Simone Carriero's Makerplot Is a Fully-Functional Plotter Built From Just Nine 3D-Printed Parts

Engineer Simone Carriero has launched a crowdfunding campaign for the Makerplot, billed as "the simplest 3D-printable plotter ever designed."

"Most DIY plotters are complicated. They require precision rods, linear bearings, custom brackets, or expensive components," Carriero argues of the current state of the plotter art. "Makerplot removes all of that. It is designed to be minimal, affordable, easy to print, easy to assemble, educational, [and] hackable. This is not just a plotter. It's a mechanical design challenge reduced to its purest form."

The Makerplot is, at its heart, a simple two-dimensional plotter, sitting atop a piece of paper or card and moving a pen in three dimensions — the X axis, Y axis, and a limited Z-axis that lifts the pen off the paper when you don't want it drawing. Its entire framework, however, is 3D-printed, using just nine parts including the base, gantry, and even the gears; the only off-the-shelf parts, Carriero promises, are the electronics and the bolts that hold everything together.

The plotter is driven by an Arduino UNO or compatible microcontroller board, linked to a quartet of stepper motors via Texas Instruments ULN2003 drivers. "These components are widely available and extremely affordable worldwide," Carriero notes. "No proprietary boards. No custom electronics. Fully open and maker-friendly."

Carriero is funding production of the Makerplot on Kickstarter, with rewards starting at €20 (around $24) for just the STL files for printing a unit plus the assembly instructions rising to €80 (around $94) for a complete kit including all electronics and pre-printed parts. All hardware is expected to ship in April this year, the maker says.