Ping Pong Plotter

The video about the Ping Piong Plotter

About the PingPongPlotter

Figure 1:
This ping pong plotter was created as a quick project for a weekend. Two stepper motors, a small servo, an Arduino Mega and a RAMPS board are enough to decorate spherical objects. The mechanics were printed from recycled PLA with my Direct Granule Extruder.
3mm screws and nuts hold almost all parts together.

Assembly

Figure 2:
The parts are screwed together quite quickly. The photos on this page should be sufficient.
If long shaft stepper motors are used, the X-axis motor must be mounted with spacers.

Figure 3:
Ball bearings for 3mm axes ensure that the aluminum tube with the pin can move smoothly.

Figure 4:

Elektronik

Figure 5:
Only two connectors need to be soldered to the two stepper motors. A big advantage of the RAMPS board is that it is available as a shield for the Arduino MEGA, which minimizes the amount of wiring. All you have to do is swap the two cables for the power supply on the servo connector, then this can also be connected to the board. 12V DC is supplied to the RAMPS board from an old computer power supply.

Software / Download

Figure 6:
On the software side, an Arduino sketch and a Python script are required. The Python script runs under Linux as operating system, here on my old workshop laptop. It also works with a Raspberry Pi.

Figure 7:
I created the graphics with LibreOffice Draw.

The supported vector format is "Scalable Vector Graphics (*.svg)". There are a few special features to note:
No areas can be drawn, only lines (paths). All paths must be converted to "polygons". I tested the software with graphics that I edited and exported with Libre Office Draw:
1.) Create graphics with LibreOffice Draw
2.) Press Ctrl + 'a' to select all objects.
3.) Click on "Change -> Convert to -> Polygon".
4.) Set lines to "Continuous" and color black.
5.) Set surfaces to "Invisible".
6.) Export as *.svg
7.) Copy the file into the directory with the Python script.

The Adruino sketch, the Python script and the 3D files are included in the Download package.

Beispiele

Figure 8:
Ping Pong Balls

Figure 9:
Christmas bauble

Figure 10:
Easteregg

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