Category Archives: DrawBot

My attempt to build a drawing robot

DrawBot – The Breakdown

Posted on by

The Breakdown:

  • Overall, this project cost to date is $103.30.   That’s less than I would have spent for a single really large framed print.  If I had to, I could have done this for less – especially if I were willing to be more patient.
    1. If I had placed my order with just one source and for the cheapest/slowest shipping option possible, I might have saved $5 in shipping. 1  For the extra $5, I’d rather have all the parts arrive this Thursday rather than next Thursday or a month or two when the shields were back in stock.
    2. I probably could have used an old power adapter from some other old scrap electronic device, but at $6.95 it just made sense to get a brand new device from Adafruit so I could dedicate the adapter to this project.
    3. I could have probably done without the micro servo and saved $6.00 since I’m mainly interested in doing single-line drawings – but this small investment will ensure I can do any kind of drawing I want by enabling pen lifts.
    4. I recently pulled two tin can stepper motors from old electronics, which could probably do the job.  However, at $14.00/stepper motor the price just seemed right.  These are pretty big motors that would be able to handle negotiating beaded cords with weights, if I ultimately have to go that route.
    5. Since I don’t have tons of parts lying around and I’d like to get started on this project before the weekend, it was worth it to me to pay a little extra.  However, if you just had to do this project for the cheapest possible amount and didn’t care how long it took, you could shop around to place a single order with one distributor, recycle a power adapter, and probably pull a small servo and two steppers out of some dumpster-score/junk heap.
  • At just a little over $100, I can use an identical hardware setup to John Abella – which means I can recycle his modifications to the Polargraph code.  Since he was using metal beaded cord and printed gears, he had to modify the code to accommodate these changes.  I’ll have to make some changes too – but it should be much easier to do so since I can compare John’s and Sandy’s code bases.  If the parts ship today, I should be able to get them on or before Friday.  The additional benefit of using the US Postal Service is that they’d deliver on Saturday if it comes to that.
  • For a full list of all parts I ordered, check out my post “DrawBot – Parts Ordered!!!“
Default Series Title
  1. Adafruit was out of their motor shields, so I had to go to a third-party.  Admittedly, a third-party I love using.  Waiting until they were in stock and then placing a single order would probably have saved me $8, but the shield was already discounted $8 through MakerBot anyhow.  I guess that would have been a wash… [↩]

DrawBot – Parts Ordered!!!

Posted on by

So, I just placed an order for all the electronics parts I’ll need.  A big thank-you to John Abella for this help in choosing the steppers and power adapter.  Here’s what I bought and from where:

Default Series Title

 

DrawBots for the slow learner

Posted on by

Today I bugged several people far more knowledgeable than I about Arduinos, drawbots, steppers, servos, and power supplies.  Here’s what I’ve learned:

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!

Default Series Title

DrawBot, the Adventure Begins

Posted on by

Update:  If you want to find the latest on my DrawBot adventures and build log, check out this link!

Okay!  I think I’m ready to do this!  Is anyone interested in playing along at home?  Let’s give this a whirl!  Here’s what I’m thinking:

  1. Type.  There are at least three distinct drawing styles among the various drawbots.  However, I suspect this is mostly a software issue.  Der Kritzler draws with lines or little cross marks.  The Polargraph draws large “square” pixels.  Harvey Moon’s Drawing Machine draws tight concentric circles.  I’m not sure I have a preference among the various methods and, really, I suspect any differences really lie in the software, not the specific hardware setup.  In any case, for a variety of reasons, explained below, I’m going to try to build a Polargraph based drawbot.
  2. Documentation.  I like the Polargraph for its use of off-the-shelf parts like an Arduino and Adafruit motorshield and for its documentation.  The Make Magazine drawing machine also has a lot of documentation – but it is a very from-scratch design and there are some important images that are broken in the tutorials.  Der Kritzler also has decent documentation, but it appears to be more technical than I’m comfortable with at the moment.  One other huge benefit to the Polargraph is that Sandy Noble is still publishing updates for it – as recently as yesterday.
  3. Parts.  Der Kritzler uses expensive toothed belts, the Polargraph uses (plastic) beaded cord with weights, and Harvey Moon’s drawing machine uses something with weights – probably beaded cord.  The most interesting variation for me is monofilament spool method used by the Make Magazine system.  It has a weight on the “gondola” / printhead itself and winds/unwinds filament off the spool.  The benefit for me with this system is that it won’t have unnecessary hanging and swinging weights associated with each of the two cords.  When one has kids and cats it is best to minimize attractive nuisances.
  4. Sourcing.  Adafruit is out of their motor shields, so it looks like the MakerShed is going to be my best bet for picking up Polargraph-style parts.  An added bonus is that the MakerShed is located in Sebastopol, which is only a two-hour drive from my place in the SF Bay Area.  While I’m not about to drive four hours to save $15-$20 in shipping, it does mean the parts will get here quickly.
    1. Arduino: $30 @ the MakerShed
    2. Adafruit Motor Shield: $20 @ the MakerShed
    3. Stepper motors (one for each side): $10-$38/each.  However, which should I buy?!
    4. Servo motor (for pen lifts):  $15-$20.  However, which should I buy?!
    5. Power supply:  There are lots!  Which should I buy?!  Will I need a second to power the steppers?
    6. Since I’m planning to build a working Polargraph style robot using a monofilament spool rather than beaded cord, I’m going to forgo the beaded cord for the moment.  If I need the beaded cord, I can just print the gear/sprockets later. 1

Anyhow, your input on which steppers, servos, and power supplies is greatly appreciated.

