CNC Petri BioArt, introduction (no build yet)

it occurs to me that i should explain what bioart is, for those who've never heard of it

or specifically, what i mean in terms of my project: "bioart" = streaking petri dishes with bacteria the glow (fluoresce or bioluminesce).

people have done it by hand for ages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BioArt

http://www.biology.pl/bakterie_sw/bac_pict_en.html (this site used for reference for DIY broth too)

and these are the different colors i wanted to use (clearly, it's end of term so i won't have time this semester...)
http://2010.igem.org/Team:Cambridge/Bioluminescence/Colour

and to use a pen-plotter system (xy axis gantries) + appropriate stepper software to streak petri dishes by computer instead of by hand.
http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/4.140/people/yoav.shterman/interface.html

look ma, i'm all lasercutter!

=====
one of the original inspirations... hunter cole, her living dna:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bioart/pool/
http://www.huntercole.org/artgallery/livingbacterialdrawings/index.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28goA0zA6PA

bright enough to light a room / picture (not sure about exposure they used though)

and of course, there's already CNC bioart (with a 3d printer frameset), on agar with drops of flourescent bacteria
http://biodisplay.tyrell.hu/

and recently one with lots of different colors:
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/09/a-different-kind-of-secret-code.html

====
some on paper instead of agar
http://amychasegulden.blogspot.com/2011/08/time-to-paint-some-petri-dishes.html
http://web.me.com/amychasegulden/Growing_Impressions/Growing_Impressions.html

=====
it's everywhere... here are some misc. links
http://www.microbiana.org/content/glowing-bacteria-light-ocean

http://artengine.ca/blog/?p=2612 more macro scale

http://thecreatorsproject.com/blog/creativity-bytes-a-brief-guide-to-bio-art

=====

=====

Steppers

Digikey has product guides that I'd never seen before (thanks mas.863 classmates)

http://dkc1.digikey.com/us/en/tod/Microchip/StepperMotorControl/StepperMotorControl.html

http://www.digikey.com/PTM/PTMMaster.page?site=us&lang=en

(see also, http://dkc1.digikey.com/us/en/tod/ADI/MotorControl_NoAudio/MotorControl_NoAudio.html)

~~6.131 motor controller notes

notes to self. ir2125 wants 230 mV min, attiny can source max 40 mA per pin 

http://www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=printview&t=53142&start=0

http://www.avrfreaks.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=53068

http://www.irf.com/product-info/datasheets/data/ir2125.pdf

==
spring making: worked on spring-making some more for vending machine.

AVR Studio Screenshots / overview of features (doesn't go over the chip debugger, which I haven't learned to use it)
https://picasaweb.google.com/113942194695013581888/AVRStudio512Dec2011