Larger printing areas?
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hi, I’m looking at different wall plotter options for a museum installation. The wall in question is approximately 12 meters wide and 8 meters tall. Is it possible to adapt the Makelangelo HUGE to cover most of that area?
An exciting idea with a number of challenges.
The maximum diagonal length of a 12×8 wall is 14.4, much less than our longest belt, 20m. no problem.
The maximum recommended length for the stepper motor cables is 5m. if the electronics are mounted in the center then this should be no problem. However the electronics mounted top center would be rather difficult to reach! This might be solved with a raspberry pi and a USB wifi adapter.
When the machine “goes home” at the start of a print the outside weights go all the way up and the pen holder goes all the way down. it would hit the floor and belt would pool there. Conversely, when the pen head is near the top center the weights would hit the floor. both of these are an issue. The tensioners (https://www.marginallyclever.com/products/bearing-tensioner-diy-kit/) might help a little, but I can’t confirm it would be enough – I simply don’t have that much wall to reproduce the conditions.
The existing pen holder would struggle to lift the pen off the wall at the bottom of an 8m wall. As the belt gets longer, the effective push of the lifting tool takes more time. There has been some exciting work from DIY makers int he Discord channel to use alternative lifting systems, as well as experiments in adapting for spray cans…
..which raises the question of appropriate mediums. The Makelangelo is normally run with pens, markers, and especially Sharpie markers. They tend to last about 2h before beginning to fade. Spray paint cans would need to be replaced at regular intervals. Chalk/conte/charcoal et al are consumed even faster.
SO the answer is … maybe? I’m willing to work with you to find a solution. I’m interested in developing the spray head system and doing outdoor pointilism mural work, perhaps we can find a mutually appealing solution.
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