Description
Few years ago I already built a sand art table where a steel ball was moving around and making different patterns. The main issue then was the very loud noise. After I saw a few different people presenting their successful projects utilizing Faux leather fabric, I decided to try it again.
Project summary
In this project I designed a motorized sand table that could produce some nice patterns on the sand surface. I used one project as an inspiration, however all the parts are in the end designed and programmed by me.
My responsibilities
Design and build the coreXY pulley system.
Assemble the table
Program the Arduino
Results
This project took a while to build. The project was held in the background due to holidays and some other side projects. Nevertheless, in the end the results look good and I'm happy with the results.
When I saw the inspiration project I thought I could use it to build mine, however after some investigation I noticed that the components I already had were slightly different. Thus, I decided to start from zero and went to Fusion to design everything by myself. That made it more enjoyable, although the process required a lot more time than expected.
The biggest hassle was the software. My stepper motor shield for Arduino Nano is different from that which is often used with GRBL projects and I was not able to use the readily available software. Obviously that was a huge disappointment. Therefore I decided to go deeper into the subject and designed the required SW myself. The result is not perfect, however it works.
The wooden frame around the glass plate requires some final touch and finishing and then it would be a nice coffee table.
The Inspiration Project can be found here: Link
