Printer/Plotter Designed Using Servos, Strings, and Pulleys

Plotter printers are an excellent tool for engineers and architects to produce building plans and part designs, but even desktop models can cost a few thousand dollars. Roboticist J Van K (AKA jvankooo) wanted a machine that could take photos and images and draw them (or plot them) onto any surface instantly but didn’t want to go the expensive route, so he made his own.

J Van K constructed his printer/plotter using a series of interconnected metal parts to create a two-axis slider that looks akin to Gilbert Toys’ Erector Set, and surprisingly, is just as functional. Once the slider and frame were assembled, he then used a series of SG90 servo motors, plastic pulleys, and string to tie it all together.

Once completed, he then incorporated a Raspberry Pi 4 to drive the printer/plotter, calibrated the platform down to a millimeter using a Pi camera and blue square to refine the coordinates, and slapped on a pen to sketch images.

Check out the video below to see J Van K design and build printer/plotter with detailed explanations of the entire process.