Today I bugged several people far more knowledgeable than I about Arduinos, drawbots, steppers, servos, and power supplies. Here’s what I’ve learned:
- Apparently you can run a drawbot using tin can steppers! (Just check out LadaAda’s setup!)
- Apparently you can power those steppers through the power the Adafruit Motor Shield gets through the Arduino! (Thanks to Matt Mets)
- Apparently MakerBot has a crazy deal on the Adafruit Motor Shield! (Thanks to Whosawhatsis)
Having just salvaged a bunch of parts from some old electronics this weekend, I think I’m ready to pull the trigger and start building this bad boy. :)
Yay for learning!
Posts in the DrawBot Adventure Series
- Wanna make a DrawBot?
- DrawBot Resources and Links: Updated 2013/04/01
- DrawBot, the Adventure Begins
- DrawBots for the slow learner
- DrawBot - Parts Ordered!!!
- DrawBot - The Breakdown
- DrawBot - Parts Shipped!!!
- DrawBot - What would you draw?
- DrawBot - The Plan!
- DrawBot - The Hacks
- DrawBot - Giant Unicorn?
- DrawBot - The Delivery?
- DrawBot - The Delivery, Part II
- DrawBot – The Delivery, Part III
- DrawBot – The Assembly, Part I
- DrawBot – The Software, Part I (and an existential conversation)
- DrawBot – The Delivery, Part IV
- DrawBot – The Assembly, Part II
- DrawBot – The Assembly, Part III
- DrawBot – The Assembly, Part IV
- DrawBot – Design Considerations
- DrawBot – Halp!!! No - seriously, a little help?
- DrawBot – The Face Palm
- DrawBot – The Delivery, Part V
- DrawBot – The Silver Lining of Failure
- DrawBot – The Delivery, Part VI
- DrawBot – The Assembly, Part V
- DrawBot – The Assembly, Part VI
- DrawBot – Printed Parts
- DrawBot – The Assembly, Part VII
- DrawBot – The Operation, Part I
- DrawBot – The Assembly, Part VIII
- DrawBot – The Breakdown, Part II
- DrawBot – Printing!
- DrawBot – Printing, Part II
- DrawBot – Why are you crying?
- DrawBot – Calibration
- DrawBot – Pen Selection
- DrawBot – How to Recover from a Stalled Print!
- DrawBot – Drawing Success(ish)!!!
- DrawBot – Pen Selection, Part II
- DrawBot – Onwards and Upwards!
- DrawBot – Another Successful(ish) Drawing!, and an Update
- Restarting a Stalled DrawBot Drawing
- TSP FTW!
- Speedier DrawBot Drawings
- Two new DrawBot links! And an update!
- Excellent DrawBot Slides
- Another Drawing Robot!!!
- DrawBot Practice Tip: A Watched Pot
- The biggest inkjet printer ever
- Why do DrawBots draw on walls?
- Maze Code + Polargraph?
- All New Polargraph on the way!!!
- Ideas for improving my DrawBot
- DrawBot Aesthetic Re-Design Ideas
- The Eagle Has Landed
- Every Body Needs a Skull
- I think I know what I want to draw next...
- This project is not going to overengineer itself
- Overengineered Spools
- Overengineered Stepper Motor Mounts, Filament Guides
- Overengineered Bolt Endcaps, Case Holder
- Sourcing DrawBot Parts
- DrawBot - A Tour!
- DrawBot - A Preview
- Arduino Powered Drawing Robot Poll
- Building an Arduino Drawing Robot - On The Cheap
- DrawBot - Printed Parts Tour
- Unidentified Foam Object
- Arduino Powered Drawing Robot - Take 2 (Or 3)
- DrawBot, now ACTUALLY wall mounted!
- A Study of Drawing Robot Pen Holders and Design Considerations
- Drawing Robot Pen Holders, Calligraphy Pens, and Thought Experiments
- Ideal Qualities in a Drawing Robot Pen Holder
- Enough talk! Finally a pen holder!
- DrawBot Pen Holder Post Mortem
- To Maker Faire!!!
- Skipping! How could I forget the skipping?!
- Drawing Robot Penmanship
If you try to order the motor shield from Makershed, make sure you get the Adafruit version and not the official Arduino version that was just released. It looks a lot nicer, but it’s $30 and only supports one stepper or 2 DC motors.
@Whosawhatsis: I ended up getting the shield from MakerBot per your suggestion, it was only $12 versus the normal $20 or so. Even with shipping it was cheaper to order this by itself. The Adafruit shield is a must – the drawbot will need to drive two steppers and the arduino version only powers one. :/
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