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Yes, but be sure to use a plug shape adapter, rather than a voltage transformer.
It sounds like your pen-lift motor is failing. The only “expendable” component of the AxiDraw is the small, blue pen-lift servo motor. They do wear out over time but are inexpensive and straightforward to replace. For heavy duty applications — and this, with many thousands of segments qualifies — you may wish to keep a spare on hand. You can find them here:
https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/903You’ll need a small phillips screwdriver for the replacement.
There are some additional factors that can lead to the motor failing prematurely: For example, if you’re adding extra weight or pressure to the Z-stage, or if the pen lift stage does not slide freely up and down for other reasons, so check to see what the situation is.
On Rhino: We don’t have experience with it — you might look at what the SVG of the export document looks like.
We do have a version available that supports 0.92 — so that’s fine to use, if you contact us (via contact form).
Also, for RPi, you might want to use the stand-alone version of the software (CLI or python based) to avoid the Inkscape overhead.
Try installing the AxiDraw extensions _after_ the EggBot extensions.
Usually that means that your drawing has two copies of each line on top of each other.
You can test that by trying to plot one of our example files, to verify that this isn’t an issue with your Eggbot or your software setup.
You might try selecting one of your paths and deleting it, to see if there’s a second copy underneath. If you’re still having trouble, please contact technical support directly — you could send us one of your files, and we can help figure out what to do about it.
If the belt is loose, it can definitely cause that.
The easiest way to adjust it is to loosen the two set screws on the bottom side of the Tail Block. The 5/64″ (ball-end) wrench included with the AxiDraw is the correct one to use, and you should need to use the short (straight, not ball) end of it to loosen or tighten those screws. This will loosen the Tail block from the 6 mm (Y) shafts; you can vary the tension by shifting the exact position of the Tail Block with respect to those two shafts. When you are done, tighten both screws securely with the short end of the wrench.
From what you’re describing, it sounds like both the SVG-plotting or interactive modes would work well.
Yes, plotting many tiny SVG files is fine — just expect the plotter to return to the home corner between files.
And, plotting individual segments would work as well. All of the complex curves are ultimately made up of little straight segments. (Since you’re comfortable as a developer, you should be able to subdivide curves into little segments, or look into our code for how it’s handled there.)
For slow plotting (which may be more natural for this environment), plotting with the interactive API and short movement commands at constant velocity ought to work quite well.
Hard to judge exactly what is going on, without seeing the file and asking quite a few more questions.
However, I’d recommend bringing it over as a PNG, using File > Import. I’d suggest using the “embed” rather than “link” import option. Make sure that you have the image selected, and make sure that it says (in the lower status bar — where it will display the “select an image” text) “image” for object type, rather than something else like “group.” If it says “group”, ungroup it before tracing.
If it’s a bitmap image (as opposed to line art), try importing into Inkscape as a bitmap, rather than as an SVG.
Preview mode is enabled when you check the box in the Options tab of AxiDraw Control. If you’re seeing this in some other context, please say what it is that you’re trying to do.
I’m not sure what you mean by “View is set to Normal.”
Yes, that’s a standard part of the setup procedure, under “making your first plot”:
https://wiki.evilmadscientist.com/Making_your_first_plot#Drawing_on_your_Egg
Have you adjusted the motor current yet?
Which version of the software are you using?
You’ve already seen axidraw_conf.py, which is where all of these parameters are given. (I’d suggest to work from the copy included with the CLI, which has the latest values.)
This is the file that sets the size limits, speed limits, acceleration rates, and so forth as used in the AxiDraw software. The values tend to be on the conservative side (especially with respect to things like the time steps used) since people’s computers vary quite a bit. If you want to experiment, working at around those values will likely be a good starting point.
(1) There is a certain amount of parsing and processing overhead.
(2) Yes, if you try and run at very high speeds without acceleration, you can cause it to fail.
There aren’t any rules here. Outside of the AxiDraw software, you can easily enter raw movement commands that are faster than the AxiDraw itself can move or accelerate. This shouldn’t be surprising.
It *may* work, but we don’t test with these kinds of parameters, nor guarantee it to work there. (We also don’t guarantee that you can’t cause physical damage to the machine by testing the limits in this way.)
