What needs to be done (for compatibility of the Maker 3)?

[MrEbbinghaus]

I have a Maker 3 with a PIC32MK1024MCF100, but it's listed as "not yet" compatible.
What's needed for compatibility?

In general maybe there can be a todo-list of where contributions are needed and what already works/is tested and what not.

(I have a Maker 3 that Cricut want me to throw away because of a defective IR sensor. It makes me feel sick knowing that they didn't even bother to repair the otherwise working device.)

I really appreciate this project as a stand against "you don't own your hardware" and "don't repair, buy new" culture.

[virtualabs]

This todo-list idea is great, I'll add this ASAP (in the readme and doc for now).

IIRC, the Maker 3 hardware is really different with a debug header located somewhere else on the PCB and a different pin-out for the micro-controller. I focused on the first Maker I could grab for cheap (Maker One Champagne) and dismantled without losing too much money in case of a failure, but I do also bought a second-hand Maker 3 for a few bucks that has been stored on a shelf waiting for my curiosity/motivation to kick in and get it reverse-engineered.

I totally agree, e-waste is a nightmare and we need to take back control on those software-locked devices to give them the life they deserve 😄.

[virtualabs]

Updated README.md to include a short todo list of issues/features that need to be taken care of, including both Maker Champagne and Maker 3.

[MrEbbinghaus]

Great! I had hoped that the hardware would be similar enough. After all, these devices seem cheap enough to produce that they can just be thrown away at the first sign of a minor defect. 😞

For now I dismantled and soldered on male pins to the two six-pin headers.

I am quite a novice when it comes to electronics, and I'm not sure how much time I am able to spend on this. However, if you need or want to test a device, I'm happy to help.

(The image is slightly warped because I used panorama mode to get a higher resolution shot.)

[virtualabs]

Hardware looks pretty similar, in fact. I can easily spot the two DC motor drivers used for X and Y (top left hand corner) and the three dedicated to the cutting head (2 for each tool holder's Z axis and 1 for the motorized tool). It may be possible to make some small modifications to the source code to compile for this target, if it is not fully protected/locked and does allow flashing a new firmware.

Thanks for sharing these pictures !

[MrEbbinghaus]

It looks very similar to the ATH-84-113-X1

The white and blue 4-pin headers on the left are just for line detecting IR sensors.

[YumYumTuete]

Here is +1 waiting for a Maker 3 release since the beginning of the project.
Cant wait to see my blocked maker 3 in action again. 😂
So i just wanted to make clear that interest in these is there. Its not a useless job to port it to the Maker 3.

[Mulderke]

Hi, Damien, i read and listened youre progress on the maker machine. Good for me to exercise translating spoken French to Dutch 👍. It would be very nice to enable also the Rotary axis to get a real radial knife function. I also have a maker 3 which is blocked. I dont have much programming expierience but where i can assist count me in. Keep up the good hacking work 🙂

[virtualabs]

I ordered some hardware to assemble a bench for these Cricut's DC motors in order to figure out how a PIC32MX470 can drive one efficiently with high/enough precision position tracking. My idea is to replicate my Cricut Maker's hardware with a PIC32MX470 dev board to ease flashing and testing. I really hope to end up with a solution that drives such a motor as smooth as possible and with very low noise. Once done, the next big challenge will be to make it fit in GRBL's code 😅.

I'll keep you posted through this issue. I'm expecting to work on this late February or in March.

[audryhome]

Bonjour Damien, Je vous ai envoyé un ensemble moteur l’année dernière. Au cas ou vous en auriez besoin, j’ai aussi une tête de maker 3 à votre disposition. Je l’ai récupérée sur une machine dont la courroie était cassée. Cordialement, Le dim. 8 févr. 2026, 07:53, Damien Cauquil ***@***.***> a écrit :

*virtualabs* left a comment (virtualabs/cutcutgo#25) <#25 (comment)> I ordered some hardware to assemble a bench for these Cricut's DC motors in order to figure out how a PIC32MX470 can drive one efficiently with high/enough precision position tracking. My idea is to replicate my Cricut Maker's hardware with a PIC32MX470 dev board to ease flashing and testing. I really hope to end up with a solution that drives such a motor as smooth as possible and with very low noise. Once done, the next big challenge will be to make it fit in GRBL's code 😅. I'll keep you posted through this issue. I'm expecting to work on this late February or in March. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#25 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/ABTQJVYOIO2QRYAPPAQG5GT4K3MM5AVCNFSM6AAAAACQUKUWB6VHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTQNRWGMZTIMJWGA> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

*Jean VISCONTE*

[virtualabs]

Bonjour Damien,

Je vous ai envoyé un ensemble moteur l’année dernière.

Au cas ou vous en auriez besoin, j’ai aussi une tête de maker 3 à votre
disposition. Je l’ai récupérée sur une machine dont la courroie était
cassée.

Merci beaucoup pour les moteurs, c'est un de ceux que vous m'avez envoyé qui va servir sur le banc de test 😃 ! J'ai commandé quelques contrôleurs de moteurs DC (pont en H type A4950 identique à ceux utilisés sur la Cricut) ainsi que de la connectique histoire de faciliter les branchements. Première étape: réussir à piloter un moteur convenablement (en mode PID et non stepper), et avec la meilleure précision possible. Ensuite on verra pour en piloter deux ou trois en simultanés.

Pour la tête, je m'y attaquerai une fois le code de pilotage des moteurs opérationnel (je vais essayer de procéder par étapes).