I currently have, and I have used several other models of HP pen plotters,
but they are old and all of them were analog and took a varying voltage as
input. In other words, not easily controlled by a computer without
additional digital to analog converters.
Bertho
======================================
From: designer_craig Sent: Saturday, February 05, 2011 14:25
PC stock would not work in a larger HP plotter, you have a grit roller and a
rubber pinch roller. It depends on the grit pattern digging into the paper.
Alos the paper bed is curved. You also need a roller set at the other side
of the paper or it will not run straight.
Best bet is to find a smaller 11 x17 flat bed HP pen plotter. They had an
electrostatic system for holding the paper down and a gantry pen holder
system.
Craig
--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, Mark Lerman <mlerman@...> wrote:
> Yes, I had heard about the indentation. I assume the indents are on
> the bottom so that I could mount the pcb on paper or cardboard?? Can
> a pcb fit mechanically without modification?
> Mark
>
> At 04:19 PM 2/4/2011, you wrote:
> >Note:
> >The pen moves in the X plane and the PAPER moves in the Y plane. A PCB is
> >rigid so you would need to attached to the equivalent of a paper carrier.
> >
> >The plotter technology is clever with the grit wheels actually indenting
the
> >paper on the first pass so the paper on future passes back and forth
track
> >the previous indented markings.
> >
> >A long time ago I played around with this idea but I was using a fiber
optic
> >cable to keep the laser stationary and the weight down for the pen
assembly.
> >Today lasers are much smaller.
> >Bertho
> >==============================
> >
> >From: Mark Lerman Sent: Friday, February 04, 2011 15:38
> >At 03:25 PM 2/4/2011, you wrote:
> >
> > >--- On Fri, 4/2/11, Mark Lerman <mlerman@...> wrote:
> > > > From: Mark Lerman <mlerman@...>
> >homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
> > > > Date: Friday, 4 February, 2011, 18:52
> > >
> > > > work. Questions:
> > > >
> > > > 1 - How good is a plotter's resolution?
> > >
> > >Just a quick answer: the basic resolution of HPGL, the
> > >HP plotter language that nearly all plotters use, is
> > >40 steps per mm. So, if you add 40 to a co-ordinate,
> > >the pen moves by 1mm. Now, I don't know if this is
> > >the mechanical resolution of the plotter, but it sets
> > >an upper limit to resolution, at least.
> >
> >Thanks - that would be .001 inch (1 mil) per step, more than adequate!
> >Mark