Homebrew PCBs

Has any one had any luck in using a plotter to scribe through the etch 
resist to make a PCB?
I have a HP 7440 plotter I have modified with a scribe head, I down 
loaded a routine suggested on this group and tried it on my Eagle 
layout. It seems to create the files, but when I send them to the 
plotter the scribe just goes to the upper left corner of the board, 
makes noises and bounces the scribe up and down. I suspect it is 
trying to get to some un-reachable portion and that is the furthest it 
can get to.

I see where others have used this successfully, is there some other 
modifications to the softweare or plotter that needs to be made?

Your plotter might also be having some sort of handshaking problem =
coniption fit in computer talk.

Or, it can't interpret the data you send it period.  Is there a list of
compatible plotters available in Eagle doc?

Basic Eagle is limitted to small size PCBs, I have a hard time imagining
your plotter cannot draw 4" wide.

Robert
:)


-----Message d'origine-----
De : Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com [mailto:Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com] De
la part de idaho_huckleberry
Envoyé : juin 5 2005 08:12
À : Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com
Objet : [Homebrew_PCBs] Using a plotter to scribe bboards


Has any one had any luck in using a plotter to scribe through the etch 
resist to make a PCB?
I have a HP 7440 plotter I have modified with a scribe head, I down 
loaded a routine suggested on this group and tried it on my Eagle 
layout. It seems to create the files, but when I send them to the 
plotter the scribe just goes to the upper left corner of the board, 
makes noises and bounces the scribe up and down. I suspect it is 
trying to get to some un-reachable portion and that is the furthest it 
can get to.

I see where others have used this successfully, is there some other 
modifications to the softweare or plotter that needs to be made? 






Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Bookmarks and files:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs 
Yahoo! Groups Links

Are you using the correct serial cable or adapter? The serial port on
those HP plotters is not standard.

Scroll down this page:
http://tinyurl.com/8w4dv

Also the small format HP plotters use a lower left origin.

Steve Greenfield

--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "idaho_huckleberry"
<dmiller45@j...> wrote:

> Has any one had any luck in using a plotter to scribe through the etch 
> resist to make a PCB?
> I have a HP 7440 plotter I have modified with a scribe head, I down 
> loaded a routine suggested on this group and tried it on my Eagle 
> layout. It seems to create the files, but when I send them to the 
> plotter the scribe just goes to the upper left corner of the board, 
> makes noises and bounces the scribe up and down. I suspect it is 
> trying to get to some un-reachable portion and that is the furthest it 
> can get to.
> 
> I see where others have used this successfully, is there some other 
> modifications to the softweare or plotter that needs to be made?

The plotter works just fine in every mode I have tried it in, I am 
using WinLINE software to talk to the plotter with success, I have 
also printed directly to it from the Eagle software and get a good 
board layout on paper. It's just when I try to use the scribe 
software links that have been on this board before that it acts this 
way. 

I am trying the scratch software I found at:
http://mynock.dhs.org/pcbmilling/



--- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <alienrelics@y...> 
wrote:
> Are you using the correct serial cable or adapter? The serial port 
on
> those HP plotters is not standard.
> 
> Scroll down this page:
> http://tinyurl.com/8w4dv
> 
> Also the small format HP plotters use a lower left origin.
> 
> Steve Greenfield
> 
> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "idaho_huckleberry"
> <dmiller45@j...> wrote:
> > Has any one had any luck in using a plotter to scribe through 
the etch 
> > resist to make a PCB?
> > I have a HP 7440 plotter I have modified with a scribe head, I 
down 
> > loaded a routine suggested on this group and tried it on my 
Eagle 
> > layout. It seems to create the files, but when I send them to 
the 
> > plotter the scribe just goes to the upper left corner of the 
board, 
> > makes noises and bounces the scribe up and down. I suspect it is 
> > trying to get to some un-reachable portion and that is the 
furthest it 
> > can get to.
> > 
> > I see where others have used this successfully, is there some 
other 
> > modifications to the softweare or plotter that needs to be made?

On Sunday 05 June 2005 12:29 pm, Steve wrote:
> Are you using the correct serial cable or adapter? The serial port on
> those HP plotters is not standard.
>
> Scroll down this page:
> http://tinyurl.com/8w4dv
>
> Also the small format HP plotters use a lower left origin.
>
> Steve Greenfield

That's the second post I see saying something about the interface,  but 
wouldn't the fact that the thing moves somewhat already suggest that the 
computer is talking to it?  I'd be inclined to look at whatever coordinate 
system is being used,  maybe one of them is going the wrong way,  or 
something.

> --- In Homebrew_PCBs@yahoogroups.com, "idaho_huckleberry"
>
> <dmiller45@j...> wrote:
> > Has any one had any luck in using a plotter to scribe through the etch
> > resist to make a PCB?
> > I have a HP 7440 plotter I have modified with a scribe head, I down
> > loaded a routine suggested on this group and tried it on my Eagle
> > layout. It seems to create the files, but when I send them to the
> > plotter the scribe just goes to the upper left corner of the board,
> > makes noises and bounces the scribe up and down. I suspect it is
> > trying to get to some un-reachable portion and that is the furthest it
> > can get to.
> >
> > I see where others have used this successfully, is there some other
> > modifications to the softweare or plotter that needs to be made?
>
>
> Be sure to visit the group home and check for new Bookmarks and files:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Homebrew_PCBs
> Yahoo! Groups Links
>
>
>

"Roy J. Tellason" <rtellason@...> wrote:
That's the second post I see saying something about the interface,  but 
wouldn't the fact that the thing moves somewhat already suggest that the 
computer is talking to it?  I'd be inclined to look at whatever coordinate 
system is being used,  maybe one of them is going the wrong way,  or 
something.

You may have a scaling problem. My plotter has a stepsize of 0.1 mm and the layout software output is in mils. I had to rewrite the driver with a scaling factor for plotting PCBs. 

You may have a problem with setting the origin too.

Regards,

- YD


		
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