Plotter

2012-04-24T13:00:12Z

50.0.89.129: /* We need: */

On December 20, 2009, someone (who?) donated a beautiful HP DraftMaster I pen plotter (HP P/N 7595A).

There's a Flickr set of [http://www.flickr.com/photos/lennyjpg/sets/72157622877308172/ somebody else's DraftMaster] for reference.

Our plotter:
* appears to be in good physical condition
* comes with a pen carousel
* comes with one pen holder (holding a #2 pencil, nach)
* has a DB-25 that probably wants to speak HP-GL over RS-232

spit something out to it:
dd if=/somefile of=/dev/ttyUSB0 bs=1

==Carousel setup==
[[Image:5763566793_8c8251d19f_o.jpg#file|plotter carousel pencap retracted|200px]]
[[Image:5763999946 7604492d97 o.jpg#file|plotter carousel pencapped | 200px]]

==Documentation==
* [http://www.hpmuseum.net/exhibit.php?hwdoc=81 Manuals and User Guides] and [http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=81 product info], from HP museum.

HPGL Software:
* [http://www.inkscape.org/ Inkscape], a vector drawing program, can export HPGL.
* [http://sk1project.org/modules.php?name=Products&product=uniconvertor Uniconvertor] may be able to output HPGL.

Pens:
* [http://www.draftingsteals.com/catalog-plotters---plotter-supplies-plotter-pens-rapidoplot-disposable-6820-series-e-style-plotter-p.html draftingsteals.com]
* [http://www.westnc.com/hp-plotter-pens.html wncsupply.com]

Wikipedia: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotter Plotter], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HPGL HPGL]

Program that seems to work:
<PRE>
IN;
SC0,40,0,40;
SP7;
PU0,0;
PD100,0,100,100,0,100,0,0;
PU50,50;
CI25;
</PRE>

=Use It=
Settings:
* Your program needs to use DOS line endings (\r\n)
* Serial is 9600 8N1 on the PC side, plugged into the COMPUTER/MODEM port via a null modem cable
* SERIAL:
** DATAFLOW: REMOTE, STANDALONE
** PARITY: 1
** BAUD: 9600
** HARDWIRE: OFF

Using Inkscape:
* Load (or create) your vector graphic in Inkscape
* Prepare the image for printing:
* Scale the image (Inkscape mm units appear to work correctly)
* Flip the image horizontally (for some reason, the plotter is printing it backwards)
* Select 'save as', then 'HP Graphics Language'.
* Open this file in a text editor, and copy the text
* Paste the file into your terminal program, configured as above (CoolTerm in OS/X or Minicom in Linux)
* Enjoy your plot!

Example:

[[http://www.flickr.com/photos/cibomahto/5764101196/ Plotted Noisebridge Logo]]
[[HPGL for NoiseBridge Logo]]

Noisebridge - User contributions [en]

Plotter