Da Vinci Drawing Machine

I had the opportunity to attend Harvard’s annual makeathon (MakeHarvard) where you can build anything you want for 24 hours straight. I collaborated with two other engineers to build an analog drawing machine that is controlled by rotating two interlocking gears.

We got the idea from a Kickstarter campaign inspired by Da Vinci’s own drawing machines. The components were first created on Fusion 360 and then laser cut and put together using dowels, screws, and washers.

Software

• Fusion 360

Hardware

• Laser-cutting

There are two interlocking gears that drive the rotational motion of the machine. There are two cams that push the arm of the machine. Each cam interacts with one part of the arm that either drives the hand back and forth or side to side. The curves on the cam can be mathematically derived to correspond to a specific drawing of a pattern.

Our machine currently draws the same arbitrary pattern over and over again and a possible future improvement would be to design cams that correspond to a specific pattern.

My Team!

Fusion 360 Render