ok, not a Zen XY. But a neat “sand table” anyway.
And, Zach wins bonus points with me for mentioning sandify.
The mechanics are pretty cool too. I like that they don’t have anything electronic moving around.
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This is me! Sandify is the best - I wouldn’t have been able to build this without it. It helped a lot with getting the mechanics and script running properly as well as with some of the demo patterns.
The “resolution” of this system isn’t particularly high so I can’t make very intricate patterns, but I’m working on a higher resolution system and looking forward to tackling more challenging geometry.
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I designed a more straightforward system earlier that didn’t have any moving electronics either. I had to write a script to compensate for rho displacement that occurred because of a shared axis between theta and rho. I can probably dig that script up if people are interested.
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Very nice, I wouldn’t have thought it by myself, sand table + fish !
You can also increase the pattern details by using a smaller diameter ball 
what kind of control board di you use ?
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I’m curious about the resolution limit as well. Is it a backlash issue?
The resolution issue is mostly due to the wet sand flowing, so a smaller ball might not help me much here. When the ball deflects the sand on a typical Sisyphus table, the sand does a pretty good job of staying put. In the case of Sisyphish, some of the sand flows back down into the channel.
Oh, you should try baking soda 
Missed your question about the control board. It’s an Einsy Rambo running on an octopi server. I used it because I had it and because it supports StallGuard.
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I do like my shrimp 
I actually iterated through a bunch of different particulate types. The really small ones like clay sort of work, but they get stirred up way too easily. The larger particulate doesn’t resolve patterns at all. I found this fancy sand which works the best.
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Did you folks see this:
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I haven’t thank you for pointing that out. It looks like an extrusion based build, with dual X motors and a single Y.
I am not sure I like the idea of using a rectangular machine and a circular table. Especially if you build the table. But it is not my machine or table, so more power to them.
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