4 ms·

This 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 quali

This 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?

cpach 7y ago
Can’t vouch for the quality but just searching for [diy plotter] yields plenty of results that look interesting.
DanieleProcida 7y ago
More expensive servo motors will produce better results, but past a certain point, they would require more power than the Pi alone can supply. The mechanical construction also introduces imprecision.
sleepybrett 7y ago
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 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2587684) and I've got the full BOM and have printed most of the parts for a modest sized d.i.d. plotter (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3789969 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3789969). Also don't discount polar style hanging plotters they can be tricky accuracy wise due to sway, which i've seen countered both by decreasing plotting speed and by working the potential sway into your design. Just a quick search turned up this https://www.hackster.io/fredrikstridsman/stringent-the-15-wall-plotter-d965ca https://www.hackster.io/fredrikstridsman/stringent-the-15-wa.... You can start small like that and then improve components along the way. Swapping the string for beaded cord or timing belt etc. They are patricularly interesting drawbots because if you want to plot a larger area you can just spread out the motors and add more string.
- panpanna 7y ago
  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 ;)
pubby 7y ago
I've seen plotters made out of old CD drive parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3vuzb_KL5c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3vuzb_KL5c
penagwin 7y ago
I haven't looked to far into this project, you might be able to gain a decent amount of stability with better materials like 3d printed plates instead of cardboard. (This is a place where CF filament actually makes sense, it's one of the most rigid printable plastics)
- semi-extrinsic 7y ago
  Or you could just laminate that cardboard with some fiberglass and epoxy, on both sides. A roll of 5cm x 3000 cm fiberglass woven cloth is $9 incl shipping on ebay. Buy some two component epoxy at the local hardware store, like 10 fl. oz. for $15. Cut your cardboard and fiberglass to whatever size and shape you like. You're going to make a sandwich: fiberglass, cardboard, fiberglass. Wear disposable gloves. Cover your benchtop in two layers of cling film. Put your sandwich down, carefully rub epoxy into the top fiberglass, two layers shrink wrap on top, flip the thing over, rub epoxy into the second fiberglass, more cling film. Put it in press with some weight, leave overnight. If your cardboard has some thickness and good compressive strength, the strength of the resulting sandwich is probably such that you won't be able to break a 10 cm long stick with your bare hands. 3D printing is cool. But for random repairs around the house, or building strong flat things like this, epoxy and fiberglass is the bee's knees. We've built stand up paddle boards with this technique, just replacing the cardboard with XPS plates. No vacuum bagging required, really. (Of course it would give further strength and much improved aesthetics.)
  - pierrec 7y ago
    Regarding the solidity of this technique, these days a lot of indoor climbing holds are made of fiberglass held together by epoxy, with a thin layer of textured plastic on the outside. These are generally called fiberglass volumes. The material is so solid that a meter-wide hold is actually just an empty shell with a thickness of a few mm. This easily withstands a heavy dude jumping onto it sideways (in fact, that's what it's there for!)
  - penagwin 7y ago
    I'm a huge fan of Peter Brown on youtube, I've been wanting to get into using epoxies for various projects, it's just that I live in a small apartment, I'm not sure where to start, and I know I'll need ventilation. I'm biased towards 3D printing simply because I already have my own printer, so it's simply the fastest method for me (not including print time, but epoxies have to cure anyway).
th0ma5 7y ago
I bought a kit called the EleksDraw and found it for $140 shipped. It uses G Code and didn't take too long to put together maybe a couple of hours at a slow place.
- ashish01 7y ago
  From where did you buy this? Thanks!
  - th0ma5 7y ago
    I think Banggood
C1sc0cat 7y ago
A more rigid frame and an X Y layout of the servos maybe an maybe a port of GINO-F
carapace 7y ago
I'd say the next step up would be something like the Morgan RepRap: https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Morgan https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Morgan
dh-g 7y ago
I'm currently waiting for parts for https://hackaday.com/2019/07/27/lack-of-space-is-no-longer-an-excuse-for-not-having-a-pen-plotter/ https://hackaday.com/2019/07/27/lack-of-space-is-no-longer-a... Its creator is the developer behind the ESP-32 GRBL port.
mkl 7y ago
Well, depending on your definition of "DIY" and "make"... I have a Roland DXY-1100 from ~1990, an A3 flatbed design that is very precise. To make it go I had to build a weird serial adaptor and a weirder two-voltage DC power supply, so I count it as DIY! Because old plotters like this were originally designed for commercial use (design, architecture, engineering, etc.) they're often very well designed and well made, so still good despite their age. Chiplotle (note the extra "l") is a handy Python library for controlling plotters like this. Unfortunately I managed to short out my power supply and fry one of the voltage converters, so I need to remake the power supply and make an actual case for it so I don't do that again! I also have a much bigger Roland plotter (not flatbed), but I haven't got that going yet.
- joshu 7y ago
  i found one of the power supplies on ebay fairly easily. i’ve thought about replacing their voltage regulator stuff internally as well.

cpach 7y ago

Can’t vouch for the quality but just searching for [diy plotter] yields plenty of results that look interesting.

