Telecran (Etch a Sketch) + Arduino = Telecranduino !

I came across a bunch of stepper motors and I have since been looking for a project to do with the kids.

An old Telecran (French for Etch-a-Sketch) later, we are in business !

What I used for this project:
- an arduino Uno
- 2 stepper motors
- 2 easydrivers v44 (by www.sparkfun.com)
- various Fishertechnik parts (http://www.fischertechnik.com)
- a push button.

Optional parts:
- a sensor shield + 2 push buttons
- a Nintendo Wii Nunchuck
- a WiiChuck adapter

And also:
- hot glue gun

Step 1 Mechanics

The mechanical part has been done with some Fishertechniks parts.

I had to drill into the stepper cogs as the axis of the steppers were 5mm where the FT standard is 4 mm.

The other cogs were simply hot glued onto the Telecran (Etch-a-sketch) knobs.

The rest is best explained in pictures...

Comments

[Moerdith]

Do both your steppers move simultaneously, or do they alternate taking small steps?

[nicoo]

They alternate taking small steps.

int i;
for(i=0; i<=abs(den); i++)
{
move(mot0, len * res * sign(num));
move(mot1, res * sign(den));
}

N.

[Moerdith]

I'm impressed by how smooth the lines appear. Just really small steps I guess.

[IncrediblyCondensedBlackMatter]

next: add a vibrating tray to it that can erase it quickly.

[conundrum2142]

Just found one of these at the car boot, but it is leaking a bit.

It appears that the mystery powder is either brass or gold, not sure which..

Might be useable as a conducting adhesive?

[everywhere]

Nice i made one of these in the past sadly my roommates destroyed it but i'm glad i'm not the only one who still does this kind of stuff

[nicoo]

Do you have a picture ? Should be inspiring.

[everywhere]

Sadley no i didn't have a camera im a poor college student cant afford it. but he it a picture of it half rebuilt (one motor back on with rootmate resistant coupling) waiting to get second coupler in
Link: http://www.instructables.com/file/FIXLAZ8GOZIQGH6/
darn image upload thing not working

[pcairic]

Your roomates are a bunch of a-holes. I see plenty of their likes working at Mc Donald's.

[everywhere]

Stupid yes, a-hole not as much, it was a project for a class and we were partners and i had to respond to a family emergency and he forgot to disconnect the motors from the shafts for transport and broke the coupling and one of the motors

[Anarx]

Ohh Great Idea, Perfect project for an introduction into CNC.

Have you tried running G-Code through the Arduino chip onto the Etch-a-Sketch?

[nicoo]

Sounds like a good extension of the project indeed !
I like those arduino projects to be not connected directly to a PC though (otherwise it's cheating, isn't it ? ;-) )

So I'd probably use a SD card and a LCD to navigate through the G-Code files to print... and I'd support *very* basic G-Code as well !

A good suggestion for a follow-up Instructable... thanks !

[Anarx]

I look forward to seeing it, make sure you post the code when you do it.

[uhsnamih]

there's one instructable already done by someone whoever its not Arduino based.

[nicoo]

Yep. Also google etch-a-sketch + arduino to get more projects like this one.

[neuropol]

Excellent idea. May have to try this out one day.

[David Cousins]

Nice project. .Enjoyed reading.

[nicoo]

Thanks. Appreciated.