Awesome Plotters
A curated list of code and resources for computer-controlled drawing machines and other visual art robots.
Contents
Hardware
Plotters
Line-us - A cute little kickstarted robotic drawing arm.
Makeblock XY Plotter - Hackable XY plotter kit (discontinued?).
Drawing Robot - 3d-Printable AxiDraw clone w/ Arduino CNC Shield controller running grbl firmware.
4xiDraw - Yet another 3d-printable AxiDraw clone w/ Arduino CNC Shield controller running grbl firmware.
WaterColorBot - XY art robot and software to plot with watercolor paints.
EggBot - Pen plotter for egg-shaped and spherical objects.
HP Pen Plotters - Vintage desktop and floor-standing pen plotters from the creator of the HPGL standard. Model 7475A is very common and can usually be found on eBay.
Roland Pen Plotters - Vintage flatbed HPGL pen plotters. Search eBay for "roland dxy".
Polargraph - The original polargraph hardware and software project.
Makelangelo - Open source polargraph artbot.
BrachioGraph - A cheap and simple plotter made from sticks, servos, and a Raspberry Pi running Python.
Motor Controllers
grblShield - All the stepper motor control hardware needed to turn an Arduino into a G-code-based motion controller using the grbl firmware. (adafruit)
TinyG - More featureful and robust 6-axis G-code-based motion control hardware. (adafruit)
Arduino CNC Shield - Grbl-compatible stepper motor control shield for Arduino, similar to the grblShield.
Raspberry Pi CNC Hat - Raspberry Pi add-on board w/ stepper controllers and a microcontroller running grbl. Interfaces with the Pi's serial pins.
Accessories
WiFi232 - Wifi to RS-232 serial via a DB25 plug. Control your serial plotter wirelessly.
Plotter Cable Pinout - Schematic for a plotter cable that will work for most HP and Roland plotters. Search eBay or Amazon for DB9 to DB25 Serial Null Modem Cable or similar to find them for sale.
Pens
Sharpie Fine Point Plotter Adapter - 3d-printed adapter to fi