rewrite of code

I've been rewriting the code that runs in the background to make the plotter work. This isn't evident at all to someone watching it run but it leaves more room for me to make the main program bigger.
I ported the "all" program over to the new system. This draws four pictures in sequence for a long display of the plotter. The four pictures are triangle, fourballo, cesaro4 and dragon. Here are pictures of what it drew. I used a very fine point chisel tip marker. I think I like thicker tip bullet tip markers better.

triangle

fourballo

cesaro4

dragon

If anyone is interested in the actual code leave me a comment.

here is how it looked when it finished

The robot team enjoyed the doodler. I had turned the voltage down to 9 instead of 12. It made a couple of missteps but I let  it finish. Here is what it looked like.

I will draw it again and post it later so you can see what it is supposed to look llike.

Robot Team

I got this down from the store room and added some screws to hold the Arduino in place so it will travel better. I am taking it to the Robot team at Crete High School this evening. I am still working on changing the software to do things in a much cleaner and shorter program. I will post the code when I get it done.

I got on the list.

I got listed on this guys list of similar devices.
http://plotterbot.com/documentation/plotterbot-prior-art/
I might try the software he is using and see if it will work on mine.
I know I haven't posted anything for a while. I just got the doodler back out of storage and am making some changes to it. Will post more when I get that done.

Kochs Snowflake

I did a fractal today called Kochs Snowflake.

I was inspired by this guy.
https://www.facebook.com/snowart8848
I'm going to try to duplicate some of his drawings on the white board.

Swirls and Stars

I digitized on of my wife's quilting patterns. It came out kind of jagged. I am thinking of adding an SD card interface to the Arduino to do more complicated pictures smoother.

finally figured this one out

I went back and figured out how to do this picture that I had done when this was just an extension of a desktop. now I got it to work with the arduino. I had to do it in two steps. first one program writes the xy data points to the EEPROM memory. then another program reads them and plots them.

a smaller size pen highlights errors in the system

I need to find the 2.5 mm round point markers again. I got them at Dollar Tree but they haven't had them the last few times I was there.

undrawing

I was tinkering with the size that I draw this picture so I didn't bother to erase the board before I drew. It turns out the pen had just died and it undrew. Looks kind of neat. I may have to try this on purpose with some of my old markers.

I twisted it

I took the four lobed one and twisted it.

Valentines day on the white board

I did a little thinking last Saturday. I looked up the equation for a tear drop. Then I turned it upside down and leaned it a little right and left. Here is how it came out on Tuesday.

The next step.

This one took over an hour to draw.

Here is a video.

Performance art.

Here is the latest drawing.

Since this is really a form of performance art the pleasure is in watching it draw more than looking at the finished picture. I am working on uploading a video.

Some improvements

I raised the voltage that I run the motors to 12 volts. They run hotter but I don't think they are too hot. That let me speed it up about three times what it was. I tried some things to explore the limits and characteristics of the system.

Then I went back to some old favorites and updated them to work with the LEDs and switch that I added.

They look a lot better with the 12 volt steps.
I am working on some of my other old favorites.

stages 0 through 8

Here are the stages of the dragon fractal with curves. I like the individual stages better than the parade.

 

 

 And here's a short video. The battery died after only a few seconds.

parade of dragons

I got it to do stages 0 through 8 all in a row.

I added some LEDs and a "switch" so I can have it tell me to center the marker, erase the board, and press the button. Then it will wait for me instead of just giving me a minute to do those things whether that was long enough or not.

I am going to order the new version of the Arduino that has lots more memory so maybe I will be able to do more stages. When I get that I will mount it to the frame it isn't all just hanging.

Dragon fractal with curves.

I got the curves to work on the dragon fractal.

Still needs a little tweeking but it is getting there.

Dragon fractal.

I'm working on the dragon fractal in Arduino that I had done in QBASIC.

I want to do it with curves instead of sharp corners. It looks much cooler that way.

AS220 Labs

I adapted some code that AS220 Labs posted for a drawbot they made.
It worked.
http://www.as220.org/labs/drawbot/