Building a String Art Machine

In this video I describe the process of building a string art machine.
There were way too many problems and iterations to go through them all in one video so this is more of an overview.
A slightly more detailed account of the process is listed here:
/ building-a-string-art-...
FAQ
How long did it take?
hundreds and hundreds of hours on and off over a couple of years (I rebuilt it a few times)
Did you make the software?
Firmware was GRBL I believe (modified to handle relays and some other things). All the path calculation and art generation was written from scratch by me.
How do you place the nails?
I used some contrast based techniques for nail placement and I also had an interface to place them manually.
Have you thought about CMYK or RGB?
I did actually try this a couple of times but honestly I was disappointed by the results, but I only tried two colours and stopped there.
I want to learn how to make machines like this but where do I start?
Good news, it's so easy nowadays to do stuff like this. Arduino (www.arduino.cc/) is probably the best resource for learning how to make machines like this. The other side of the process is 3D modelling and 3D printing. But you can start with Arduino and use stuff like lego, connex, glue, wood etc you don't need a lot of money. Look up the Arduino tutorials on Servos, Stepper motors, Relays for a start. Arduino is also a fun platform for learning the basics of software engineering.
What degree did you do?
I didn't go to university, everything you need is online.
How did you do the neural network?
I used tensorflow initially with a custom neural network structure but then I refined the YOLO model I think it was.
You should do X/Y/Z/Sell the art
Sadly I only have limited space so I no longer have the machine. One day I may rebuild a machine but it will likely be many years before I will have a space big enough.
Who is the main picture of?
Just some guy I know, no one famous.
Why not use a nail gun?
Nail gun nails generally come in 2 sizes, brad nails and normal. Brad nails are too short and normal nails are too thick. If I was going to do this again I would probably implement a wire feed system that makes the nails like that.
I want to buy one are you selling?
I don't have the machine any more but there is a company that someone mentioned in the comments that sells them (far superior quality to mine) wirestyle.com/ (*I am not affiliated with them in any way, nor have I bought anything from them. This is not an endorsement.*)

[@StuffMadeHere]

The algorithm to calculate the string paths seems like a lot of fun! Awesome project!

[@monhi64]

That’s so funny, I saw this project and you were the first person to come to mind. It’s exactly the kinda project you would do but I was not expecting to see you here when the vid has so few views. The KZbin algorithm def knows

[@MrGatlin98]

I always see your comments on the most obscure high quality channels. You have your algorithm dialed in WELL.

[@frdyn8tr]

Funnily enough, while watching the video, I thought about when Shane would release his next video and that he would really like this one too.

[@sinisterhipp0]

Yeah this looked like the kind of painful thing you'd like to spend months on.

[@hippopotamus86]

Saw this video and immediately thought of your videos! Would love to see you attempt something like this?

[@blwhpenguin]

I can't believe this doesn't have more views, this is incredible

[@asailijhijr]

Share it with your mom and give it another week.

[@creativename.]

Fr

[@MyTubeSVp]

Some people are so smart, they make the rest of us look like mouthbreating knuckledraggers ….

[@Terrorbrot]

It will have, don't worry

[@elliotmarks06]

agreed!

[@sfdntk]

This is mental. This is actually mental. The part where you decide you want to try adding colour so you just casually invent a method to DYE THE STRING AS IT'S BEING FED OUT absolutely pushed this into the realm of the absurd. You're officially my idol, what a legend.

[@CockatooDude]

It's really not that absurd though is it, it's a pretty logical solution. The mechanical aspect of this project isn't the relatively difficult part.

[@Nevir202]

@@CockatooDude It really is though. Anything approaching a sane person would place the string, then dye it afterwards... You know the way we do with printed fabrics? Or else use different colored strings and place them exactly where they are wanted, as we do with woven patterns. If there is anyone else who has ever tried to dye string in different colors, as it is being placed in a project, I've never heard of it.

[@CockatooDude]

@@Nevir202 I think both of the methods you mentioned would be harder to do with this style of robot than what he did in the video.

[@Nevir202]

@@CockatooDude Not sure how you figure, you could literally just use an industrial inkjet printer. If there was too much deviation between the simulation and the actual nail art (which I don't imagine would be the case, but just in case) you could just print the ENTIRE image, to make sure to get the color on the strings, and then either wash away the overspray onto the backboard, or pour a layer of thin paint across the whole board to hide it.

[@failureisnotoptional929]

@@Nevir202But thats not the point is it? This is about ingenuity and lateral thinking, melding mechanics with software. Otherwise just remove the nails and thread and inkjet print a colour image!

