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10. H A R D W A R E

Open Source Hardware - From Fibers to Fabric

I N S P I R A T I O N

_ 1 Yves Klein Anthropometry Series __ What is a brush? What can be a brush?

__ 2 Caroline Denervaud __ Human brush & big movements

___ 3 Pat Kim @patkimpatkim __ Rollar lines = Moiré patterns

____ 4 Ferran Gisbert Performed Painting __ Big brush & big movements = unlimited surprise

_____ 5 Jens Clarholm @jenslabsbuilds __ Pen plotter & moving canvas = spirograph hypnotic patterns

______ 6 Cole Newman __ Gently swinging canvas & pendulum paintcan with hole = fantastic!

What A Way To Go 1964

Clips from film showing painting abstractly using machines stimulated by sound

R E S E A R C H

Make a Raspberry Pi Pico pen plotter

AxiDraw V3

Simple pen plotter

The CNC Wood Burner turning heads

M A T E R I A L S

Variety of brushes/pens/rollers etc, inks/paints, PLA filament, paper, plastic, tape, fabric, gesso

Vast variety of paintbrushes, brushpens, ink pens, rollars courtesy of Michelle Vossen

Testing various materials, mediums, brushes etc. Tests courtesy of Ray Formilli

Bill of Materials (BoM)

T O O L S

ShopBot milling machine, 3D printer (Prusa, Ultimaker), various screwdrivers, servo motor, electronics

C N C _ S H O P B O T

The Project... Hack CNC ShopBot Machine

CNC (Computer Numerical Control) milling machine = designed for precise milling of solid materials, typically metal, wood, or plastic.

Instead of using a drill bit, our plan was to attach a painting device onto the CNC

The idea was to make Rhino and G-code designs that the CNC would draw / paint / surprise us!

C N C _ T U T O R I A L

DO PANIC !

Image indicating parts of the machine (from Aslı Aydın Aksan)

T E A M _ W O R K

Introducing... The Team

We divided eachother into various roles / tasks =

Hardware = Stephanie Johnson (myself) & Aslı Aydın Aksan

Electronics = Riley Cox & Michelle Vossen

Brush Design = Jiawen Gong & Ray Formilli

Ink / Surface = Ray Formilli & Jiawen Gong

G-code = Aslı Aydın Aksan & Jiawen Gong

Documentary = Ray Formilli & Machteld Zee

The Boss = Machteld Zee & Michelle Vossen

Google Slides presentation incorporating everyones work

H A R D W A R E

Mechanics - How to connect brushes etc to the ShopBot

Thinking...

  • How humans vs machines hold pens (angle vs straight up, fluid vs mechanic movement, idea vs programmed)

C O N S I D E R

Things to think about when designing the hardware:

  • Size (of brush / shape / thickness)

  • Secure (tightly held in place)

  • Pressure (does it need a gentle brush or a heavy sweep)

  • Angle (straight down or adjustable angle)

  • Movement (incorporated into hardware)

  • Reservoir (included for ink etc built in)

  • Weight (will weight be an issue?)

I D E A S

  • Roller on a wheel bit

  • Soft Robotics hand holding pen - squeezing it?

  • Two brushes dance romantically to Bolero - Ravel

I began by obvserving the various brushes / painting apparatus
& studying the differences and how they could be attached


After collecting materials and tools that I liked, I made the first iteration 
brush holder that would hold a variety of different sized brushes pens etc.


Further Design Development

E V O L U T I O N

Evolution of the Hardware brush holders / atttachments. 
Shows the material and design change.

  1. First attachment: Assemblage with clip. Multi holder for pens / brushes etc universal

  2. Second attachment: Laser Cut Attachment for Servo Motor

  3. Third attachment: 3D printed Attachment for Servo Motor and Pen Holder

Second iteration of holder to attach to servo motor adapted & 3D printed.

Changes consisded of

  • Overall closer to machine head (motor closer to attachment to make secure)

  • Shelf to fit battery pack

  • Slide to give strenght to circular grip

  • Circular grip made with pieces coming out that then screw together = tight fit on machine drill head

Made in conjunction with fitment to pen holder for servo motor

Plotter Attachment [1]

Plotter_Attachment_Servo _i3 by szjohnson on Sketchfab

Servo Brush Module Design by Michelle Vossen & Riley Cox 2

Servo Brush Module V6 by szjohnson on Sketchfab

Modular Attachment to Servo Motor, Brsuh Holder and CNC attachment

Uni brush holder design 3D printed design for anyone to download and use

P R O C E S S

  1. Decisions: Decide on file design, what brush / medium / material to use.

  2. Prepare surface: Ensure plastic layer on top of protective bed, then tape down sheets of paper / then tape material to paint on so that it is perfectly flat

  3. Test hardware: See how high up brush / X-axis need to be and make sure everything fits

  4. File for CNC: Ensure size fits within frame and transfer it VCarve Pro

  5. Home Machine: then calculate Job Home (take note for reference).
    For this we used a plank of wood (to make the spindle/drill bit higher) and the plate on top to home the X-axis.
    After this put 0 on X-axis in computer (drop 6mm roughly)

  6. Set up hardware in place & attach brush etc so that it is secure and firmly touching the bed (to avoid initial stain place something under brush and take out once it starts)

R E S U L T S

_1 Result on paper

__2 Digital File Design

Hardware was used from a previous year & pen was not fully secure

Hardware Brush Medium Extras
Previous Year Felt tip Pen Paper Rhino File 2D Figure

Hardware Brush Medium Extras
1st iteration Molotow Dripstick Squeezer Green ecoline ink on Paper Overlapping lines

Hardware Brush Medium Extras
1st iteration Sponge brush (adapted + cut in places) Blue screen print ink on Paper Brush aligned to Y-Axis

Hardware Brush Medium Extras
1st iteration Sponge brush (adapted + cut in places) Blue screen print ink on Paper Brush aligned to X-Axis

Hardware Brush Medium Extras
2nd iteration with hole pen holder (not secure = wild lines) Felt tip Pen Paper Added Servo motor

Hardware Brush Medium Extras
1st iteration Drip Brush with Ink Reservoir Orange ecoline ink on Paper Rhino File Text

Henk'S Angels 2023

Hardware Brush Medium Extras
1st iteration Squeegee Acrylic paint on primed (gessoed) cotton Jackson Pollock splatter meets squeegee

Sunrise No.3 2023

Hardware Brush Medium Extras
1st iteration Large flat brush Acrylic paint on primed (gessoed) cotton Collaboration between brush, paint, surface and machine

Hardware Brush Medium Extras
3rd iteration Drip Brush with Ink Reservoir Orange ecoline ink on Paper Servo motor movement + CNC movement

Finale -The Final Performance 2023

Hardware Brush Medium Extras
1st & 3rd iteration Flat brush + upside down pen nib holder Acrylic paint on primed (gessoed) cotton Combination of brush painting and motor scratching

C O N C L U S I O N

Ideally the most important factor is that a wide variety of brushes/ pens/ rollers can be held in place.

Modular connections so that different parts can be used / exchanged for others

F A B R I C A T I O N _ F I L E S

  1. File: Plotter Attachment ↩

  2. File: Servo Brush Module ↩