_ _ _ __ | |__ | | ___ __ _ | '_ \| '_ \| |/ _ \ / _` | | |_) | | | | | (_) | (_| | | .__/|_| |_|_|\___/ \__, | |_| ...2018-03-15 |___/ Notes on 2D plotting with my 3D printer So, the old saying goes, that the first "useful" stuff people print is stuff for their 3D printers.. Well, it's not entirely true in my case.. I printed some useful stuff that was not for my 3D printer, like a project case, and a mount for my gopro (but I need to redo that in ABS).. Anyway, the first thing I 3D printed for my 3D printer is a pen-holder so I can mount a pen on it. I took a different approach than what I've seen elsewhere.. I have a "SpiderMaker" which is basically a re-branded (or cloned) Monoprice Select Mini.. Anyway, the fan assembly comes off really easily, so I decided to just remove that and create a pen holder that fits where the fan assembly was supposed to go.. What I want here, is to put a few notes, so that I have a chance of remembering it in the future.. Software: Inkscape for vectoring stuff. A plugin for inkscape that allows saving as gcode (much better than the extension that comes with it). The plugin is called: gcodeplot It is from here: https://github.com/arpruss/gcodeplot/releases Repetier-Host, kill the server, but the standalone is awesome. Website that can do the kind of tracing that inkscape cant (single paths instead of filled polygons): http://online.rapidresizer.com/tracer.php Method: After getting some good paths, do save-as and select "3 axis gcode plotter" Then fiddle with settings here's what I (remember) changing from default: Lift-z height: 2mm Work-Z: 15mm Park-z: 20mm Now: Save, and open in Repetier-Host Print preview > Show travel moves Edit gcode, remove G28 (xyz) Now: Turn on the printer, remove pen, make it move home. This is kind of silly, but it works: Start the print, adjust the pen while printing (use "up" time to tweak the pen downward), when it starts drawing, fix it a bit better to the holder, then kill the print. Replace paper, start the print: The printer will move to 0,0 and then print correctly. Note on searching on the phlog: The http query format I made is stupid, but it's there.. Add /find?KEYWORD where KEYWORD is the word(s) you want to search for to the url. Example: http://dusted.dk/pages/phlog/find?webcams