[@ikannunaplays]

MULTI PASS!!!!! For colors. Do a CYMK in layers. In art, you work lightest colors to darkest. So with CYMK you would go with Yellow first, then Cyan, Then Magenta and lastly Black or K. This would give you full color images on the final piece. You would only need to pull the base image into photo shop and separate the color channels into single grey scale images for each pass on the machine.

[@Nevir202]

Had a similar idea. The only issue I see, other than maybe not having enough nail for all that string, is that anything dark is going to be dense in string of every color. Running the separated images through the same algorithm may just end up stacking strings literality atop one another a lot of the time so the light colors aren't meaningfully able to affect the final image?

[@ikannunaplays]

@@Nevir202 This is already considered with the light to dark method as the same issues arise when using half tone or cross hatched patterns in print. String is a similar medium to cross hatching and thus the light to dark method would result in a image similar to that which is printed in a magazine if using CYMK. Though the string print didn't need to be CYMK it can follow a different color pallet the way silk screening would for a multi color print that uses specific colors.

[@Bekahchu]

Im flabbergasted. This is insane. Like a normal person would have stopped at just making a strong art on a ring, but no. You went farther again and again. Designing software to determine the paths, training so to recognize if the nail is in the machine or not, DYEING THE STRING as it comes out, and rebuilding it partway through. This is so freaking cool.

[@smartereveryday]

Amazing

[@CullenJWebb]

The way you briefly mention how you attempted to color string on the fly while showing a whole new contraption in the background like it didn't take you days to write the software, print and assemble the parts, and who knows how long to decide it wasn't feasible is inspiring

[@rohan-menon]

So glad I stumbled across this! Just incredible work and so excited to see what you work on next!

[@lukelehmann4783]

Absolutely incredible I love your perseverance with this project

[@oy12la]

As engineer in this field I am impressed, what a nice work! I love it when people finish huge projects step by step :) Thanks for sharing your work!

[@maxstinkyfoot7366]

I often find myself thinking, "yeah I could probably figure that out if I wanted" when watching these types of videos, but holy cow, I don't know where I would've started. Just imagining the amount of time and effort that went into this makes my knees ache. Simply outstanding work and I envy your sheer will.

[@MA775M17H]

What an onion of a project. So many layers. It looks like one of those things where the actual value is in the journey. Such extraordinary perseverance and diverse skill set to achieve this. Well done sir

[@Nevir202]

Apparently so, as he's already abandoned the project when bringing us this video. can't believe the madman literally used a tuned neural network to check if/how many nails were loaded LOL. It's like using a shotgun as a flyswatter!

[@JanVokas]

Whoa! That's genious! Speaking of colors - what about trying CMYK colored strands? Just 4 spools and do "layer" over previous one to somehow combine into final colors. It'd be fuzzy at the end, but should be nice effect. I'm dazzled.

[@edwinvarghese]

Simply incredible. KZbin is fantastic place for all kinds of artists and that's because we have enthusiasts like you who pushes to the extreme just for the fun of doing it. Thanks a ton

[@patkirk960]

For feeding nails search how vibratory bowl feeders work. They make light work of that problem. That are fairly simple and you could make your own if you're keen enough!

[@RobertMilesAI]

This channel is about to blow up, mark my words

[@Nick-vs5wl]

This is so incredibly impressive. The amount of work done off screen must be immense

[@Engineezy]

Incredible project! Love the Rube Goldberg nail feeder 👌

[@Blorkus]

I love how absolutely thorough you are about this - all the prototypes and explanations are wonderful. Excellent work.

[@NigelDanson]

This blew my mind! incredible. The complexity of the algorithm for that!

[@themicrowavedev]

This guy is criminally underrated.

[@BendsSpace]

This is absolutely incredible! Your algorithms alone ... not to mention the engineering and such extensive use of 3D printing! Blow away.

[@bmitchizzle]

I love the way you just give the facts instead of trying to sensationalize one or two aspects and gloss over everything else as KZbin seems to want. I hate this era of KZbin but your channel is one of the exceptions I'll continue to watch and like for as long as you keep it real.

[@TheVersatileMindMedia]

This is so off the charts it's totally unbelievable: here comes the boom! Wow, can't totally comprehend all the details that went into this, including, hair pulling, throwing things, and any other emotional outburst that can be imagined. I am totally in awe, awesome!

[@itsmeashbeel9175]

This video should have millions of views

[@coderized]

I have to say how much I love the over-engineering here, such as using machine vision to detect the nail hopper state. Fantastic machine Paul and can't wait to see more!

[@jacobbalensiefer3846]

Insane to see this process. The end result will make every portrait look like a hell raiser character and that’s fun.

[@MrViholt]

you are out of this world mate.🤯 I`ll never get to your level. fantastic engineering. well done.

