Last night I put everything together. The tool chain is now clear. I learned what ‘tool chain’ means from Co-Squidly. It was a word I knew but had never really respected, and now I do. So, here’s the flow:
- Generate paths in Inkscape
- Inkscape -> Extensions -> GCodeTool -> Path to GCode
- Clean Gcode – inkscape uses
(comments like this)and gcode needs;comments like this - Import to bCNC (python GUI to send gCode)
- Send to Arduino
- Magic happens. Stuff moves!
The silver circle on the wood above was drawn in inkscape and sent to the machine where it was drawn with a Sharpie. I’ve built a machine. I declared tea and victory, and went home.
My friends have nicknamed it wobblebot. This is not unfair. It needs a lot of work, but it’s what I was after.