Pen plotters

Plotters at XPUB

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

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

HP DraftPro EXL

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

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

Chiplotle is an HPGL plotter driver that implements and extends the HPGL (Hewlett-Packard Graphics Language) plotter control language. It provides direct control of your HPGL-aware hardware via a standard usb<->serial port interface. Chiplotle is also a general purpose vector drawing library with functions for creating and transforming shapes, which can then be sent directly to your HPGL plotter for printing.

Chiplotle is written and maintained by Víctor Adán and Douglas Repetto.

Find all there is to know about Chiplotle at: http://www.chiplotle.org

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

3d printable adapters for pens

• https://github.com/juliendorra/3D-printable-plotter-adapters-for-pens-and-refills