Pen plotters

Plotters at XPUB

HP DraftPro EXL

HP DraftPro DXL, promotion photo (1988), found in the HP Museum: http://www.hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=393

HP DraftPro DXL/EXL user manual (10.4MB PDF)

A0+ pen plotter.

Currently borrowed from Varia. It was a gift from Gijs (OSP).

http://hpmuseum.net/display_item.php?hw=393

http://www.hpmuseum.net/document.php?hwfile=3232 (user manual) http://www.hpmuseum.net/collection_document.php (list of HP museum user manuals, in case the download link above does not work)

HP DraftPro EXL demo plot: press P1 + P2 simultaneously (the buttons with a small 1 and 2)

It speaks: HPGL (HP graphics language)

• Link: http://paulbourke.net/dataformats/hpgl/
• Link: https://www.isoplotec.co.jp/HPGL/eHPGL.htm

Sending HPGL files/commands from the CLI

Most plotters connect to this socket on a Linux machine:

/dev/ttyUSB0

Add your user to the dialout group first:

$ useradd USERNAME dialout

Then configure how your computer and the plotter communicate, these settings should work with most plotters:

$ stty 9600 parodd parenb ixon ixoff -F /dev/ttyUSB0

Then send a file with cat:

$ cat myfile.hpgl > /dev/ttyUSB0

Chiplotle

First install pip and the virtual environment python module, if you don't have them yet:

$ sudo apt install python3-pip
$ sudo apt install python3-venv

Make a virtual environment:

$ python3 -m venv plotting-venv

Activate the virtual environment:

$ source FOLDERNAME/bin/activate

You can exit again by writing deactivate.

Install Chiplotle inside this virtual environment (the Python library to speak HPGL to the plotter):

$ pip install Chiplotle3

• Project site: http://sites.music.columbia.edu/cmc/chiplotle/
• Manual: http://sites.music.columbia.edu/cmc/chiplotle/manual/chapters/tutorial/intro.html

Run Chiplotle:

$ chiplotle3

It should find the plotter automatically. You can check if it did so:

> plotter

Send a HPGL file to the plotter:

> plotter.write_file('FILENAME.hpgl')

Inkscape

Example settings of a A3 landscape .hpgl file.

The plot function is under: export > plot

Error: pySerial is not installed.

Please follow these steps:

1. Download and extract (unzip) this file to your local harddisk: https://pypi.python.org/packages/source/p/pyserial/pyserial-2.7.tar.gz
2. Copy the "serial" folder (Can be found inside the just extracted folder) into the following Inkscape folder: /usr/????????
3. Close and restart Inkscape

Make a vector file in Inkscape.

Save it as a HPGL file. See the image on the right for the settings.

For example: A3 landscape

Tip (!): landscape file = portrait plot. Make a landscape document, it plots in portrait orientation on the plotter (weird, but works)

Rasterize

Color Separation

This ColorSeparation tool from OSP: http://osp.kitchen/tools/pdfutils/

$ sh ColorSeparation FILENAME

Creates:

.
├── gunta-stoelzl-study-cmyk-page001(Black).jpg
├── gunta-stoelzl-study-cmyk-page001(Cyan).jpg
├── gunta-stoelzl-study-cmyk-page001(Magenta).jpg
└── gunta-stoelzl-study-cmyk-page001(Yellow).jpg

GIMP

filters > distorts > newsprint

spotfunction: lines
oversample: 1
cell size: 5

Inkscape

Bitmap tracing time!

However, it would be great to have a trace that does not create outlines of the lines, but renders them as single lines ... (also to speed up the final penplot!).

For this there must be an extention: center trace.

... But where?

Ah! install Inkscape 1.0 (or higher)! It comes with the newer version :).

(removed my inkscape and installed from backports!)

sudo apt remove inkscape

sudo apt -t buster-backports install "inkscape"

Pens

HP Fiber Tip Plotter Pens S Style Pens

• $ 22 for 5: https://www.draftingsteals.com/catalog-plotters---plotter-supplies-plotter-pens-fiber-tip-plotter-pens.html