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by adolph 1064 days ago
I'm impressed that it works in an Axidraw. It probably helps that many of the strokes were very short so the Orenz Nero reset itself each time the pencil was lifted. I wonder how the Axidraw maintains optimal pressure with a pencil where the lead wears down enough that the pencil needs to get closer to the paper (which is how the lead holder retract works in the Orenz Nero).
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fmajid 1064 days ago
I only have an AxiDraw Mini, and I'm not sure if it works the same way as the full-sized machines, but the pen is raised and dropped by a servo and gravity, the machine is not applying any pressure, only the weight of the pen itself is. It's good enough with a Sharpie in my experience, and I guess the Orenz mechanism is sensitive enough as well, but I haven't tried my own Orenz Nero in it as I generally want a permanent result.
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adolph 1064 days ago
> generally want a permanent result

I've often thought Tibetian-style colored sand mandalas would be a fun way to use such devices.

Of course, you'd need a lego-sorter-style device to separate the sand into different colors afterward.

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Doxin 1063 days ago
> Of course, you'd need a lego-sorter-style device to separate the sand into different colors afterward.

Well that nerd-sniped me. Maybe a very small vibratory feeder so you can handle individual sand particles? Would require the sand to be fairly homogenously sized, but that's nothing some sifting can't fix. One of those usb-microscopes for checking sand color perhaps? Then you get to the point where you want it going fast, which might be tricky...

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adolph 1063 days ago
Maybe something similar to microfluidic devices but using acoustical vibration to transition sand in and out of a non-newtonian fluid state.

To the degree that different colors of sand have different physical properties I wonder if it would be possible to use differences in vibration and/or electrostatic properties to sort as a whole rather than evaluating each grain.

https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/479163/what-kind...

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fmajid 1063 days ago
Probably a better fit for a 3D printer with the hotend replaced with a screw pump.
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