4xiDraw: Another pen plotter

After watching a video of a new pen plotter made by Evil Mad Scientist we wanted to have a similar device.



And having a 3D printer at hand plus some CAD software like Onshape or Fusion 360 it was a good exercise to design the whole thing.



As usual the process was not completely straightforward, as initially it was more about copying the model we saw but as things were coming together some new ideas were explored. So while the first mock-up was based entirely on laser-cut parts (some of them glued together to make them thicker as the crappy laser I have access to is really depth limited as it is low-power).  Why laser-cut? Well because it was faster (or so it was supposed, but don't get me started on that).

Once the first model was put together several ideas pop up: First, motors are in the way of carriage motion and reduce a bit carriage travel along smooth rods. Second, motors require another part that could be fused with the machine feet and rods support. Third, the initial belt path created non-parallel belt runs that will cause poor accuracy and variable belt tension, so central carriage needs to be revised.

Eventually, the model became more and more made of printed parts and once published there have been more ideas pouring in from some of the readers, like an easier to orient pen holder that already replaced the original one.

Controller firmware

My initial approach was to try to imitate the design and tools of AxiDraw but then I learned they use a PIC-based board that I do not have around and that it will take a while till I get one, but I had Arduinos laying around instead, so it was settled my plotter would be operated by Arduino. A CNCshield a friend gave me away (thanks Ernes) could hold a couple of stepper drivers to control the machine. 

A logical choice was to use GRBL firmware but a few details needed to be solved: this contraption is not a regular cartesian design but it uses a single belt configuration called H-bot. From the math point of view h-bot and corexy work the same so I was happy to learn the latest versions of GRBL do in fact support corexy. That was one thing solved. The next one was that I needed to control a servo por pen-up and pen-down movements. For doing that I learned that robottini's version of GRBL could do that too. So another need was solved too and firmware was settled. You can use mine. Servo is controlled by M3 and M5 commands.

Software workflow

So my drawing machine will receive drawing commands as g-code but, how is that drawing code being created. I looked around and what was designed for AxiDraw was an Inkscape plugin  that would create code suitable for the board they sell which is nothing similar to the g-code mine uses, so I had to use something else. 

I learned about several projects for outputting g-code for laser cutters from Inkscape. I settled with one plugin that seemed very powerful not only cutting but doing raster images too, but intended for a laser cutter. The good thing was that output was g-code, so I had to hack my way to adapt it to draw with a pen. After some struggle I manage to get a stable response. 

The problems I faced were that pen up and pen down commands took time and I needed to add an extra delay so drawing would be ok. Where original plugin controlled the laser output power I just needed to set the pen down so lines would be printed. It took a while but now it is working nicely.

If you wonder why there is a 608 bearing on the pen carriage which is not present in the CAD files it is because it adds a bit more weight so the ball-pen will draw a more consistent line.

Another project  I tested was LaserWeb, which uses your browser to convert SVG or DXF files into GCODE and can stream the file directly to you machine's serial port. It is based on javascript and I installed the server side on Cloud9, but I had to replace the 8000 port to 8080 to get it working on that platform. 

Once the g-code files are obtained, in my case using the Inkscape plugin, another tool is needed to send the file to the drawing machine. I am using a Java-based program called Universal Serial Sender that does the job brilliantly and it includes a preview and a live view of the print too. 

That makes the whole workflow based on open source software that can run on any operating system you are using.

Some of you asked me why the 4xiDraw name: well, AxiDraw is a registered trademark and FreeDraw was already taken too.