vertical operation

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  • October 31, 2013 at 3:40 am #20264
    cyclicredundancy
    Participant
    Does the design of the WaterColorBot also permit vertical operation? Like for example being mounted to a wall like a painting frame and using a sharpie pen to do a stipple drawing. Could the operation of the brush/pen carriage, winch, cords etc. also be affected in this orientation?

    From looking at the product photos I am not sure if the lower desk will stay attached to the xy carriage when mounted vertically without additional support.

    The WaterColorBot is going to be my first exposure to motion control and hence the newbie questions!

    Thanks!
    October 31, 2013 at 1:17 pm #21484
    Windell Oskay
    Keymaster

    The current design of the WaterColorBot frame does not permit vertical operation.  The rods glide on sliders that are held down to the frame by gravity.  It would be possible to design new rod-end sliders that would constrain the rods vertically, in which case vertical operation would be possible.

    For the originally intended application– using watercolor paints — only horizontal operation is suitable, as we also assume that the water in the little dishes can be held down by gravity. ;)
    October 31, 2013 at 2:27 pm #21485
    dnewman
    Participant

    Look into “polargraphs”, especially if you’ve previously seen a drawing robot drawing on a vertical surface and that’s what you are interested in.  Indeed, if you search that name, polargraph, you’ll quickly find Sandy Noble’s site over in the UK.  On Sandy’s main page look to the right hand side of the page where he has assorted links under three broad categories.  The third category is “DRAWING MACHINES” where you will find links to other vertical plotting machines.  (Sandy sells his through his website. Works quite well.)

    Dan
    October 31, 2013 at 3:37 pm #21486
    Windell Oskay
    Keymaster

    I would second that!

    October 31, 2013 at 11:46 pm #21487
    cyclicredundancy
    Participant
    I had completely missed the sliders. Are they custom designed or some kind of standard order part? I will try to get a closer look at them when I visit your shop next. I also got a little curious… does the friction matter where they rub against the wood? Are they perhaps rolling on bearings?

    And the Polargraph drawing machines made my day… :-) thanks for sharing that! 
    That probably must be the simplest way to setup a pen plotter. I suppose Sandy could also have just used the EiBotBoard.
    October 31, 2013 at 11:48 pm #21488
    Windell Oskay
    Keymaster

    They’re custom machined out of Delrin.  They slide directly on the wood, and the friction is generally negligible compared to the rest of the system.  We verify this by turning it upside down, and seeing that it doesn’t change much. ;)

    There are some polargraphs made with the EBB– that’s how quite a few of them got started. 
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