CNC Pen Plotter

[Kaldonis]

We've decided that TouchCNC is a great demo to take to fairs, but it's kind of a PITA because of how hacked together it is (the Sherline constantly stalls, the way we're loading the gcode into Mach3 causes weird bugs if you draw too fast, the Sherline draws too slowly, etc). So the idea was put forward that we build our own! This shouldn't be very hard, and it doesn't need to be very big (I would say as long as it fits an 8.5x11 sheet of paper we're good).

I think we can get by with two steppers for X/Y and I'm trying to think up a creative way of doing the Z... I think a stepper is overkill since all we really need is two positions for the pen (up and down) so we can probably get away with a servo. I'm also trying to dream up some kind of spring loaded pen holder that will basically just ensure that the right amount of pressure is being applied, this would handle our surface not being perfectly level.

Also, we want it to go fast!

Input suggestions below. I will need help with this from some engineering types.

[FingerTech]

Albert offered his plotter. I'm not entirely familiar with their construction, but I'm imagining an inkjet printer - with one side-to-side travel, and a roller that pulls paper in and out. Is that accurate?

[Ray-Design]

I thing Albert has this typ of Pen Plotter:

http://omar.toomuchcookies.net/node/200 ... g-dxy-990/

[FingerTech]

If so, that looks ideal.

[thesaxmachine]

Hp7475a is what I have

[FingerTech]

Okay, so the paper feeds and the pen moves back and forth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRGO8613g1I
That's still pretty cool. I love how fast it is!

So you mentioned that it doesn't currently work. Was it just the drivers? Or mechanical?

[thesaxmachine]

Works fine, can't get the computer to make it print.

[FingerTech]

Is it a serial connection? That sounds like something Kaldonis could get communicating with his software quite easily.

[Kaldonis]

Is it a serial connection? That sounds like something Kaldonis could get communicating with his software quite easily.

[FingerTech]

No? I thought you were a wizard!