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Author Topic: Landscape vs Portrait
Visualbyte
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Posts: 33
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Post Landscape vs Portrait
on: February 21, 2015, 20:39
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Im just finally assembling my Polargraph and have planned and purchased around the A0 format which is with the extra area 1500 x 1200 give or take a smidge. Im going to be fixing it to a walll like a picture with a pitch but with adequate hang for the cord's diagonal but my question is is there any disadvantage in building the Polargraph with said dimensions in the landscape format, most I have seen have been portrait it's just I plan to paint the board that is the working space as in sits in a daily use room and I wanted it to be different ish.
sandy
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sandy
Post Re: Landscape vs Portrait
on: February 21, 2015, 21:22
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Hullo, there is no difference with orientation - a landscape machine is just a portrait machine that you can only use the top half of!

The main problem is the one you've mentioned - getting adequate drop for the counterweights. You can use a pulley systems to get a bit more drop if necessary (http://www.polargraph.co.uk/2014/10/huge-portland-design-week-project/). The second problem is margins - there's always a margin at the top of a machine where you'll struggle to get the pen to move to reliably - given the catastrophic nature of dropping steps during a drawing, it's something to be afraid of.

The actual margin is a function of the width of the machine and the holding torque of the motors - so the wider the machine is, the larger this top margin is, and the smaller your actual drawable area is. If you had a machine that was 8m wide, you wouldn't be able to use the top 800mm of it, which if it was only 1500mm high, that'd be a problem.

happy scribbling 🙂
sn
Visualbyte
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Posts: 33
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Post Re: Landscape vs Portrait
on: February 21, 2015, 22:43
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I had calculated for A0 which is 1189 x 841 and added 150mm on every side ending up with a board which is 1489 x 1141. I will be mounting at the same height on the wall what ever way round it gets orientated as the orientation doesn't change the length of cord. Will never fill a piece of paper as less is more.

Next question is pens, are there recommended brands types links to etc to get the best results as they are never typically designed to work at that angle for prolonged periods.
sandy
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sandy
Post Re: Landscape vs Portrait
on: February 22, 2015, 20:59
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I've avoided liquid ink pens, but have found other kinds to be surprisingly usable horizontally. If there's a felt cartridge inside, it seems to work ok. Sharpies, and most fibretips.

The bigger problem is volatility. Most large markers that lay down enough ink to be bold at larger scales are strongly spirit-based, and they dry up pretty swiftly with their caps off. Whether it's ink running out, or just solvent evaporating, I'm not sure.

I was recently shown this delight:
http://justinwilcott.com/gocupi-large-canvas-and-paint-gondola/
which is a chunky paint-marker type gondola.

sn
Visualbyte
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Posts: 33
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Post Re: Landscape vs Portrait
on: February 23, 2015, 11:08
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I certainly like the mounts, funny enough I have a Raspberry PI 2 due for delivery and found a thread somewhere that said that Processing could be compiled for the RPi so I was going to play...

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