Tillo
I wanted a pen plotter which can plot on at least A3, since my A4 iDraw (axiDraw-ish) is nice but somtimes bigger is better.
Unfortunately pen plotter get pretty costly fast.
Diode laser engraver, those with safety third though
- are dead cheap (cheaper than the materials needed for a gantry of the same size).
- are 90% of a pen plotter.
- come with support for laser cutter software (Lightburn, LaserGRBL) instead of some inkscape plugins.
So my plan, since that's what I told a lot of folks over the last years anyway:
- Get a cheap laser engraver.
- Throw a lot of time and electronics towards it.
- Get a pen plotter which isn't cheaper than a bought one in the end, but at least don't need some inkscape plugins.
- Ideally the machine can still be used for laser engraving.
- It would be really cool if 4. would be possible without a lot tool changing.
And maybe at the end I get a kit which others can buy / build by themselves.