[tobiastoft]

Can't believe my old post got picked up! If anyone's looking to get a plotter I would still highly recommend an old HP 7475A as a gateway drug — they're relatively cheap, not too big (the size of a large-ish inkjet printer) and incredibly well made. I've had a lot of fun using the Geomerative library for Processing.org to play around with my plotters, but really anything goes as long as you can access your serial port and don't mind reading the plotter's manual. I generally save the HPGL output to a text file and then use a small utility app I've written to send it to the plotter. Sometimes I'll check the output in Cenon.app before wasting any paper or ink.

[Kadin]

Though there's a lot to be said for the old HP plotters, if eBay is any indication, there's a very thin supply and any uptick in interest is going to cause them to dry up and prices to increase. It looks like that may have already happened.

One alternative for people who just want to get started today is to buy a modern version: they don't sell them as "pen plotters" exactly, anymore, but they do sell desktop vinyl and paper cutters (sometimes a/k/a "die cutters", although that's an inaccurate name used by papercrafters for historical reasons) that are very, very close in terms of operation to a 1980s moving-media pen plotter. And most of them can be trivially adapted to use a pen or marker in place of a cutter blade.

I have a "Silhouette" brand cutting plotter, which can take two tools, and it cost me about the same as what used 7475As are currently selling for and worked via USB out of the box. It'll never challenge the old HP on its great 1980s aesthetics, and the paper traversal speed isn't quite as fast, but it produces output that seems equivalent and I can jam pretty much any type of pen I want into its toolholder. It uses a variant of HPGL that's supported by several open source tools in addition to the OEM software.

The one important note is that you must absolutely avoid "Cricut" brand cutting plotters, which are unfortunately the dominant modern manufacturer. They have an awful razors-and-blades business model that revolves around selling the machines at a discount and then charging users for overpriced vector drawings through an "app store" type system, and they enforce this by obfuscating the communication protocol used by the plotters, and abusing the DMCA and engaging in other bits of sharp practice to discourage 3rd-party software. Unless you're buying one to reverse-engineer, they are best avoided.

The Roland STIKA line is very well-regarded if you want to spend a bit more. Can't speak for many others.

I'm hopeful that the current resurgence of interest in plotters will result in more third-party, open-source software for these current-production commercial machines, in addition to the older surplus ones. Once the parts supplies dry up for the older machines, these newer ones will be the easier path forward for people who want to start playing with this technology.

[hahamrfunnyguy]

I have one of the made-in-China cutting plotters from USCutter. USCutter seems like the Harbor Freight of cutting plotters, but for me the plotter works as intended. You can swap out the cutters for pens or markers. I paid around $200 for the 34" version.

It's USB and uses HGPL and you can open it up like you would a serial-USB device and just start sending it HGPL.

I hope interest in these devices from programmers continue, because I'd love to see an open-source plotting software that's suitable for printing/cutting graphics on rolls of paper or vinyl. The software available from USCutter is horrible!

[cybertim]

This is exactly what I was looking for. After searching on ebay for the HP 7550/7475a i noticed they are generally only available in the US. Since the shipping costs and import duties to the EU are really high for US-ebay products and most of them did not guarantee it would work I started looking into alternatives.

So I tried my luck on the 'Drawing Machines'... But they are (in my opinion) very slow, suffer from the same 'do your own maintenance/support' like current 3D printers and brands like AxiDraw, Eleksmaker or Mackerblocks are crazy expensive compared to the 3D printers which contain much more electronics and material.

Also looking into their 'boards' I noticed they use different firmwares and mostly leaned on SVG/Inkscape/Python and i'd rather have the HP-GL to mess around instead of getting lost into this firmware/library rabbit hole.

Then I stumbled on the Silhouet Curio while looking through youtube videos. It has so many options.. whole 'home' businesses are build around this device. Looking closer into the electronics I noticed it uses a proprietary language/driver. However it does have a small active tech community that was able to reverse engineer the protocol and created an Inkscape plugin.. but that will make it on par with the drawing machines, and I'd rather have a documented protocol from the get go (like HP-GL).

I almost gave up on my dream of owning a plotter and tinkering with fractals and the HP-GL on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Until I decided to read this thread that started it all once again and read your comment about the USCutter, this thing is exactly the right price and seems to actually use HP-GL, awesome, my search continues.

[blackguardx]

Do you have the Curio?

[dcuthbertson]

Do you have an opinion about the Curio? I'm curious as to what people think of them. My daughter has one, uses it occasionally, and enjoys it. Beyond that, I don't know much, or how it compares to similar machines.

[blackguardx]

I don't have a vinyl cutter yet. I'm looking at the Silhouette Curio, Portrait 2, and the Brother Design N Cut.

I like my other Brother products and would ordinarily choose them, but I don't know anything about their protocol. Silhouette has been very open about their protocol in the past[1]. They use a variant of HPGL and there are a few open source tools that allow you to drive their plotters/cutters.

[1] https://ohthehugemanatee.net/2011/07/gpgl-reference-courtesy...

[baldfat]

I just bought two Brother "Die Cutters" last week for my Technology Lab for Head Start myself.

[sleepybrett]

The axidraw from evil mad scientist is also a great gateway and super hackable, though generally more expensive than a vintage hp plotter you can find on ebay.

https://shop.evilmadscientist.com/productsmenu/846

[AlphaWeaver]

Thanks for posting! I just ordered one myself to try out making some plotter art of my own!

[Tomte]

Can you still get new pens for that plotter? Do serial-to-USB cables generally work?

[tobiastoft]

Yeah, fortunately pens are relatively easy to find on Amazon, eBay, and a few online stores (just Google 'HP Plotter Pens'). My Roland and HP plotters use the same type of pens, btw.

All USB-Serial cables and adapters I’ve used so far have worked (including Arduinos!), but you might need a DB-9 to DB-25 null modem to physically connect your adapter to the plotter. Biggest thing to watch out for is to make sure you get an RS-232/Serial version of the plotter and not an HPIB/GPIB version. The easiest way to check is to look for a DB-25 connector on the back of the plotter instead of a Centronics-style connector (looks a bit beefier).

EDIT: Btw, some plotters (like the HP 7550A) will have both types of connectors on the back. In that case you’re good!

[matte_black]

The only reason I didn’t buy that HP pen plotter is because I’d want the freedom to give it any kind of pen or marker, not just ones made specifically for it. I imagine it’s not possible?

[tobiastoft]

You can make your own adapters depending on the pen you want to put in it. I've made some out of dried out HP pens that I cut the ends off and jammed a Sharpie into. I've seen nicer 3d printed adapters on eBay and Thingiverse as well. When using a heavier pen like a Sharpie, you might want to set the plotter's speed a little lower to avoid knocking the pen loose when it accelerates.

[fogleman]

Nice post. You should post some plotter stuff on Twitter. ;)

[tobiastoft]

I should, but I'm frankly too lazy to get it done! I've really enjoyed browsing your post history — awesome work!