Pen plotters

This is a list of the pen plotters I’ve found that can be built, roughly grouped by their kinematics. Emphasized links seem the most promising.

Single-belt XY

It’s possible to hook up a single belt in a clever way to move the pen in both the X and Y dimensions. They’re also called T-bots. This adds some complexity to the control software, but doesn’t require a stepper motor on the moving portion of the plotter.

• PlottyBot is a well-documented Raspberry Pi Zero-based plotter made with 3D printed parts and linear rods.

• SJSU XY-Plotter was a final project for San Jose State University students and features a detailed write-up of the mechanism.

• DrawingBot uses 3D printed plastic and linear rods.

• DrawBot v1.1 and the Hackaday article is a 3D-printed plotter that uses an Arduino Uno and CNC shield. Sameer Puri also built this plotter

• 4xiDraw is a 3D printed AxiDraw knockoff with a nice guide.

• Crazy Engineer’s Drawing Robot is made of wood blocks and metal, using an Ardunio running GRBL for control.

• ExtruDraw Extrusion-based Plotter is a 3D printed A2 or A3 format plotter mounted on an MDF baseboard and uses the AxiDraw’s EiBotBoard.

• A3+ Drawing Machine uses linear rods to move a carriage with 3D prints used almost exclusively. It runs on the same circuit board that powers AxiDraws, the EiBotBoard, and bares a striking resemblance to the A3 model.

• The AxiDraw pen plotter was responsible for a resurgence in plotter art and is a commercial product with a large community. The MiniKit 2 is a kit that builds an A6 version of the plotter and does not require fabricating any parts.

Some of the less-polished plotters are below:

• Drawbot plotter is a 3D printed plotter on 6 linear rods.

• The EleksDraw is an AxiDraw knockoff that comes as a kit.

• BOTomazov is Maks Surguy’s squiggle plotter.

• The Plot Thickens describes the assembly of an AliExpress pen plotter.

Two-belt XY

Using two belts for XY motion is a straightforward system that’s suitable for smaller plotters.

• midTbot is a very compact design where both steppers are mounted over the linear bearings. In 2020, Ben Congdon wrote about Building a DIY Pen Plotter: midTbot.

• Andrew Sleigh’s pen plotter, now at version 3, is a 3D printed plotter with a V-slot X axis.

• Arduino CNC Drawing Machine uses a linear rail for the X axis and two linear rods for the Y axis with 3D printed parts holding it all together.

• Drawbot is a whiteboard-format, vertically mounted pen plotter.

• Cartesio uses linear rods and 3D printed parts for a low cost plotter.

• ZUSE Plotter is an exhibit at the ZUSE Computer Museum in Germany, mounted vertically.

• BAWP and the Hackaday article is a vertically-mounted wall plotter.

• iBoardbot is a little hanging whiteboard robot.

Core XY

The Core XY platform comes from the 3D printing community and uses belts arranged along the perimeter of a square that encloses the plotting area. It’s even more complex to control than the single-belt XY system, but it’s also more rigid because the pen is supported on both sides.

• CoreXY CNC Plotter is a tabletop A2-format pen plotter using low cost components.

• A Giant Map drawn with a Pen shows a poster-sized V-slot plotter with 3D printed parts, using the drawbot controller.

• PlotDevice is a 3D printed plotter with linear rods.

• Drawbridge uses tensioned wire to transmit linear forces inside a 2020 aluminum frame.

• Portable Portrait Painter is a polished box for plotting images from an attached camera.

• PlotterXY is a scalable platform for fast plotting using vpype for G-code and a FYSETC E4 controller board.

• A Tool-Changing Pen Plotter is built on a CoreXY plotter and can swap between different pens with high precision.

• CoreXY Plotter Based Off The SolidCore 3D Printer is 3D-printable.

• terraPen is an upcoming commercial A2-sized pen plotter with wireless connectivity and web-based management software.

Moving paper

Like a modern inkjet printer, these devices move the entire sheet of paper back and forth for the Y axis. This was a common approach for commercial plotter designs.

• Please Leave A Message is a shop window-sized plotter with an infinite roll of paper, made out of plywood and controlled locally.

• Asmograf is a small, 3D printed plotter.

• Liplo is a nice-looking plotter made with routed wood end stops and some laser cut parts.

