2D Plotter Having found some round alluminium bars in the cellar, I had the idea to use them in order to build a plotter, but this didn't work out as there was to much frition on the sliding elements so that the motors (NEMA 17, 3.2kg torque) would not be able to pull/push them. I them decided to use the sliding elements from a draw for the X an Y axis an a big M6 screw bar to drive them. This is what it actually looks like: I is being controlled by an Arduino Mega and the motors are driven by three "Big Easy Drivers". I modelled housings for the switches in order to be able to fix them easily. All red parts have been 3D printed. Allthough I stared to write my own firmware, I ended up using GRBL v0.9, which works fine. The resulted prints are not yet as expected, but I think this is because of the hadware and has nothing to do with the software. Anyhow, it was a lot of fun modelling all the parts and processing step by step towards somethings that works (at least a bit ...). At the end, I decided to disassemble everything and start again, using a different approach. I ended up creating my Woody 3D printer. |