MakerGear Forum

I saw this thing call the Axidraw the other day and it got my brain a working so here's yet another quick little project to add some more fun and versatility to the M2.

It's just a simple bolt on attachment to hold a sharpie or any drawing implement.
Here's a picture of the first test and of course The video of it in action (video is 4X normal speed and it cuts out the last few seconds as my mempry card was full. )
I still need to play with the speeds but so far it works pretty good. This was just outlines but I did try one with 100% infill and got a little to much bleed with the sharpie so I need to find a fine tip marker and play some more.

Man that is just plain awesome !!!

Yeah ok - thats pretty damn cool.Is it just standard gcode? Care to share some more details?

Totally cool! We had a little gadget that did that for the cutters as well.

We need to start a wish list of specialty attachments for you to design! You are on a roll.

How about an adapter for all my Kitchen-Aid mixer attachments?

Bratag wrote:Yeah ok - thats pretty damn cool.Is it just standard gcode? Care to share some more details?

Details are still fuzzy it's still in the works, that mount was just a prototype that took maybe a half hour to design and an hour to print so there will probably be certain changes.

The gcode is pretty standard (I may have changed a few other thing as this was the same profile I was using on my paste extruder) but main changes were using a M302 command to allow for code extrusion (The gear is covered but I assume it's still spinning the extrusion stepper during printing.) and I got rid of the wipe. In S3D I changed the nozzle diameter and extrusion width so it would just print a single outline/perimeter shell correctly. (per the view) I'm still working on the settings and need to still get it so if I try to color in the lines using 100% infill it doesn't overlap too much. I've only done a few test prints (I mean drawings ) so far.

I also need to play with the line thickness using the z height still, but in a nut shell for initial testing I just offset my z_height with the m206 so the hotend is farther away from the bed. I start a print and when it gets to where would be drawing I hit STOP while holding the z-knob, I then enable motors to hold the bed at that height and then just set the height of the marker by dropping it on the bed and lock it in place with the screw on the front of the mount.

I bought some ultra fine tip sharpies to try but I need to make a new sleeve for them to fit the mount. Off to print that now.

Jules wrote:Totally cool! We had a little gadget that did that for the cutters as well.

Jules... I've been wanting to try cutters actually, awhile ago I saw someone made a attachment for those for the M2.

willnewton wrote:We need to start a wish list of specialty attachments for you to design! You are on a roll.

How about an adapter for all my Kitchen-Aid mixer attachments?

No..... My printer already smells like a bakery because of my paste extruder tests.

The thin sharpie works pretty good. The tips don't have much give like their fatter big brothers so there were a few sacrificial lambs in the process until I remove all the unnecessary start up moves in the startup g-code.

The 100% infill isn't perfect as it missed some spots but I don't have the tip size factored into S3D yet so I still need to do more testing. I'll probably redesign some things to make it the marker a bit more steady as it does flex about a little bit in the current state. I don't know how usefull an attachment it will be but it's fun to play with anyway.

I designed a spring loaded Ball point attachment today to try out next.
It's ugly and needed some sanding, but it was a quick print with some $11 Chinese filament I haven't even bothered to dial in yet.
I might need a stiffer spring but so far it's going pretty well.
The finished picture... I think if I use something like a G2 gel pen (and a better surface than the aluminum bed) it will write a lot better so it's back to the CAD to redesign the pen part around a G2 cartridges next.

The Gel pen works much better... was able to play around with text that looks like handwriting and it works pretty good. I'm going to be the hero went it comes to Christmas cards this year... "Sure honey I'll fill out all of the cards this year."
I still don't have the perfect setting for fill yet but it can do some pretty good detail. This was just a line drawing I found on Google. It was converted to an SVG, imported into TinkerCad and then exported as an STL.

Here's one last Video of it in action drawing the Dragon.

I'm deeming this one a success and now I can move onto my next Attachment.

ROFL! I would come up with a slightly different Christmas sentiment than the poem you used, but yeah, your wife would definitely consider you a hero for doing the cards.....
Great job on it - can't wait to see what you design next!