[@muratdogan7240]

Sometimes KZbin just starts throwing raw Diamonds like this at you! Insane project, cant wait to see more

[@silvanbraendli]

Huge Project for such a small channel. Great job on the storytelling and quality overall. Love to see it!

[@nrayanerhg53h]

You are some kind of genius. Absolutely incredible work!

[@eliasvdv100]

I just found this channel and I'm hooked already!!! This is just pure genius

[@Shred72]

casually makes one of the best videos on youtube

[@nicholasbuchele4357]

Amazing video. This is the next Stuff Made Here channel! Thanks for sharing.

[@thefreelancerider69]

This is genius Paul ! As an engineer myself I can understand the level of complexity of this project . You just got one new sub

[@frog8220]

I love the wild levels of “how difficult should I make this problem for me?” you choose! On the one hand using a needle is such a simple brilliant approach, on the other a nailgun was too easy for you and you train a neural net to count nails‽!!!

[@jmckinney0040]

🙂 casually throws out "yeah I had to train a neural network for that" twice! Hats off! Excellent work.

[@JonMurray]

Absolutely blown away by this video for so many reasons. Some man for one man. Awesome work. New subscriber ✌🏻

[@adsfawe4rq3asdf]

In the industry they use a "spring" looking like a fishing pole that keep tension. It is made of small metal diameter with a ring in the end where the string pass

[@jaugretler9140]

Crazy amount of dedication and ingenuity! Very cool project:))

[@Ano_Niemand]

Hi man great job you did here. more views will come, this is neatly unique project. Cheers and keep it up!

[@pieterpennings9371]

This is really, really impressive man. You sound a bit discouraged at the end and I hope you’re not. Be proud of what you’ve made here. I hope to reach a level of designing and programming skills to make something of this complexity.

[@lexel9699]

Amazing feat of software and hardware engineering! Bravo!

[@callumm.15]

This is such an insane project. Congrats on getting it working, it looks sick!

[@stanleydenning]

Your programming skills are on another level. Empressive.

[@RuijsNL]

Love to see the process and the dismissed ideas!

[@TrondBrgeKrokli]

This project contains interesting details on so many levels. I am surprised how captured I felt, as soon as I saw the development from the initial model to the next ones. Really nice job making this video of it all. Definitely worth watching a second time. I feel more enlightened then before I sat down to watch. Thanks a lot for sharing and educating me and all the others. 😊

[@MegaLietuvislt]

Your persistence and efficiency is admirable, well done!

[@alphebetguy]

crazy engineering! deserves more views. algorithm do your thing

[@jphc7181]

Incredible work Paul - Good to see you putting your skills to good use these days rather than blowing up lighters :)

[@commanderofthewind]

Having never seen this channel before, I wish I had found it sooner

[@makebreakrepeat]

Awesome work! I really appreciate your showing the whole design and thought process as you puzzle it out. If a project is worth doing it's worth failing until you do.

[@TheKitMurkit]

Amazing. Can't imagine how much education you need as well as experience to do something like this

[@acathosh]

Absolutely amazing. I'd love to see any further progress or other projects from you! Subscribed!

[@elliotmarks06]

This is so well engineered! Everything from the robot itself to the algorithm to the failsafe & checking mechanisms is so cool. I can't imagine how long it took to get all of it working properly!

[@Jagnathbaba]

Its very hard to believe but me and my engineer friends were thinking of building a similar machine but we weren't getting the time. glad to see the idea becoming a reality..kudos

[@CapnCrunchESO]

A literal genius. This is super cool man

[@boredymcboredface8624]

This is awesome mate - literally blown away by what you have done here.

[@user-jm2jx5vk4b]

That’s insane!!!!! It definitely takes high skills of tech engineering 💥 congrats for the super cool project!!!

[@karlkastor]

This is so cool! I love how you showed all the previous iterations that didn't work. I imagine custom string art would sell quite well on etsy

[@PineconeSunset]

Exactly, he could totally set up an Etsy shop with custom string art portraits, pet portraits, mass produced designs, etc... and let the machine do all the string work. He's already done the hard part of designing and building the machine. Currently the Etsy rate for these seems to be £100 per custom photo, or £25-40 for mass produced designs. If I were this guy I'd totally make this into a business, maybe hire someone part-time to run it if he didn't have the time for it. It'd not be super duper profitable but it'd be a steady income stream.

[@lumotroph]

Wowee. You trained a net to check if the nails were picked up!😮 amazing features this thing has

[@Ludix147]

I want more people to see this, very good video!

[@NeonNijahn]

This is absolutely incredible

[@puzzlesmith]

totally blown away by this project! really incredible to see all these different robotics concepts coming together in one place to make for such an interesting project!

