An amazingly detailed story about this Arduino project including multiple generations of the device and what they learned with each iteration. — Douglas
Read Stringent, the $15 Wall Plotter via Arduino Project Hub
High accuracy wall plotting at minimal cost, enrich all the whiteboards around you with surprising artwork!
Background
I don't quite remember when it started, but I think around 1999 or so. Me and a friend that was into everything robotics and electronics was discussing building a robot for drawing on whiteboards. Of course we never had time to do anything serious back then, the ecosystem for hobbyist micro controllers was not what it is today.
In 2002 my friend showed me the awesome work of Jürg Lehni and Uli Franke - Hektor. I was very pleased to see something similar to what we had been dreaming to build actually be constructed and shared with the world! I was at peace.
Some time later I remember showing the Hektor project website to someone presenting how fantastic I thought it was. This time though I started looking more at the details realising it lacked one property I had initially envisioned a wall plotter to have. I wanted it to be self-contained, everything in one unit with just wires connecting it to the wall. If I recall it correctly, I looked into stepper motor weights at this point realising that my idea was not going to fly.
Time passed and things happened in the space of hobbyist robotics. It was 2014 and I had been using Arduinos and RC-servos for various camera control projects, I had access to 3D-printing and actually some spare time (!?!). After stumbling over the dirt cheap 28BYJ-48 stepper motor I knew exactly what I was going to build:
The cheapest possible minimalistic wall plotter.
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An interesting link found among my daily reading
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library
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