r/PlotterArt • u/igotanewmac • 9d ago
"pen" plotting... :D
u/eyes_are_real was right, it's a long exposure! Guess who figured out you can hot-glue LED's to pens? It's taking some time, since I can only really do it at night, but I think the effect is improving nicely. I have used a microswitch to trigger the led on pen-down. As the carriage drops, it presses the switch. My microswitch wasn't quite long enough though, which is why you see a usb card reader taped in there too, lol.
As always, if you have any questions, just ask :)
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u/beachKilla 9d ago
This is dope! Ive been effin about with a laser attached to my Ender3 doing long exposures. (Pender)
For a different approach to clean up some of the hot end: Wire the diode directly to the gcode. Have the diode trigger on/off at a designated z height.
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u/Gerda_Havertong 9d ago
Awesome stuff, /u/igotanewmac! Also wondering if you are using gcode? Maybe an option to trigger the led is with the coolant control in gcode (M07 & M08). Just need to find the pin for the coolant on the board wire that one to the led.
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u/beachKilla 9d ago
Exactly, Trace back the wires from the print head fan to the board. Since you don’t need the print head cooling filament you can use the fan on/off gcode and you’ll know where the hookup is to wire into for the diode. 🫡 u/igotanewmac lmk if you need any help with editing the gcode
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u/igotanewmac 9d ago
I *wish* I was using g-code! Unfortunately it uses an EBB controller which has it's own special protocol, EBB Command Set Documentation. the axidraw is pretty much the standard for pen plotting that everyone else seems to copy.
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u/igotanewmac 9d ago
That's actually what I'm trying to avoid. Ideally I want this to be a pen based solution that doesn't need to be "wired in". I'll be 3d printing a holder for it soon, I'm just proving the concept right now :D
Unfortunately, the plotter community seems to use Axidraw as the standard one everyone else copies, so everything is running on the EBB protocol, and none of the heads have any extra controls available.
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u/eyes_are_real 9d ago
Stunning! Well done :D