[@chicken_punk_pie]

"This is a small child" was really funny to me for no reason

[@laarco]

It's amazing to see that you followed a very similar path to how I built my machines! I tried to pick up nails from a big pot as well, but it was unrealiable and then I realized that placing them on a matrix manually was fast enough with some jigs. With a screw on the z axis you can easily nail onto harder surfaces like pvc foam or soft wood. Great job!

[@mjagannath7810]

Hi @laarco, what code you have used for this project. Possible to get the code or git link?

[@mjagannath7810]

08:00

[@Synasonic]

More content like this PLEASE. Such cool stuff

[@jburtson]

This is miraculous, so many steps are in of themselves feats of engineering

[@BM-yy8db]

This is brilliant! This is the sort of genius design work I'd imagine seeing "Stuff Made Here" make. I'd love to play around with such a machine myself, but aside from lacking the coding and electrical skills I think such a project would drive me quite mad. Bravo sir, brilliant work!

[@slimjimcognito]

5.5m sub content with 5.5k actual subs. May the algos bless you, good Sir

[@Theafghanistanbaby2]

this is the most insane video i`ve ever seen, amazing job

[@oflatt]

this is incredible, companies try so hard to make knitting machines which have similar problems

[@3DprintedLife]

Such a unique and interesting project, thanks for sharing it!

[@benjaminaburns]

These are my favorite kinds of videos. So I worked on this step for two weeks, and ... it didn't work. Then I tried this other thing, and it also didn't work. And you need to account for the nail thickness, or this part doesn't work. So many good details about how you arrived at success through the many trials along the way.

[@goodi2k7]

Very cool video. I really like that you also covered all the things that didn't work on first try. How much time did you spend on this in total?

[@paulmh]

Hundreds and hundreds of hours

[@StephenHoldaway]

​@@paulmhover how many months/years? Really impressive engineering effort on all fronts, and very nicely presented!

[@seriouslyx6664]

Such a high quality content for so little views. Love the step by step presentation. Love it.

[@MrFathead]

Well dam that was a lot more then I was expecting, nice job you are a clever guy.

[@dreme0704]

I love how you say you wanted to forge somrthing together quickly to see if it'll work then you end up making like 4 prototypes, before making the prototypes of the nail feeder.

[@TheArtificiallyIntelligent]

If my wife saw this video she would say, "You need to find a friend like Paul so you two can endlessly chatter away about ideas and things you're tinkering with."

[@kevinclark1466]

Bravo! Super impressed with your ingenuity and determination…. Subscribed!

[@ListVerse-vv7bt]

this is cool. definitely need to boost the contrast in your images before starting. the best are the images with high lights and low darks.

[@ArnaldurBjarnason]

That was a very pleasant presentation.

[@sssamalander]

This is an insane amount of work - great job! You should consider selling these and doing custom ones!

[@cparrish91]

Love to see the development journey of the string art machine Paul. Some familiar faces too :)

[@shoudehuang1244]

Absolutely amazing! Love the explanation of how you managed to achieve this.

[@low_bitrate_detected]

Excellent way to make Hellraiser cenobyte portraits!!

[@ivangutowski]

Insane level of knowledge you have ! Also the amount of time you must have spent designing and printing parts of the machine !

[@lithostheory]

I'd say you NAILED it :)

[@GiGi.Studios]

Great job man ! That device is literally insane , cant imagine to start constructing something like that LOL :)

[@giantman261]

Such an Awesome project. Love it!

[@anyfriendofkevinbaconisafr177]

I am amazed at how smart you must be to figure this out. I wonder what might be possible in you and all the other incredibly smart people dedicated their intelligence and free time to participating in the governance of our society.

[@consilo]

Someone has likely mentioned this already but logging it here for visibility and (hopefully!) your future experimentation: The piece you made of the dog with yellow string (14:15) looks "like a blob" because of the lack of contast on the field behind it. I would love to see white or light colors of string on a dark background. What a cool invention, nice work. You should post a link to the video that inspired you to make this

[@minskmade]

insanely beautiful.

[@Retep4565]

Pinhead from Hellraiser seems to be the perfect picture for this machine.

[@sergiplanas6427]

Wow! Amazing project. I can't wait to see you next one!

[@yoashuain1]

This is why we do what we do. Great goob. 😎😎😎😎😎

[@floschy_1]

LOL Ive just done a jam where the mission was to create an array of nails for a string to go around from an back/white image! How cool

[@CreativeMindstorms]

This is so interesting and advanced! I thoroughly enjoyed this video, since you don't really see any complex machines like this on KZbin! Amazing job!

[@tessaelto1472]

Wow. This is amazing and you deserve more views

[@oldbear86]

Stunning work, congrats!!