Gibban

I have been enjoying building drawbots of late. I find that they are a great way to learn about motion control systems, robotics, machining, and programing. Plus you know, robots that will do my bidding, how can you go wrong. My next project is going to be a scaled up version of my pen plotter, this time capable of drawing on a sidewalk. Now because I don't want a 6' linear slide sticking out the front of my contraption, I am going to instead use a series of levers to get an approximate straight line that stays parallel to the ground. Here is an animation: .   This linkage was designed in Linkage Mechanism Designer and Simulator an AWESOME free bit of software by David Rector. It is a wonderful program for working out linkages, and a massive improvement on my traditional cardboard and pins method. To give you an idea of scale, the plan is to build this so that it will reach out about 6' when extended, giving me a drawing area of about 7'x4' The construction is going...