I figured I should actually let it draw something instead of just fiddling with other parts of it. I feel like I’m going to need to get a couple picture frames that I can swap pictures around. This is the largest and longest drawing to date for me. It’s about 21x17 inches. Not full size (about 22x24 - I can get a little more X but that centers it on the paper) due to orientation but it came out great.
This is my beagle Sadie who passed away a few years ago. I didn’t keep track of how long it took. Maybe 8 - 10 hours? It’s 3 Pigma Micron 08s (0.5mm - what I could find in a pack of grays). About 1500 feet of lines. (Side note - I got a Micron PN to try which has a hard plastic nib. The regular ones start fine but wear down, which is ok. I can adjust settings to deal with the increased width. I might try something finer than an 05 (0.45mm) since once the rounded part of the tip is worn off, it appears to last awhile.)
After trying (and failing) to design something as a single corner piece to hold the LED strips, I’m splitting it into pieces to make it simpler and be able to print without supports. Still a work in progress with a few iterations to go before I print one. This is the direction but there’s more to the vision. I should be done drawing on eggs soon (from which I learned some things to apply here as well), and I’ll get back to this and it’s collection of rabbit holes.
That looks great. Is that three pack from Amazon (black, cool gray and light cool grey)? The plots look a lot better with the grey pens than they do when I “fake” the gray with a ball point. Do you think the order matters (light to dark…)? Is it easy to match colors with the Drawbot software? The code I use is based on the Copic pens and I can modify the RGB color definitions to sort of match things to make it work.
I couldn’t get a good result using color match, but was happy with what the defaults provided. The only thing I changed for the 08 pens was to “rescale to pen width”. I was going to try making that larger. This is using “Sketch Lines” and the only other thing I remember changing was to reduce the Plotting Resolution.
No, it won’t be this bright or this crazy but this will work. With WLED, I can configure each side with independent colors/effects. I can also control it for 4 presets, brightness, and on/off with a remote. Having all sides on but the right might be the best option for that shadow.
I might run the plotter and LEDs with separate power supplies (I did run two sets of wires through the wall) so that I can turn them on and off independently. Or maybe I can just get some kind of relay. “Alexa, turn on the pen plotter” is already kind of fun.
I will be lowering it by 15mm. I wasn’t sure how much space I had until I tried it. I need to cut the channel and the strips, but I didn’t want to do that until I sorted out the details.
I wanted to experiment with some color sketches so I went ahead and bought the DrawingBot v3 software. Not having much luck with the color matching. The default settings just seem to randomly throw the pen colors throughout the drawing with no apparent connection to the colors in the original image. The Colour Matching setting does sort of match pen color to the original image but the overall drawing doesn’t look very good. Anyways, I had a question regarding your post:
To be clear, that image of Sadie is the original imported image and not a rendering of the plot, correct?
Thanks. I’ll play around with it some more, but unless I’m missing a magic setting, the color matching isn’t what I expected. Some of the Path Finding options are pretty cool, so I think it’s worth it. I’m still getting better results from the original open source code when it comes down to the pens I use and the paths (Sketch Lines and Sketch Squares).
We’ve done some interesting sketches at the coffee shop:
If I remember correctly, it prints out 3 files under the graphic. 1-Maze Wall Gcode, 2-Solution Path Gcode, 3-Maze Wall and Solution SVG. And in the console is the gcode of a pen wandering through the maze trying to find the solution. Should work fine if you set the canvas size to the mm dimensions of your plotter. Once you get up over 600x600 it gets a little flaky and crashes randomly. Don’t ask me how it works - I had Copilot write it.
I never know how people will react, and I didn’t think this would be a hit, but it was very popular. Had it plot the walls on day 1. On day 2 it wandered aimlessly through the maze (used an empty pen so it didn’t actually draw anything). On day 3 it drew the solution. Lots of possibilities.
Thought I would post an update for anyone interested in the reliability of this plotter design. It has been 8 months since the plotter was hung in the coffee shop. It is powered on and lit 24/7 (motors held in position when not moving) and is drawing an average of 35 hours per week. So, it probably has about 1200 hours of motion on it. The only issues I have had are with the 28-gauge silicon coated wire that I used for the micro switches. One of the wires to the Y-Axis homing switch (on the pen holder assembly) broke after a few months. I replaced both wires to this switch with a plastic-coated wire of a similar gauge. I thought that I may have pinched the wire during construction, but recently I am noticing a similar issue with the wire(s) going to the Z-Axis homing switch (also on the pen holder assembly). I attribute the problem with the type of wire (silicon-coated) and the fact that the vertical drag chain (along the Y-Axis) is too crowded. This combination causes some pinching, and the 28-gauge wires are prone to breaking under the stress. The plastic-coated wires slide much better in the drag chain and are more resistant to this problem. I haven’t had any issues with the larger 22-gauge wires that go to the Z-Axis motor and the servo in the pen holder assembly.
All things considered, I am happy with the performance and reliability.
A good question. It certainly gets people in the door. I built a rather unique clock for the space several years ago and some people come to see the clock and the plotter - without actually buying a cup of coffee . My son roasts his own beans and everyone raves about how good the coffee is, so whether or not the plotter contributes to sales is hard to quantify. I can say that it is wildly popular. Much more so than I expected. Most people are fascinated by it. It has been featured in the local newspaper. I have had many inquiries regarding commissions to build them for business as well as personal use. Many have expressed interest in buying some of the plots. I attended a small dinner gathering a few weeks ago with a dozen people in a town hours away and two of them knew of the shop and one had videos on his phone of the clock and the plotter. I could go on and on. I love sitting in the corner of the shop, sipping a coffee and listening to the comments and observing the reactions. It never gets old.
. My son roasts his own beans and everyone raves about how good the coffee is, so whether or not the plotter contributes to sales is hard to quantify. I can say that it is wildly popular. Much more so than I expected. Most people are fascinated by it. It has been featured in the local newspaper. I have had many inquiries regarding commissions to build them for business as well as personal use. Many have expressed interest in buying some of the plots. I attended a small dinner gathering a few weeks ago with a dozen people in a town hours away and two of them knew of the shop and one had videos on his phone of the clock and the plotter. I could go on and on. I love sitting in the corner of the shop, sipping a coffee and listening to the comments and observing the reactions. It never gets old.