No desk is complete without your own personal mug to insist on having your tea in. Oh sure, you can use a suitably obscure freebie mug that you picked up somewhere, or even buy your own, but do any of them really express the personality that you'd like your workmates to understand? No, you're going to need a personalised mug for that desk. The cheap and easy solution is to buy one from an on-line printing company, but where's the fun in that?
The mug plotter is loosely derived from Evil Mad Scientist's Egg Bot - it uses the same control board, and a modified version of the software, so you can design and print your mug from inkscape.
To build the mug plotter, you're going to need the following as a minimum, regardless of how you approach it:
Eibotboard
two stepper motors
servo
5V Power supply
mini-usb cable
PC
To build the Mark I mug plotter along broadly the same lines I have, you'll also need the following:
3mm ply
Something to cut it with (laser cutters are good)
250mm of threaded rod, and a nut to suit. I've used M5, but its not important.
Some 1/4" aluminium rod (but anything in that range will do).
Around 20mm metal tube big enough to slide over the rod - I didn't have anything to hand to drilled a 6.5mm hole through a bit of 1/2" aluminium rod.
Some connectors suitable to join your stepper motors to the threaded rod and 1/4" rod.
Lots of small (M3) screws and nuts.
There's quite a degree of flexibility in the choice of stepper motor. I went for Bipolar, 200 Steps/Rev, 28x32mm, 3.8V, 670mA because it was pretty much the first one I saw, but it's within the ballpark of what you need
The mug plotter is loosely derived from Evil Mad Scientist's Egg Bot - it uses the same control board, and a modified version of the software, so you can design and print your mug from inkscape.
To build the mug plotter, you're going to need the following as a minimum, regardless of how you approach it:
Eibotboard
two stepper motors
servo
5V Power supply
mini-usb cable
PC
To build the Mark I mug plotter along broadly the same lines I have, you'll also need the following:
3mm ply
Something to cut it with (laser cutters are good)
250mm of threaded rod, and a nut to suit. I've used M5, but its not important.
Some 1/4" aluminium rod (but anything in that range will do).
Around 20mm metal tube big enough to slide over the rod - I didn't have anything to hand to drilled a 6.5mm hole through a bit of 1/2" aluminium rod.
Some connectors suitable to join your stepper motors to the threaded rod and 1/4" rod.
Lots of small (M3) screws and nuts.
There's quite a degree of flexibility in the choice of stepper motor. I went for Bipolar, 200 Steps/Rev, 28x32mm, 3.8V, 670mA because it was pretty much the first one I saw, but it's within the ballpark of what you need
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Signing UpStep 1: Assembling the mug mounts
Design your frame. Or download the attached DXF, it's up to you. Load the DXF into your laser cutter of choice, and run off one copy in 3mm ply, or similar. The file attached will give you all the parts you need, but you need duplicates of a few of parts. As with anything, read all the steps first so you know which parts you need (hint, it's the stepper motor mount, the side panel and the end upright). You'll also need to get rid of the borders.
Cut the 1/4" rod to length - you'll need:
1x25mm
1x80mm
1x250mm
Start by assembling the mug mounts - connect the two concave frames together, and then the convex two. Place a circle frame on the end of each to keep it square, and then attach to a piece of your 1/4" rod with a bit of glue - 25mm on the convex one and 80mm on the concave one. You need to file down the last 10mm or so of the 25mm rod to provide a surface for the connector to grip to. Cover the sloped ends of the two mounts with some draft excluder tape, and slide the spring onto the end of the concave mount.
Cut the 1/4" rod to length - you'll need:
1x25mm
1x80mm
1x250mm
Start by assembling the mug mounts - connect the two concave frames together, and then the convex two. Place a circle frame on the end of each to keep it square, and then attach to a piece of your 1/4" rod with a bit of glue - 25mm on the convex one and 80mm on the concave one. You need to file down the last 10mm or so of the 25mm rod to provide a surface for the connector to grip to. Cover the sloped ends of the two mounts with some draft excluder tape, and slide the spring onto the end of the concave mount.
