1 Hardware Setup
First print the STL files located in the Hardware folder. Right now only the files for an Ender 3 (or similar Ender 3 clone) are provided. It´s advised to print all the files with a brim so they are perfectly flat and don´t topple over while printing.
For working with 6 colors you need to print 6 pen caps, the pen rack, the pen holder arm and one of the pen holders.
For the pen holder part you can choose between a variant for Sharpies only and one for Sharpies, Amazon Basic Markers and Shuttle Art Markers. The later one is a little bit lose for Sharpies so it´s advised to use the first one if you only want to use Sharpie markers.
recommended printing orientations
To prepare the sharpies for printing, place the end cap on the back of the pen. The cap should hold the pen tightly and don´t slip of easily.
pen with end cap
You need to mount the pen holder to your extruder head first. To do so you need to unscrew the 2 screws shown in the picture.
location of the screws
Now put the mounting part in place and screw everything back in. After that You can mount the pen holder to the mounting part with 3 M2 screws.
mounted pen arm
mounted pen holder
Make sure the pen can slide in and out of the holder easily. If not you may need to sand down the piece a bit.
pen in pen holder
pen in pen holder
The pen rack needs to be mounted to the upper t-slot profile of your printer. If you have an Ender 3 you should have 2 spare screws and corresponding t nuts you can use for that. To reduce stress on the bowden cable it is advised to place the rack as far left as possible.
monted pen rack
Important: when mounting the racket you need make sure that a pen sitting in the pen holder can be easily sliced in and out of the individual rack holders! If it doesn't fit perfectly just slightly unscrew the rack and reposition it until it fits.
first pen position
last pen position
When changing the pens the printhead needs to do a lot of Z-travel. Far more than it would normally do. To greatly speed up the printing/painting process it´s therefore advised to increase your printers Z-axis speed. For an Ender 3 this is done under Control->Motion->Velocity->Vmax Z. I did dozens of prints with the speed set to 25. Higher speeds may very well also be possible but do this at your own risk.
Vmax Z set to 25
Please Help: Right now the parts are designed for an Ender 3 printer but adapting it to other printers should be fairly easy. If you design a different pen arm or rack for your printer please share your design by opening a pull request or contact my via [email protected].