4xidraw

4xidDraw

What

The 4xiDraw is a diy xy plotter made from off the shelf materials and 3d printed parts. Perhaps it is a drawing machine more than a plotter. It can use regular felt-tip pens, ball pens or fountain pens as pen orientation is variable. It is a new version of an XY plotter using a single belt and two stepper motors in a configuration called h-bot. 4xiDaw instructables page

The plotter is Arduino based, and uses a special flavour of GRBL software created by the robottini user. It enables GRBL to handle a servo on digital pin 11 using commands M3 and M5. This way it can raise and lower the pen on the paper. Find the GRBL version here: servo GRBL and info how to flash GRBL to and Arduino here

How

Inkscape

First, we will use Inkscape to send images to plot. Inkscape is a free and open source vector graphics editor.
Download here

We will have to install an additional extension for Inkscape in order to send our images to the 4xidraw.

Download it here

Find out how to install inkscape extensions here