Default Series Title
  1. Don’t you just love having your own 3D printing robot?! [↩]

DrawBot Resources and Links

Posted on by

I’ve moved the latest updated version of this post to my website dedicated to “v-plotter” drawing robots.  Check it out!

***

As I’m gathering the parts and the courage to build my own Drawbot, I’m keeping track of the various resources I’m using.  Since I’ll be documenting my success1 here, it would be nice to have the online resources I’m using organized in one place.  To this end, and in furtherance of this goal, and without further ado, I bring you an ever growing list of resources.2

Verbosely yours,

MakerBlock

Update:

  • 2013/04/01:  Link to Vertical Plotter on Arduino.cc, DrawBug by Tinkerdays, Whiteboard plotter, and Giant Printer
  • 2013/02/14:  Link to Erik the WallPlotter.
  • 2013/01/25:  Link to Gontarcyyk.org
  • 2012/08/27:  Link to Stuart Childs’ DRBO Polargraph
  • 2012/08/15:  Link to Michael Cooks’ Polargraph build at Foobarsoft.com
  • 2012/06/27: Link to Drawing Machine (Thanks LineKernel!)
  • 2012/04/19:  Link to Facebook Wall Robot
  • 2012/04/16:  Link to Norwegian Creations’ Drawing Machine
  • 2012/04/10:  Link to SmoothOctopus and Dan Royer’s Drawbot! (Thanks Dan!)
  • 2012/03/26:  Link to GarabatoBOT
  • 2012/03/18:  Link to Dealywhopper’s Mr. Scratchy
  • 2012/02/16:  Added links to John Cliff’s “Ugly Cousin” DrawBot
  • 2012/02/12: Added link to Viktor
  • 2012/01/30: Added Lanthan’s printable Krizlerbot Polargraph gondola
  • 2012/01/27:  Added more info about James Provost’s InternBot and several other DrawBots
  • 2012/01/19:  Updated to include link to Matthew Venn’s energy monitoring Polargraph
  • 2012/01/09:  Updated to include link to Matt Met’s Whiteboard drawbot!  Thanks for the link Matt!

Links:

Default Series Title
  1. Or, alternatively, EPIC failures [↩]
  2. Some of which were borrowed from Sandy Noble‘s site [↩]
  3. Instructions for Adafruit motor shield assembly [↩]
  4. Includes parts list! [↩]
  5. The Make Magazine contest ended 3/3/2011 [↩]
  6. The last one is just a graffiti/painter robot that paints on far off walls by shooting a paintball gun at the surface.  It’s really quite awesome. [↩]

Wanna make a DrawBot?

Posted on by

So, I wanna make a drawbot.  While there are any number of draw-bots and art-bots out there, the kind I would really like to make is the kind that suspends a pen or a pen in a carriage on a wall by two wires or cords that are reeled in and out in order to allow the pen to draw across a large sheet of paper hung on a wall.  The Der Kritzler, in the video below, is an example of the most recently updated of such projects:

Another great reason to point out the Der Kritzler is that it links to so many other similar resources.  The other links below are for similar well documented projects.

The last one is just a graffiti/painter robot that paints on far off walls by shooting a paintball gun at the surface.  It’s really quite awesome.  Since several of these people have already actually built drawbots, I’m thinking there must be a reason for not using simpler/cheaper methods for construction.

When I conceive of such a device, I think that the kind I would want would not even need a pen lift, since it would draw in a TSP / traveling salesman problem single-line-art format.  The basic common setup is to have two stepper motor, one controlling each string or, as in the case of the Der Kritzler, two toothed belts.  However, why wouldn’t someone just use a reel of fishing line, nylon cord, or whatever that is reeled in and out on a spool that is directly connected to the stepper?

Anyhow, it would seem that the project would require an Arduino, two stepper controllers, two stepper motors, a servo motor if pen lifts are required, string, and a bunch of parts that could be printed such as pulleys, gears, carriages, mounts, etc.  Now the only thing I have to overcome is my total and complete ignorance when it comes to connecting an Arduino to anything and then, you know, programming it.  :)

Sooo…  Is this a project that interests you?  Or is this a project that holds no interest for you, but the idea of helping with a project interests you?  Where should I begin?  (I’m guessing buying an Arduino…)

Default Series Title