4 ms·

Most vinyl cutters can use a pen as well. I have a Graphtec CE5000-40 cutter with a 15" wide bed, and I have adapters so I can stick sharpies of various sizes i

Most vinyl cutters can use a pen as well. I have a Graphtec CE5000-40 cutter with a 15" wide bed, and I have adapters so I can stick sharpies of various sizes in it. Plus it has niceties like a USB interface and plugins for Illustrator. (Downside vs. an old plotter, of course, is cost.) EDIT: also don't forget the AxiDraw! https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/846 https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/846

wlesieutre 9y ago
Interesting note on the AxiDraw, the way it holds the pen at an angle and drags it around means it can work with a fountain pen where you need the nib held with a softer angle relative to the paper (both tines touching, ink flows out in between). The photo shows it with a Lamy Safari. I don't think this is the case with regular pen plotters, which look like they hold the pen vertically and keep it fixed as it draws in different directions. Some pens will write vertically, but it's not ideal depending on the nib grind. The bottom corner of the nib is rounded to work at a range of angles, but the top might have sharper edges that would catch when dragging it upward. EDIT - I suppose you could make an adapter for a pen plotter that would hold it at an angle though.
- salgernon 9y ago
  Those folks also sold “Sylvia’s watercolor not” which was designed around, well, water color painting via the same mechanism. They also sell an “eggbot” for drawing on Easter eggs. Wonderful stuff.
- tobiastoft 9y ago
  I tried putting a calligraphy pen in my plotter and it was definitely rough on the nib because of the angle. With continuous line drawing it would probably be ok, but too much up/down movement might get messy. Still fun to watch though! Here's a short video of it in action: https://www.instagram.com/p/BNCxyfLBh8_/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BNCxyfLBh8_/
- meatsock 9y ago
  dont forget you would have to prevent the modified regular pen plotter from dragging the angled fountain pen the wrong way
  - wlesieutre 9y ago
    As long as it's not a particularly flexible nib (and most aren't these days) you can pretty much push it any direction once you have it at an angle. Lucky for me, otherwise I'd have trouble with down strokes (left-handed overwriter).
aidenn0 9y ago
Any recommendations on vinyl cutters? It looks like all the servo-controlled ones start at around $1k; are the stepper ones at all worth it?
- Kadin 9y ago
  I have an inexpensive stepper-based cutter and it has really impressed me. I had very low expectations when I bought it, but it's quite nice as a pen plotter. With an 0.05mm fiber tip technical pen, the stepper movements are indistinguishable in the final drawing. I've also run the same drawing multiple times to check repeatability, and it's within probably 10 thou (10 * [1/1000 in]) at least at first glance with a small drawing. Having a servo-based movement is probably important if you are cutting tough outdoor vinyl or stencil material, but if you are just moving a pen across paper, some of the advantages of servos don't come into play. The only problem I've had with it is when cutting 4-5mil mylar for stencils. There, because of variations in the thickness of the mylar (I think), the machine sometimes fails to cut completely. It doesn't lose its place in the drawing, though, which makes me think that they are running the stepper motors in a closed-loop mode similar to how you'd use a servo. I am not 100% on that, it's just a theory I've developed after watching the thing at work for a while. I'm still enjoying just playing with it enough for the moment, so I haven't bothered to dig into its innards. Lots of fun for under 200 bucks though, IMO.
  - jimmyswimmy 9y ago
    What's the part number for the one you have, please?
  - Zanta 9y ago
    "makes me think that they are running the stepper motors in a closed-loop mode similar to how you'd use a servo. I am not 100% on that, " Do the steppers have encoders on them? If not, the machine can't do closed loop control. It can keep track of where the rotor should be based on counting the steps of coils it has energized, but it has no way of directly keeping track of the rotor. A large enough torque resisting the rotor's rotation can cause the rotor to skip steps, but this doesn't influence the energizing of coils in the stator so the machine has no idea that anything has gone wrong. An encoder lets you directly measure what's going on with the rotor (and therefore the shaft of the motor). You basically keep track of where you should be (based on counting the steps delivered to the stator coils) then use the encoder to validate. e.g. 'I've sent 12 steps so I should be 48 degrees from where I started. My encoder is reading 26 degrees, so I must have skipped steps somewhere along the way.'
205guy 9y ago
My wife uses a vinyl cutter at a local hackerspace, and I wanted to make the same comment. When I saw it, I realized it was a 2-d printer. Somebody else put in a pen to draw huge mazes. I wonder if the smaller cheaper pen plotters could be modified to cut vinyl?

