapmaker planned for development were also cancelled, as the technology has continued to evolve. The company does not even offer a Trade-In program, to support a discount towards upgrading to a Snapmaker 2.0 machine.

As such, this has placed a large percentage of Original Snapmaker owners with few choices:

  1. Sell a machine no longer supported beyond replacement parts on somewhere like eBay, hoping to possibly afford a Snapmaker 2.0 A250 later (which may suffer the same fate, once Artisan is out for a while).

  2. Keep using it, with the knowledge it will never expand beyond its existing ecosystem.

  3. Try to afford equipment from another, compeitor manufacturer, much of which can be the same (if not more) expensive than a Snapmaker 2.0.

This is, therefore, a petition to the Snapmaker Team to release all schematics for the Original Snapmaker open-source, including plans for the abandoned modules. This would thereby enable experienced companies like E3D to develop new modules for the platform, and users on Thingiverse to create mods to help improve their experience for a machine they already have.

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I agree , I have two new recently bought SM original that is excellent building blocks but lacks tech. Info

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I agree. Look at the longevity and community based around the wanhao Di3+. The software from ADVi3+++ and the creativity of its community has extended the useful life of this product. Why not do the same for the Snapmaker original users

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I agree.Snapmaker misled their customers by stating the machines were upgradeable and modular. If they don’t support older machines, they should be sued.

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Yes, please. I would like to mod and update the firmware, But how?

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Welcome to the forums, memegrinder :slightly_smiling_face:

Suing the company isn’t worth the cost and effort to do so - the Original Snapmaker is still upgradable, to an extent. They sell an enclosure when using more toxic materials (such as ABS), or the Laser Engraver module that produces fumes. There is also a longer Linear Module for taller 3D prints.

However, currently you cannot use the Linear Module to fully increase the build volume along all three axes, as the Snapmaker 2.0’s baseplate is not compatible, and they don’t sell a larger one for the Original. When a manufacturer no longer wants to invest in a product’s ecosystem, communities have demonstrated they can, so long as they are given the tools…

Access to the schematics would enable creating a larger baseplate, which would further support the Snapmaker 2.0’s Power and Rotary Modules, if nothing else. Then third-parties could design other modules, which utilise the Original’s screw mount.

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Agree with you. Early adopters are not well rewarded by Snapmaker. So shame. That’s the reason I won’t buy any other product from them. An access to update or upgrade my Original would be really appreciate (a 200$ Elegoo Neptune 3 prints so well that I left my Original under a sheet in my workshop).

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@Dre64 @SimonSpencer

FWIW, the original source is available on the forums, posted to a comment when the V2 source was released. I have not seen any information on how to build or package the firmware though. The V2 community was able to reverse the process by taking a V2 firmware package, stripping out the firmware binary, and replacing it with their new build. I didn’t keep up with development much after that, but there were a lot of posts and utilities posted to the forums.

I no longer have access to the sort of embedded systems hardware that I’d need to unbrick the controller after a mistake, so it’s not a project that I’m personally willing to work on.

A long time ago, users did reverse engineer the pin connectors on the print heads, allowing them to build their own custom print heads. My search-fu is not working today. I’ll keep looking, and add some links if I find them. IIRC, that works was done before the V2 was announced, but my memory could be off.

After reading the firmware, I believe you can use the larger 220mm axis for all 3 axis (handwaving around the size of the base plate). You’ll have to switch to a different slicer that lets you set the build volume. The M1025 command takes 2 different arguments:

  • M1025 M[0|1]
  • M1025 [X|Y|Z]<length_in_mm>

Some experimentation will be needed, because the axises have slightly different lengths:

#define X_MAX_POS 131
#define Y_MAX_POS 129 // Move +2mm after hitting the endstop @whimsycwd  Caution!, if we don't set this, it will cause the Y125 hit module in specific situat
#define Z_MAX_POS 128
#define Z_LONG_MODULE_POS 221

The M1025 M[0|1] commands switch between Z_MAX_POS and Z_LONG_MODULE_POS, so if I was attempting to use a long module in the X or Y, I would try the X/Y MAX_POS +93 rather than just using 221. But that’s where I’d start, not something I’ve tried.

A few people even did a bit of reverse engineering on the controller, but I think it was only enough to replace burnt out stepper motors and transitors. I remember seeing some posts many years ago, but I’m having a hard time even remembering what terms I’d use to search for them. I’ll update if I find anything.

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@clewis
Although Snapmaker no longer sells the Original 3-in-1, stock of this (and the ill-fated V2 A150 which conveniently vanished) kick around elsewhere. These amount to several thousand machines, and they obviously expect to receive commission on units in the wild, still available through retailers.

Users still need support or, if Snapmaker will not, the company needs to provide data on the firmware, so other manufacturers that build for the hardware platform can assume this responsibility.

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They finally stopped selling the Original. :frowning: I had a feeling they were going to once the Artisan hit the store.

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Is this the thread you were thinking of?

As for the firmware, SM has an official set of instructions on how to compile the SM 2.0 firmware using PlatformIO on their GitHub (here), but I don’t have the knowledge or experience to know if this can be adapted to the original firmware.

Finally, I tried looking into what you mentioned about reverse engineering the controller, and the best I could find was this:

It’s not exactly what you described, but still has some info on the chips present on the controller.

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All3DP touched base today with version 3.0 of EVA-3D’s open source extruder platform, which was announced earlier this year. Downloads for it can be found here. There may be a way to reverse engineer Snapmaker’s modules and design an EVA-style prototype for their rail mounts.

What I would like to see is Snapmaker maintain certain accessories for the A150. After they pulled machines from the Store, they seemed to have ceased production of parts as well, but some of these (such as Waste Boards and Heated Bed) would be super important to the Original’s longevity.

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Snapmaker is doing the same thing with the A350 and moving right into the Artisan. Sad to say I won’t be buying another Snapmaker product.

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Ya, I cat get schematics for my iPhone 7, so like you, I won’t be buying another Apple phone. And I paid more for the phone than my SM.

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I backed the original on kickstarter. By the time it arrived it was a so-so 3D printer. Since the extruder won’t turn anymore due to the controller apparently breaking down (although laser and CNC still work?), I bought an Ender 3 for 3d printing. I now recently got into Laser/CNC-ing, since I had the machine just stand there for over a year. In this area there are shortcomings too. But none that couldn’t be fixed by having the community improve the firmware and provide upgrades like toolprobing, work area mapping etc.

So yeah, I back this petition. Maybe we should also petition lawmakers to make it obligatory to provide schematics/sourcecode once a product has reached EOL and turns into Abandonware.

Meanwhile, I think I’ll design an adapter board to put on my bigtreetech mainboard and easily connect the motors.

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Yeah. In Canada we paid a fortune, and have warranty laws on products like this one. When you stop manufacturing parts for a product barely out of warranty, and dont have a plan for those of us who did purchase that machine, its a wonder you were never reported. Sounds to me like you have a solid business plan if you go full opensource every 5 years. Then you will rule the industry. But your product will never be bought twice. Follow Apples example and put dud parts under warranty, just keep blaming logic boards. But never leave everything on the technical capable consumer like that.