Flatbed plotter drawing machine

[timknapen]

Hi, I've been working on a kind of drawing machine for a while now. It's a type of flatbed plotter that can draw with brushes etc. similar to a typical CNC router. The main difference is that it's built for speed rather than for the force needed for routing.
We have been using it in our studio to make posters etc. and it's starting to work quite well. I have some images and videos online here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldreceiver/sets/72157622815511236
This gallery is not completely up to date, but it gives you an impression of what I'm talking about. The speed and precession have been increased, so the current version I'm working with is faster, smoother and more stable. All the vibration you see in the videos is gone now.
The whole setup consists of software that convert SVG files into motor commands, Reprap style electronics with custom firmware and the hardware. We have also designed some beautiful single stroke fonts for the machine and incorporated support for those fonts in the software.
All the parts are based on open source electronics and software: OpenFrameworks, Arduino, Reprap, etc.
I have been thinking about cleaning up my designs and making it completely open source, maybe even offering kits, but the XY part has been difficult to get really stable and user friendly. A friend pointed me to the MakerSlide and it looks just about perfect for my project. Are you still offering the funding for projects like mine?

best,
tim.

[bdring]

I can still arrange "MakerShip" programs for some innovative open source projects. Contact me off the forum for further details.

[timknapen]

I've sent an email to your buildlog email address.

[Unfold]

A friend pointed me to the MakerSlide and it looks just about perfect for my project.

Hey Tim :)

[timknapen]

hi friend!

[timknapen]

a little update:
The machine has been named "the Longhand Drawing Machine" and the firmware for the drawing machine has been cleaned up. The source online on github: https://github.com/timknapen/Longhand-Firmware

The schematic for the electronics is online on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/worldreceiver/8714276142/in/set-72157633417062123/

I'm working very hard to finish the website that will hold all the documentation for this project. When it's done, it will be appear right here http://www.longhand.cc

I've also built software for converting SVG files to commands for the drawing machine (I call them Longhand Commands) and a really nice control panel app that controls the machine from your computer. When they are cleaned up, their sources will be released too.

[bdring]

We did a wacky "single axis" gonzo build of a drawing last night at the HackerSpace. We had about 15 people knock it out in one night. We tried to plug in the inverse kinematics into the Mach3 functions feature. The machine worked fine, except some Mach3 issues that resulted in the Y axis being a little off on the dimensions. It was a lot of fun and I am always amazed at the talent and IQ level of the average PS:One member. We will probably redo it in EMC2 next week.

Here is a rendering. I will post the real pictures as soon as the photographer posts them.

http://pumpingstationone.org/2013/06/cn ... o-build-2/

The carriages run on independent belts and touch off on limit switches on the motor box.

[orcinus]

CatterpillarBot

That's too awesome.

[bdring]

It has a strangely shaped work area. It is sort of an inverted trapezoid with the verticals edges radiused inward. By using arms of different lengths you can get a fuller build area. I would like to mount it on top of a white board because it can retract into a width of about 3 inches vertically.

The gonzo builds we do are quite fun and well attended. We use the events to teach skills too, so the guy soldering the limit switches probably never soldered before. That makes it more difficult to meet the one night deadline, but more rewarding in the end.

[orcinus]

I just had the weirdest idea...

Imagine having two of these with a way to couple/uncouple the tool head on demand.
Each could sit on its own side of a board, they'd fold neatly, and they could pass the toolhead to each other depending on the side they need to work on

(Edit: which would, of course, be just a gimmick - they could just use two tools at the same time)