This looks like a great start to making a cheap vinyl, or stencil, cutter. All it needs is the addition of some kind of Z-Axis control. There isn’t a lot more information about the build, but there is a promise of an instructable soon. If anyone is interested, I could always make another How-To Tuesday about making stepper motor drivers with an Arduino? If you’re interested, leave a comment below. Thanks!
This is an old printer turned Etch A Sketch. I used two potentiometers; each one controls the speed and direction of either the y-axis stepper motor, or the x-axis dc motor. I just used some duct tape to stick a gel pen to the side of the ink cartridge. It is pretty simple to program simple shapes so the user does not fiddle with the pots, but whats the fun in that. Now Im just one axis away from a 3D printer.
A little more about the Arduino Etch A Sketch Printer
In the Maker Shed:
6 thoughts on “Arduino Etch A Sketch printer”
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More talk about driving motors, particularly steppers is always useful. Personally I’m enjoying using EasyDriver boards to do the ‘work’.
It just takes two Arduino pins: Step and Direction. The EasyDriver does all the complex stuff including microstepping which increases the resolution of the stepper 8x !
See http://schmalzhaus.com/EasyDriver/
Yes, please!
We’re working on a similar project at HackPittsburgh, using a couple of old scanners, and would love to see an article about driving stepper motors with Arduino.
The more info the better. I’m working with Marty at HackPittsburgh and this would be a big help to look at our options.