• High-Speed 3D Printed Arduino Pen Plotter looks very fast and precise, thanks to grit rollers.

• d.i.d. and the Hackaday article is a compact plotter with 3D printed parts.

• PIX3L PLOTT3R uses Lego Mindstorms controllers to plot pixel art.

• PATHFIND3R is another Lego Mindstorms plotter.

• Mini pen drawing machine is a Raspberry Pi-based drawing machine using the motors from a CD drive.

• Yokogawa YEW PL-1000 was a color plotter that has a driver library for working with it from a revival by NYC Resistor.

• Radio Shack TRS-80 CGP-115 was a commercially-produced plotter for the TRS-80, an Apple II-era computer.

• Silhouette Cameo is a line of computer-controlled craft cutters that can also plot.

Hanging

These are large-format plotters that draw on vertical surfaces, with the pen carriage attached to pulleys with wire at the top corners of the canvas.

• Stringent is a cheap whiteboard plotter.

• AutoWhiteboardBot and the Hackaday article is a 3D printed whiteboard plotter with multiple pens.

• Polargraph was one of the early designs for vertical plotting.

• Scribit is a commercial whiteboard plotter that can also erase.

• InkyLinesPlots and on Linktree is a Raspberry Pi-based wall plotter.

• ChalkBot is a primitive plotter for drawing on a chalkboard, but lacks a pen lift mechanism.

• V plotter describes several wall-mounted plotters and their kinematics.

• Dot Bot 2.0 is a precise homemade plotter using stepper motors and features several key enhancements over its first iteration.

Arm

Like a robotic arm in two dimensions, these devices move a single arm from one corner of the work area with a pivot partway along the mechanism.

• Mechpen is an erector set-like plotter made of metal.

• BrachioGraph is a servo-controlled plotter made of popsicle sticks.

• Ev3 Print3rbot is a Lego Mindstorms plotter bot with an arm connected on two sides.

• Line-us is a commercial, notebook-sized plotter.

• Rotring NC RapidoScript and Rotring NC-100 Scriber were machines meant to automate technical drawing.

• 8094 Control Center is a Lego project often shown holding a pen.

Polar

There aren’t many examples of these kinds of plotters because their range is usually an arc, while paper is a rectangle. An arm pivots around a platform with the arm moving the pen closer to or further from the pivot point.

• The Polar Coaster is purpose-built using a 3D printer and basic electronics for drawing on drink coasters.

• David Bynoe’s Drawing Machine and the Hackaday article were an early example of this kind of machine.

• The PolarBear is more than a plotter, but the other features seem a bit of a stretch for its frame.

• James Nolan Gandy’s plotter is bespoke, metal, and pulley-driven for plotting spirograph-like images.

Integrations

These are modifications made to other CNC machines or microcontrollers to support pen plotting.

• Jake Read’s penplotter end effector attaches to his clank two-axis machine.

• pltr Plotter Toolheads attach to 3D printers to turn them into pen plotters.

• This marker will change the way you work with sheet metal on YouTube shows how Shane Wighton attached a retractable Sharpie marker to his plasma cutter to lay out matching bends in the sheet metal.

• Thingiverse has many pen holders for CNC machines, mainly designed to provide some give in the Z axis for the pen.

• PiPlot allows a Raspberry Pi to communicate with vintage HP pen plotters over serial.

One-off

These designs don’t exactly fit into any of the other categories.

• Piccolo is a compact, laser cut plotter for tiny paper.

• CNC pen plotter is a unique design that uses three stepper motors, two for the X axis and one for the Y axis, with linear rods on each side of the paper.

• Foldable all-printed Penplotter and the Reddit post is completely 3D printed, except for the stepper motors. It uses two printed racks for linear motion instead of belts.

• 4-Wire Horizontal Plotter uses a gondola that’s pulled horizontally by four wires attached to stepper motors.

• Bristle bot plotter uses toothbrush bristles to roughly approximate where it should draw. It’s not precise, but seems to produce its own kind of art, organically.

• P-CNC Plotter uses screw drives in a “two-belt” configuration.

• Robotron plotter moves an arm supported on both sides on a paper bed.

• Dave Preiss built a unique 5 Bar Linkage Kinematics pen plotter out of acrylic as a miscellaneous kinematics project.

• ESP32 Plotter/Drawing Machine/2 Axis Controller can control a pen plotter.