The WaterColorBot is designed to fi t 9x12” watercolor paper (one of
the most common sizes), and to paint up to within 1/2” of the edges.
The brush holder is located at the front-left corner of
the carriage. The brush holder can fi t any writing im-
plement up to about 0.44”, or 11.1 mm in diameter.
A black plastic thumbscrew holds the brush in place.
(In the photo here, the “brush” is an art pen.)
To insert a brush, loosen the thumbscrew enough that
the brush can fi t through, lower the brush into place,
and tighten the thumbscrew by hand.
The brush moves up and down, driven by the little servo motor on the carriage.
In the “Brush Up” position, the brush must be high enough to clear the lip of the water
dish, the top of the paint pans, and to travel over the paper without dragging. When down,
it needs to be low enough to paint on the paper, dip into the water, and get paint from the
palette. There is also usually a “Wash” position, lower than the Down position, for washing
the brush in the water dish.
The best way to set the brush to the right height is to use the software to raise and lower
the brush. Insert the brush by hand while the carriage is in the “brush down” position.
1. Move the carriage, by hand, to the upper-left (Home) corner, marked START
2. Load your media (paper, paint set, water dishes ) on the spoilboard as desired
3. Lower the upper frame (main chassis) of the WaterColorBot onto the spoilboard
4. Connect power and USB cables
5. Insert the brush and check the height
6. Begin painting from the software
When trying out the WaterColorBot for the very fi rst time, we suggest printing the “Sim-
ple Face” example fi le, which you can fi nd in the Examples menu of RoboPaint.
Before every subsequent print, make sure that the carriage is back in the Home Corner.
And, if you need to move the carriage by hand, fi rst make sure that the motors are off .
To use US Letter or A4 paper
sizes— both are a little smaller
than 9x12” —align the paper
to the top, and center it, us-
ing the marks provided on the
spoilboard.
The chassis of the WaterColorBot indexes into the
spoilboard with its feet. This “upper frame” is re-
movable for easy access to paint, water, and paper.
When removing the upper frame from the spoil-
board, take care to lift it directly upwards, so that
it comes off cleanly, without spilling your water or
paints.
The WaterColorBot comes with a universal-input
power supply that takes worldwide voltage (al-
though it will need a plug-shape adapter in some
countries).
It also comes with a USB cable to connect to
your computer.
If your computer is running Windows, install the
RoboPaint software (§3.2) before hooking the
WaterColorBot up to your computer.
Overall paper size: 9x12”
(22.8 cm x 30.5 cm)
Margin width: 1/2”
(12.7 mm)
Painting area (inside margins): 8x11”
(20.3 cm x 27.9 cm)
§5.2,The Spoilboard, continued:
5.3 USB and Power
5.4 Inserting the Brush and Setting the Height
5.5 Summary: Basics of setting up the WaterColorBot for Use
Brush up
Brush down
