Paper: Ilan Moyer, Leo McElroy, Quentin Bolsee, Joshua Rivera Camacho, Jennifer Jacobs, Maria Yang. A Cantilevered DeltaXY Positioning Mechanism Architecture Enabling Rackable Digital Fabrication Form-Factors. In Review.
Abstract: Desktop digital fabrication presumes form-factors optimized for workbenches, limiting suitability for alternative spaces and workflows. We identify the shelf as an important, underexplored locale, offering opportunities for new applications and interactions. Convenient placement supports ubiquitous fabrication. A class of "rackable" digital fabrication technologies could enable personal factories by improving organization and functionality for collections of machines. These explorations necessitate form-factors optimized for shelving, demanding new positioning mechanisms and machine architectures. We introduce the Cantilevered DeltaXY mechanism that enables narrow, deep digital fabrication form-factors with high lateral spatial efficiencies (LSE). We develop first-order design tools to aid the implementation of DeltaXY machines. We demonstrate DeltaXY by creating Fab Unit, a "bookshelf 3D printer" with an LSE significantly higher than similar commercial desktop machines. Together, DeltaXY and Fab Unit open the design space of rackable digital fabrication for future HCI fabrication research.