Spray Paint Makelangelo?

Chad writes,

“I have been playing around with draw bots this winter, and I really like your interface. I wanted to get your input on how difficult would it be to scale up the hardware and convert the pen to a paint can? I am a volunteer working with a city revitalizing effort. I would attempt to make a large scale Makelangelo Mural Bot to cover up gang related tagging on downtown buildings.

My thoughts are replacing the spindles with a chain sprocket, the thread would be #25 chain. allowing for long lengths and chain will reduce vertical sway.

Where I am confused how hard would it be to change out the adafruit board to a stepper driver board? Can your interface handle a much larger image? With a can of paint the speed of movement is an issue.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.”

Hi, Chad!

I’d stick with fishing line and increase the bobbin size, maybe get a local hackspace to print some gearing to handle the extra torque on the steppers. The bigger challenge will be the can holder/paint dispenser. The logic changes completely – instead of continuous lines and pen up/down it’s short taps on the nozzle to make dots, kind of like a giant pointilism piece. At the moment that logic doesn’t exist in the software.

It might also be easier to co-opt the tagging kids – pay them (in paint) to make actual murals with approved designs. They’re just trying to express themselves, right? If you give them ownership of the art they’ll defend it and feel pride in their community.

So far the only spraypaint polargraph I know of is Hektor. It only draws indoors. I guess the wind would be a problem for their model.

Anyone else want to convert their Makelangelo to use spray paint? Let’s talk in the forums.