Darcy Whyte has been busy, and has a very neat new gondola and motor bracket design showing off at http://mambohead.com/category/drawbot/.
This is really good, and a fine improvement on mine – looks configurable. Would be good to get the plans into the project repository.
Truthfully, looking at that just gives me laser cutter envy. My gondola is working fine for me, and it’s only a little different from yours. I’ll document my rig during winter holidays.
Well laser cutter envy is accepted as a proper illness these days you know. I know, I’m not unhappy with the performance of my gondola either, but I’d like to use something more elegant than a blob of blu-tack to hold the pen in.
Look forward to reading about your machine.
Using PVC pipe rather than brass tubing allowed me to use two sets of screws, 3 screws per set, to hold the pen. Sort of like two stacked Christmas tree stands, one near the tip and the other down the barrel. Very secure, and allows for tilting the pen if I wanted (I haven’t).
Oh heck. Here’s a couple of snapshots:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/355931/Kongorilla_Gondola_SideView.jpg
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/355931/Kongorilla_Gondola_TopDown.jpg
I hope to upgrade the screws to thumb screws someday. It’s a hassle to grab for a screwdriver while holding the hanging gondola, trying not mess everything up.
Nice work – I used the brass tube only because it let me get away with using thin walls – with space being so limited inside the bearing core. It’s a mess to cut and finish and a pain to drill. Do you have any problems with the hangers not turning smoothly?
No problems that I’ve noticed. The weight is always hanging at the bottom as it should, without wobbling. I had originally intended to smear some lithium grease on there, if only to justify having bought some a while back, but I haven’t bothered yet.