I’ve not done any drawing robots in a while and I got the bug again.

I drew Art-O-Matic up in Sketchup (and gear generator) then made the parts from hardboard using a CNC cutter. Added some bolts and presto! Instant art!

Of course I added a pair of stepper motors, controller and an Arduino. I’ve got 12V plugged right into the Arduino. Things get a little warm.

It’s really easy and fun to program, not to mention fun to watch.

David Warren made up a simulator so you can try different combinations of parameters! Art-O-Matic Simulator.

There’s a kid version here! Want something even simpler? Try squiggly-draw!

Art-O-Matic V1.1

This machine has a magnetic paper holder, pen clamp, pen lift and home switches. It’s easier to operate than the first machine I made below. There are a few more parts to be made for it (start-stop button and mount the wires and controller) .

Downloads

Sketchup files: draw-o-matic016

Starter Arduino sketch: ArduinoThings

The starter sketch is for the Arduino is assuming the lady ada motor shield. And a power supply (you can’t run this from the Arduino with just USB to your computer. Steppers need too much current.

Art-O-Matic V1.0

Here’s the previous version of the machine.

Related

Harmonograph

http://firmata.org/wiki/Main_Page

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Data

https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-arduino-lesson-6-digital-inputs/arduino-code

http://arduino.cc/en/Tutorial/InputPullupSerial

optical sensor

accelStepper Documentation

accel stepper problems