The alternative is for the user to monitor the correct writing of the pens, resulting in a significant investment of time. When a pen fails in any of these ways, lines that should have been drawn are missing, and the entire drawing has to be plotted again with a considerable waste of time. Another common occurrence is for one of the pens in the multistall carousel to run out of ink, becoming the cause of an unsatisfactory drawing. This failure mechanism depends on multiple parameters: the thickness of the pen, the type of media used, and the plotting speed and force. This is because the relatively high velocity between the pen and the page abrades the paper fibers, which obstruct the end of the pen capillary, ultimately resulting in the clogging of the pen so that it quits writing. Also, commonly used fine-width pens, say 0.25 mm, can experience insufficient ink flow after plotting a certain distance. Liquid ink pens dry out quickly if they are not capped properly when not in use. However, they require careful handling by the user. Liquid ink pens based on capillary-action ink feed are usually used for final-quality plots and give excellent line quality. The media handling system and the user interface are discussed in the articles on pages 42 and 49, respectively. This article focuses on the design of the SurePlot drawing system. The information appears in a larger, more easily readable vacuum fluorescent display. Immediate action keys and direct menu access keys give fast access to the functions most commonly used. The enhanced user interface offers a redesigned front panel and simplified selection of pens, settings, and drawing quality. Users can retrieve their drawings at their convenience without individually loading every page before plotting or unwinding a takeup spool and cutting plots manually afterwards. Media handling is improved by roll feed, an automatic media cutter, and a new media tray. The SurePlot drawing system is designed to provide a major improvement in the reliability of the drawing system, so that the plotter consistently generates plots without defects, and without requiring constant or frequent monitoring of the pens by the user. The most common customer complaints about pen plotters have always concerned reliability, mainly pens running out of ink, drying out, or clogging. These improvements have been made without increasing the cost of the product. * Improved reliability, high enough for unattended operation
PETER LUGET PLOTTER DRAWING 1965 PROGRAMMING PLUS
The HP DraftMaster Plus plotter incorporates three types of improvements that enhance the user’s productivity: Therefore, we saw an opportunity to provide a superior value in pen plotting by reducing the time invested by the user in operating the HP DraftMaster plotter. To a large extent the value of a drafting plotter is a function of how quickly it can produce drawings of adequate quality, thereby maximizing the daily productivity of the user. A/though raster printing devices are faster, pen plotters are less costly and are able to satisfy the need for high line quality and multicolor large-format drawings. The maximum specified pen speed of 110 cm/s and the maximum acceleration of 55.5 m/s have been unsurpassed for over a decade. The graphical output appears to be essentially perfect to the unaided eye. The lines drawn on an HP DraftMaster plotter, HP’s high-end large-format pen plotter, compare favorably in precision and smoothness with those drawn by a human. The system is based on a noncontact color optical line sensor that verifies the writing of the pens. The SurePlot drawing system, a feature of the HP DraftMaster Plus drafting plotter, significantly enhances drawing reliability and unattended plotting ability. Improved drawing reliability for drafting plotters – SurePlot drawing system for HP’s DraftMaster Plus drafting plotter – includes related articles on the average user plot and on the acceptable quality index – Technical
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