Category: Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

Skycam features added to improve Drawbot

2012-08-04 Dan

I’ve replaced the old & busted “load bobbins” with a much more convenient “jog motors”. This way you can test each motor separately. You can even jog it a lot to load your bobbins. It used to be you had to tweak the firmware to load the bobbins or do it by hand. Which was the lesser evil? The question is now moot.

I’ve also added an “invert” checkbox in the jog motor control panel, just in case you decided to do it by hand and got the bobbin loaded backwards. …or maybe you wired the motors in a wierd way and they were running in reverse. Whatever! Both problems are now gone.

Get the master branch from github and run the DrawbotGUI.jar to see the changes. Don’t forget to update your firmware! (You will not lose your GUID.)

I think in the next update I’m going to merge the configuration screens to make setup easier. Something with a picture so it makes more intuitive sense. Can you easily load an image into the background of a dialog box in java? I haven’t even figured out how to make many text inputs the same size.

How would you feel about being able to give your Drawbot a name? “Drawbot #26” sounds so cold.

On the 11th of August I’ll be bringing the Drawbot to the Life Tree fundraiser party in Vancouver where I’ll have some prints ready and I’ll be drawing on-site. I’m also bringing it to the Super Happy Hacker House at the VHS on the 18th of August, and again to the Vancouver New Forms Festival 2012 september 13-16.

I said I’d draw 10 copies of the Burning Man logo in advance and it turns out I’ve only got 9 sheets left. That means between test prints, sales, and personal projects I’ve now drawn 91 giant pictures of steadily improving quality on my Drawbot. That’s over 50km of line!

Miscellaneous

Skycam frame assembled, Burning Man Life Tree CNC work

2012-07-31 Dan

I’ve made a cube from 2x4s recycled from a home reno project. On each side I’ve put a drawbot. On the box in the front left corner I put my laptop. The laptop is running custom software that delivers gcode to each drawbot and they’re running modified drawbot code that understands the third dimension. The four strings are connected together at a tool that can be moved with GCODE to almost any point inside the cube. Before I take this project to the New Forms Festival 2012 I’ll be sure to rebuild the cube with some CNC’d corner braces and some property slot-fitted joints that will make it very rigid and aesthetically pleasing.

I built this in my garage while members of the Burning Man 2012 Life Tree project were using my 8×4 BlackToe CNC to cut parts for their burnable art project. Looks like they’ll be in my garage for the next week or so as they cut 100 leaves. Maybe we’ll celebrate at the end with a great big backyard BBQ?

To speed up the manufacturing I’m going to cut one stencil of each of the 4 leaf types. Members will then be able to trace one leaf onto another, drill some pilot holes, and then use jigsaws to cut the rest. Should go much faster than trying to CNC everything.

I’ve got to post to the GVIAS and advertise my skills. It’s great that artists want to make giant wooden sculptures. It sucks that they get an idea stuck in their heads that is hard to build, hard to transport, and hard to setup on-playa. Having worked with a few different groups over the years now I think I’ve developed a bit of experience in this area. By getting involved earlier when the project is being sketched out I could help to build a design plan that meets the artist’s needs and keeps the manufacturing costs to a minimum.

Today’s goal is to get the Life Tree members up & running, finish cutting the templates, and then I’ll be mudding drywall all afternoon.

Miscellaneous

Skycam in LEGO NXT with three motors

2012-07-13 Dan

Though Stavros calls it a back scratching robot, it’s the same thing. And really, they’re both just delta robots that use strings instead of rigid arms. Different evolutions, same result. Enough gum flapping, let’s get to the video!

Check out more on his site!

Miscellaneous

Vancouver Mini Maker Fair 2012 post mortem

2012-06-25 Dan


Hannah Miller has written a lovely article about my robots on the Vancouver Mini Maker Faire blog. You can read it here. Thanks, Hannah!

The Faire was fantastic! I was really impressed by the creativity and the artistry on display. From sand sculpting and papercraft to steampunk yoyos and 3d printing, it was all there. I sold all but one EL wire kit and one Drawbot kit. I was even selling prints right off the floor, shoe prints and all.

I learned that having more than one kit on a table is confusing. Next year I might need to have two tables so that I can put one robot on each. I learned that people don’t watch where they walk. Next year I’m going to have to invest in a partition system so I can keep people from walking all over the art. I learned that you’ve got to have a demo model people can see and play with or the product won’t sell. Next year I’ll have a way to show off just how bright EL wire really is. I learned that the CanDo explanations are still too hard, and that Solarbotics’ idea of using oomlout printouts is the way to go. I learned that I should be selling prints through my Etsy store, so I will get on that ASAP.

Sunday morning I came in to find that my Drawbot had fallen over in the night when the easel collapsed. One of the bobbins broke, causing a near disaster. Fortunately Eugene in the 3D printer village was able to print me a pair of purple replacements in about 30 minutes. Thanks, Eugene! I’m going to store extras in my emergency kit from now on and get a better easel.

So what’s next? Order more EL and Drawbot parts, publish a Stewart Platform tutorial that people have been asking for, finish the Gimbal, simplify the CanDo lessons, and get Drawbot pen up/down working.

Oh, and if you’re reading this, would the girl who asked for a drawing of a logo from the Highlander TV series please email me? You left 5 minutes before it was finished. Come and get it!