Someone at my local makerspace made something like this, but for vertical surfaces.
BrachioGraph – a cheap, simple pen plotter
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Re: BrachioGraph – a cheap, simple pen plotter
#62This looks like great fun, but I'd prefer to make something where the output is a little more precise. Does anyone know of a DIY plotter that's a step up quality wise from this one? Or maybe a site or community that lists similar projects?
I'm currently waiting for parts for https://hackaday.com/2019/07/27/lack-of-space-is-no-longer-a...
Its creator is the developer behind the ESP-32 GRBL port.
Re: BrachioGraph – a cheap, simple pen plotter
#63[deleted]
Re: BrachioGraph – a cheap, simple pen plotter
#64Someone at my local makerspace made something like this, but for vertical surfaces. https://github.com/brandonagr/gocupi
Yours produces significantly better drawings.
Sure, it uses more expensive step motors, but there are cheap versions of those too.
Re: BrachioGraph – a cheap, simple pen plotter
#65Someone at my local makerspace made something like this, but for vertical surfaces. https://github.com/brandonagr/gocupi
It's a shame the repository doesn't have any examples of the pictures it's drawn.
There are some on http://brandonagr.github.io/gocupi/
Re: BrachioGraph – a cheap, simple pen plotter
#66Awesome to see pen plotter stuff posted here with more frequency. This project is pretty amazing in its frugality, kudos to the author. I have another pen plotter and I'd highly recommend pen plotting to anyone who's into generative art or anything similar, it's really fun to write a few lines of code to generate some visuals and then watch the plotter as your design is made into something tangible.
I'm working on a (free) app around making drawings on your computer, putting some effects on them, and sending them directly to a pen plotter. So far it only works with axidraw because that's the only one I have, but ultimately it's just sets of coordinates so it could be adapted for other plotters pretty easily. I'll post it here once it's in a decent state :)
Re: BrachioGraph – a cheap, simple pen plotter
#67This looks like great fun, but I'd prefer to make something where the output is a little more precise. Does anyone know of a DIY plotter that's a step up quality wise from this one? Or maybe a site or community that lists similar projects?
I love my evilmadscientist axidraw but honestly they are a bit pricey. There are several chinese knockoff kits to be found on alliexpress/banggood/etc that work very well. There are also a few interesting 3d printed projects to be found on thingiverse and in the greater maker community. I've built a midtbot, fun little project if bart has boards available ( https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2587684 ) and I've got the…
Fredriks design looks really interesting!
Vertical plotters are usually hard to install and calibrate but his looks like one you could slap on coworkers whiteboard and print something while he is on lunch break ;)
Re: BrachioGraph – a cheap, simple pen plotter
#68Some more images of and by the plotter: https://www.dropbox.com/s/fuifujd70jvn7lw/brachiograph-image...
Re: BrachioGraph – a cheap, simple pen plotter
#69What is the best way to increase accuracy of such servo motor ?
I wouldn't even bother trying.
Instead, look for inexpensive small bipolar stepper motors with a small angle per step, or invest in microstepping drivers.
A couple of these coupled to an Arduino GRBL CAD shield (cheap as well), with appropriate drivers, would be much more accurate. Use rigid aluminum extrusion for the arms, and only use a servo on the end to lift and place the pen on the paper.
At a certain point in complexity (and cost) you could go with a cartesian plotting system run with the same board, too.
If you don't want open-ended stepper control, adding on an encoder to the stepper isn't too difficult (probably the easiest and cheapest and long-lasting would be to get hall-effect encoder breakout boards and dual-shaft steppers, and mount the boards on brackets to the opposite end of the stepper, and mount the magnet on the shaft with a drop of super glue or epoxy).
You can do all of this easily for well under $100 USD.
Re: BrachioGraph – a cheap, simple pen plotter
#70I like the layout of this site, what is being used to present the documentation on this site? Or is it a fully custom built site?