Hi, for a couple of months I've been trying to figure out what the spring in the pen holder is for. Can someone tell me what the spring is for? The image shows an example, but I've seen it in many types of pen holders and machines.
Thank you.
Hi guys,
I was looking to build a wall pen plotter on canvas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09LlZhlcJTU
I found these, but nothing that seems finished.
https://github.com/karliss/plotter_sketches/blob/main/notes/diy_plotters.md
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqz7bGFmptg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwX6gkqBsJI
Acrylic on canvas brush plot original abstract artwork 500x700 mm size.
I was researching about wall plotters recently.
They are mostly suspended on strings, belts or wooden sticks.
Wanted to make it, but could not find a clear way and the general problems.
TL;DR: I got an iDraw H SE A3 but didn't want my Mac tethered to it for the whole plot. So I built Plotter Hub — a free, open-source plot server that runs on a Raspberry Pi. Upload an SVG over WiFi, then start / pause / resume and monitor the plot from any device, with optional vpype optimization and physical pause-button support. I also built a companion macOS app, GD Studio, for designing generative line art that exports plotter-ready SVG or sends straight to Plotter Hub.
A few months ago, I bought an iDraw H SE A3 pen plotter, and so far I've been very happy with it. It comes fully assembled, you can start using it right away, and the results are very precise. UUNA TEK regularly has special offers and discount codes, and with no shipping costs it was considerably cheaper for me than comparable models from other manufacturers. I'd recommend it.
There was only one downside: the plotter had to be connected directly to my Mac via USB. I wanted to keep the plotter in a different place from my computer, and I didn't want to depend on my Mac staying connected during the whole plot. Since the iDraw H SE A3 is compatible with AxiCLI, I connected the plotter to a Raspberry Pi 3. Now I can start a plot over WiFi and the Pi controls the plotter from there — my computer no longer needs to stay connected.
Sending commands manually worked, but in practice it wasn't ideal. So I built a web interface using AxiDraw Python — with a lot of help from Claude Code. Through the web interface I can upload an SVG to the Raspberry Pi, then start a plot, pause it, and monitor its progress. Before plotting, an SVG can be optimized automatically with vpype. The physical pause button on the iDraw H SE A3 is supported as well, which is especially useful for multi-layer plots — after changing a pen, I resume the plot with a single button press.
I called the app Plotter Hub. Anyone with an AxiDraw-compatible pen plotter can use it; a powerful Pi isn't required (a Zero 2 W or 3B+ is fine). The app is free to install, and the source is open. More info, the repository link, and installation instructions are here: https://www.synendo.com/plotterhub
I also built a macOS app, GD Studio, for designing the artwork I plot — generative line-art patterns shaped with live sliders, plus layers for text and imported SVG. It exports plotter-ready SVG/PDF, but it can also send a plot directly to Plotter Hub over its API (with options for vpype optimization, plotter speeds, and pausing between layers). It's a paid app with a free trial.
Black ink Rotring technical pen plotted on Fabriano 250 gsm paper. A3 size. 1/1.