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It occasionally drops a step on the mug rotation if you don't counterbalance the handle though, so definitely don't go any lower
P.S. If you really would make one...see me on fb: The Olivia Darlings cuz we clearly need a team mug. Especially one with a floating formation on it. A surprise for a surprise!
If you really would make one...see me on fb: The Olivia Darlings. Cuz we clearly need a team mug from teed.
I'm glad you like the idea. DXF is a fairly open standard for exchanging cad drawings - it was drawn using the free version of Siemens solidedge 2d, but you can also open it in other free programs like draftsight or inkscape. Our laser cutter can import dxf files. I'd be surprised if there wasn't a dxf to g-code converter out there somewhere.
I have down loaded the solidedge 2d and It seem to be a very good program I may find many uses for it but not able open your DXF with it, just does not see it. Have you any suggestions how to move on? I have started making the Mug plotter having a problem with the pen holder design. I can send photos of my progress if you are interested.
do you mean you just can't see the file in the open file dialogue? I'm using solidedge ST3 (which is a slightly older version) and it can open a DXF file like any other file. It does seem to get slightly confused with the scale though, so I had to select the manual zoom and zoom out a long way to display it normally.
If you don't get anywhere then PM me your email address and I'll send you the native file instead. I'd love to see some photos of your progress - I've mentally assembled a better pen holder that will let you swap out pens for multi-colour designs, but our laser cutter isn't working at the moment - maybe I can get you to try it out?
Solideedge does not show your file in the open file dialogue. I do not know what PM means. I would like to send my e-mail address but not sure how. I would like to see what you have in mind for a pen holder. I can make just about anything. My laser is small only 7 X 11 inch work area. If it will fit in that area I can do it. I tried to send photos of what I have so far but I don't know where they went.
I stoped looking for ways to open your dxf file and just built my own. I will be asking you how to make the software work but that is in the future. I have attached some photos of my attempt to make the Mug Marker. It is made of cardboard because I engineer by making parts I make a lot and cardboard is easy to work with and quick.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/390546891745
Fingers crossed for that lottery win so I can retire!
I was really entertained by this prodject. I'm love to see more video of it doing stuff. Have you found a way in software to do raster plots, or half toning?
I bet you could do color prints pretty easy with a manual pen swap.
:)
There are some instructions out there for doing rasters in inkscape, although I haven't tried them yet. Colour is probably the next step, but I think I need a simpler way of fixing the pen in that case.
Well, ok, some nice laser cut ply and maybe some of that draft excluder tape stuff. :)
That board is quite expensive, so I would try to use an Arduino, Stepper driver.and some G-Code.
Oh, and a construction video please. :)
The board cost me £33 plus tax, and an Arduino from the same supplier would be £20 plus tax, so it's not a huge increase. I suppose the benefit of an Arduino is you usually already have a couple you can swap between projects.
You'll also be performed using the AVR controller?
You can do this work?
To build the mug plotter, you're going to need the following as a minimum, regardless of how you approach it:
Eibotboard
two stepper motors
servo
5V Power supply
mini-usb cable
PC
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So, I wouldn't be able to do this any other way? Not with an MSP430G2553, a single stepper with an XY transfer case, 3.3v supply, bluetooth, and a Palm Tungsten T5 PDA? The only way to do it is with the stuff you used, because it is so hella-rad that if I used anything else, I just wouldn't be cool?
I took a look at this, because I was interested in the general requirements and wanted to attempt it using things I am more familiar with. Before I start, stop me if it would be just absolutely impossible.
Thanks.
The only essential part is the eibotboard, and that's only so the existing inkscape plugin will work and you don't need to write any software. If you're happy writing a new protocol into the plugin or writing your own software then you can use whatever want.