wlesieutre 9y ago

Interesting note on the AxiDraw, the way it holds the pen at an angle and drags it around means it can work with a fountain pen where you need the nib held with a softer angle relative to the paper (both tines touching, ink flows out in between). The photo shows it with a Lamy Safari. I don't think this is the case with regular pen plotters, which look like they hold the pen vertically and keep it fixed as it draws in different directions. Some pens will write vertically, but it's not ideal depending on the nib grind. The bottom corner of the nib is rounded to work at a range of angles, but the top might have sharper edges that would catch when dragging it upward. EDIT - I suppose you could make an adapter for a pen plotter that would hold it at an angle though.

salgernon 9y ago
Those folks also sold “Sylvia’s watercolor not” which was designed around, well, water color painting via the same mechanism. They also sell an “eggbot” for drawing on Easter eggs. Wonderful stuff.
tobiastoft 9y ago
I tried putting a calligraphy pen in my plotter and it was definitely rough on the nib because of the angle. With continuous line drawing it would probably be ok, but too much up/down movement might get messy. Still fun to watch though! Here's a short video of it in action: https://www.instagram.com/p/BNCxyfLBh8_/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BNCxyfLBh8_/
meatsock 9y ago
dont forget you would have to prevent the modified regular pen plotter from dragging the angled fountain pen the wrong way
- wlesieutre 9y ago
  As long as it's not a particularly flexible nib (and most aren't these days) you can pretty much push it any direction once you have it at an angle. Lucky for me, otherwise I'd have trouble with down strokes (left-handed overwriter).

aidenn0 9y ago

Any recommendations on vinyl cutters? It looks like all the servo-controlled ones start at around $1k; are the stepper ones at all worth it?

Kadin 9y ago
I have an inexpensive stepper-based cutter and it has really impressed me. I had very low expectations when I bought it, but it's quite nice as a pen plotter. With an 0.05mm fiber tip technical pen, the stepper movements are indistinguishable in the final drawing. I've also run the same drawing multiple times to check repeatability, and it's within probably 10 thou (10 * [1/1000 in]) at least at first glance with a small drawing. Having a servo-based movement is probably important if you are cutting tough outdoor vinyl or stencil material, but if you are just moving a pen across paper, some of the advantages of servos don't come into play. The only problem I've had with it is when cutting 4-5mil mylar for stencils. There, because of variations in the thickness of the mylar (I think), the machine sometimes fails to cut completely. It doesn't lose its place in the drawing, though, which makes me think that they are running the stepper motors in a closed-loop mode similar to how you'd use a servo. I am not 100% on that, it's just a theory I've developed after watching the thing at work for a while. I'm still enjoying just playing with it enough for the moment, so I haven't bothered to dig into its innards. Lots of fun for under 200 bucks though, IMO.
- jimmyswimmy 9y ago
  What's the part number for the one you have, please?
- Zanta 9y ago
  "makes me think that they are running the stepper motors in a closed-loop mode similar to how you'd use a servo. I am not 100% on that, " Do the steppers have encoders on them? If not, the machine can't do closed loop control. It can keep track of where the rotor should be based on counting the steps of coils it has energized, but it has no way of directly keeping track of the rotor. A large enough torque resisting the rotor's rotation can cause the rotor to skip steps, but this doesn't influence the energizing of coils in the stator so the machine has no idea that anything has gone wrong. An encoder lets you directly measure what's going on with the rotor (and therefore the shaft of the motor). You basically keep track of where you should be (based on counting the steps delivered to the stator coils) then use the encoder to validate. e.g. 'I've sent 12 steps so I should be 48 degrees from where I started. My encoder is reading 26 degrees, so I must have skipped steps somewhere along the way.'

205guy 9y ago

My wife uses a vinyl cutter at a local hackerspace, and I wanted to make the same comment. When I saw it, I realized it was a 2-d printer. Somebody else put in a pen to draw huge mazes. I wonder if the smaller cheaper pen plotters could be modified to cut vinyl?