DanieleProcida 7y ago

More expensive servo motors will produce better results, but past a certain point, they would require more power than the Pi alone can supply. The mechanical construction also introduces imprecision.

sleepybrett 7y ago

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 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2587684) and I've got the full BOM and have printed most of the parts for a modest sized d.i.d. plotter (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3789969 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3789969). Also don't discount polar style hanging plotters they can be tricky accuracy wise due to sway, which i've seen countered both by decreasing plotting speed and by working the potential sway into your design. Just a quick search turned up this https://www.hackster.io/fredrikstridsman/stringent-the-15-wall-plotter-d965ca https://www.hackster.io/fredrikstridsman/stringent-the-15-wa.... You can start small like that and then improve components along the way. Swapping the string for beaded cord or timing belt etc. They are patricularly interesting drawbots because if you want to plot a larger area you can just spread out the motors and add more string.

panpanna 7y ago
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 ;)

pubby 7y ago

I've seen plotters made out of old CD drive parts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3vuzb_KL5c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3vuzb_KL5c

penagwin 7y ago

I haven't looked to far into this project, you might be able to gain a decent amount of stability with better materials like 3d printed plates instead of cardboard. (This is a place where CF filament actually makes sense, it's one of the most rigid printable plastics)

semi-extrinsic 7y ago
Or you could just laminate that cardboard with some fiberglass and epoxy, on both sides. A roll of 5cm x 3000 cm fiberglass woven cloth is $9 incl shipping on ebay. Buy some two component epoxy at the local hardware store, like 10 fl. oz. for $15. Cut your cardboard and fiberglass to whatever size and shape you like. You're going to make a sandwich: fiberglass, cardboard, fiberglass. Wear disposable gloves. Cover your benchtop in two layers of cling film. Put your sandwich down, carefully rub epoxy into the top fiberglass, two layers shrink wrap on top, flip the thing over, rub epoxy into the second fiberglass, more cling film. Put it in press with some weight, leave overnight. If your cardboard has some thickness and good compressive strength, the strength of the resulting sandwich is probably such that you won't be able to break a 10 cm long stick with your bare hands. 3D printing is cool. But for random repairs around the house, or building strong flat things like this, epoxy and fiberglass is the bee's knees. We've built stand up paddle boards with this technique, just replacing the cardboard with XPS plates. No vacuum bagging required, really. (Of course it would give further strength and much improved aesthetics.)
- pierrec 7y ago
  Regarding the solidity of this technique, these days a lot of indoor climbing holds are made of fiberglass held together by epoxy, with a thin layer of textured plastic on the outside. These are generally called fiberglass volumes. The material is so solid that a meter-wide hold is actually just an empty shell with a thickness of a few mm. This easily withstands a heavy dude jumping onto it sideways (in fact, that's what it's there for!)
- penagwin 7y ago
  I'm a huge fan of Peter Brown on youtube, I've been wanting to get into using epoxies for various projects, it's just that I live in a small apartment, I'm not sure where to start, and I know I'll need ventilation. I'm biased towards 3D printing simply because I already have my own printer, so it's simply the fastest method for me (not including print time, but epoxies have to cure anyway).

th0ma5 7y ago

I bought a kit called the EleksDraw and found it for $140 shipped. It uses G Code and didn't take too long to put together maybe a couple of hours at a slow place.

ashish01 7y ago
From where did you buy this? Thanks!
- th0ma5 7y ago
  I think Banggood

C1sc0cat 7y ago

A more rigid frame and an X Y layout of the servos maybe an maybe a port of GINO-F

carapace 7y ago

I'd say the next step up would be something like the Morgan RepRap: https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Morgan https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap_Morgan

dh-g 7y ago

I'm currently waiting for parts for https://hackaday.com/2019/07/27/lack-of-space-is-no-longer-an-excuse-for-not-having-a-pen-plotter/ https://hackaday.com/2019/07/27/lack-of-space-is-no-longer-a... Its creator is the developer behind the ESP-32 GRBL port.

mkl 7y ago

Well, depending on your definition of "DIY" and "make"... I have a Roland DXY-1100 from ~1990, an A3 flatbed design that is very precise. To make it go I had to build a weird serial adaptor and a weirder two-voltage DC power supply, so I count it as DIY! Because old plotters like this were originally designed for commercial use (design, architecture, engineering, etc.) they're often very well designed and well made, so still good despite their age. Chiplotle (note the extra "l") is a handy Python library for controlling plotters like this. Unfortunately I managed to short out my power supply and fry one of the voltage converters, so I need to remake the power supply and make an actual case for it so I don't do that again! I also have a much bigger Roland plotter (not flatbed), but I haven't got that going yet.

joshu 7y ago
i found one of the power supplies on ebay fairly easily. i’ve thought about replacing their voltage regulator stuff internally as well.