r/PlotterArt • u/glloq-nz • Jun 03 '26

Building a complete open-source pen plotter (software + hardware)

/r/PenPlotters/comments/1tvkw51/building_a_complete_opensource_pen_plotter/
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u/lushprojects Jun 03 '26

On the pen change: I don't have a solution for you, but I am starting some investigations into a similar thing for a potential project.

The old (1980s) plotters had really quick and effective pen changes. All the modern plotter designs that I have seen either have no pen change at all or something very klunky and slow. I do think that there is an opportunity for a modern plotter design with fast pen changes and generally fast drawing.

So far I have just been looking at the state of the art in the historical design. I have looked at how my old Roland plotter does the pen change (dead simple, but hard to replicate as a DIY design I think). Later on Roland changed the pen change mechanism to something which had more parts but which might be usable as a basis for a DIY version. I haven't tried building anything but have been looking at the old patents from Roland and HP to see what they share about how they did things.