AxiDraw pen plotter

[lava]

I received this pen plotter as a gift, and I am trying to think about some fun things to do with it. A pen plotter is a bit of a throwback, but its interesting and very accessible. It does not have a flat bed, so you just tape down a piece of paper in front of it, and the pen holder can hold just about any pen, and then it goes to town!

I've seen a lot of people doing really interesting artwork with this device, using fat markers or brush tip markers, paint markers - very creative works. This model is limited to an 11x17 sheet. You have to use an open source vector drawing app to plot from - Inkscape - so far I've only tried importing DXF files from PowerCadd. You see some translation errors in this video - circles were drawn out of scale and multiple times. But otherwise faithfully drew the linework.

Any thoughts about fun stuff to do with this crazy gadget!
see it in motion
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mijJx49_yJw

first couple of things I printed with it:

plan from video

Screen Shot 2022-04-28 at 2.21.55 PM.jpg (135.13 KiB) Viewed 39042 times

plan with WildTools squiggled lines

Screen Shot 2022-04-28 at 2.22.03 PM.jpg (138.84 KiB) Viewed 39042 times

[patrickm]

That is kind of fun to watch (& listen to)! I don't even own any technical pens any more. What's next in the time machine: Leroy Lettering Guide or Addfeet Junior?

[lava]

That wasn’t a technical pen - it’s a Pilot ball-liner, just the pen that happened to be in my desk. I was surprised it performed as well as it did.

[bellarchitect]

Pretty cool Greg! I just happen to see this post. I still have my koh-I-noor pens from college.

[lava]

I have been too busy to play with this more, but I am looking forward to some time I can try more things with this.