Chapter 17. XY Plotter
In Chapter 9 we looked at making a plotter using servo motors and chopsticks. While we could draw simple shapes, we couldn’t draw anything very accurately.
Nearly all plotters actually use Cartesian coordinates. Therefore, one motor is responsible for moving the pen sideways, and one is responsible for moving it up and down. As most images are described this way on your computer, it makes it much easier to plot them on the plotter.
To get more precision, we’re going to use off-the-shelf stepper motors this time. These particular motors are very easy to find; in fact, you may even find them in some consumer electronics!
Experiment 37: Making an XY Table
Most commercial machines use a toothed belt to make the stepper motors ...
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