19 Dec
2000
19 Dec
'00
11:13 a.m.
No question about it... the HPGL allows you to vary the pen acceleration,
force, and speed, but the mechanism is one designed for pens and not for
much side-load. The force needed to lift the pen is pretty minimal, BTW.
Now, most of my experience is with the 7585B, which is a DRUM plotter, but
I've used the 7550. Those much slower 72xx series models are robust enough
to use for light work, but their pen mechanism, IIRC, is even less robust
that that on the high-speed models.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "McFadden, Mike" <mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Tuesday, December 19, 2000 9:17 AM
Subject: Re: HP plotters
Regarding a plotter as a router.
If I remember correctly from my plotter software days, you can issue a
command that slows the pen movements down. I think you can define the
acceleration rate. Alternatively you can postprocessor the plotter file
to
find any large plotter movements and recode them as a
series of smaller
movements. I have actually hand typed/edited plotter commands to correct
a
simple error in the plot file instead of reloading the
drawing into the
CAD
system and then replotting.
I'll look at my cheat sheet of HP plotter commands tonight.
Mike
mmcfadden(a)cmh.edu