Today's plotter weather 🌧️

#PenPlotter

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A tiny pen plotter in a colorful plastic case with receipt paper drawing the current and forecast weather with weather icons and temperatures in black ink.

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A plotted page of current and forecast weather on 2.25" wide receipt paper in black ink.

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A plotted page of current and forecast weather on 2.25" wide receipt paper in black ink on top of a wide tractor feed green bar paper with an ASCII Snoopy and a part of the 2025 calendar.

Check out my Only Fans page! 😏

#PenPlotter

Did you know the Amiga Kickstart boot screen is stored as vector data? It uses only 412 bytes. 💾

#Amiga #CommodoreAmiga #RetroComputing #PenPlotter

Plotting differential growth of a circle on my tiny plotter

#RetroComputing #PenPlotter

Got a vintage ALPS plotter? Two things you need to know.

1. The X/Y gears on the motor spindle are likely cracked. I had 3D printed versions available at Shapeways. Maybe they'll be available again soon? There's also brass ones too.

2. Pens are likely still available from Best Electronics in California. They have black and 4 color sets. They're NOS so it's a roll of the dice how long they'll work. Search for Atari 1020 pens.

#RetroComputing #PenPlotter

If it reminds you of your Atari 1020 you had, that's because ALPS made the plotter mechanisms and they use the same pens. The difference is my plotter uses the 2.25" wide variant and the Atari 1020 (and Commodore 1520, and many, many others) used the 4.5" wide type.

ALPS also made a 8.5" wide type that was used in many typewriter plotters. Yes, typewriters!

https://biosrhythm.com/?p=2143

#PenPlotter #RetroComputing

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An Atari 1020 plotter on top, open with paper loaded and a bare ALPS mechanism below, smaller, with smaller paper loaded.

This tiny plotter prints in four colors, weighs 0.6 kg, stands about 10 cm tall, is battery powered, and prints over WiFi using GRBL.

#RetroComputing #PenPlotter

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Top view of a tiny pen plotter housed in plastic boxes. A white top with buttons and paper coming out show the text Hello, World and a differential growth pattern drawn on it.

I love these big chunky Radio Shack buttons. I got them years ago when they went out of business. The left one is latching on/off.

Edit: How could I forget the chromed panel mount power LED on the front 😍

#RetroComputing #PenPlotter

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A white plastic top case of a tiny plotter showing four chunky buttons protruding from below with red and black button tops on them.

I think I've finished building my tiny plotter. It consists of modular 3D-printed boxes that snap together in colors borrowed from the JLPGA edition of the PowerBook 170.

In the top is an ALPS DPG-1302 2.25" wide receipt paper plotter. In the middle section is the ESP32 and motor drivers. In the bottom is a 18650 battery pack with USB-C charger. Hanging off the back is a roll paper holder borrowed from the Commodore 1520 plotter.

#RetroComputing #PenPlotter

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A tiny pen plotter housed in three increasingly sized plastic boxes of red, blue, and yellow. A white top with buttons and paper coming out show the text Hello, World and a differential growth pattern drawn on it.

My tiny plotter works! I finished most of the controller board last night. It’s running GRBL for ESP32 so I can send jobs over WiFi or BT. Still some clean up and tweaks to the case to make maintenance easier.

It follows B. Dring’s project from 2019 but modified for this tiny plotter.: https://www.buildlog.net/blog/2019/09/inktober-2019-project-post-1/

What should I name it?

#RetroComputing #PenPlotter

Been working on a case for the tiny ALPS pen plotter mechanism. It takes 2.25” wide receipt roll paper. Electronics will go beneath. Might add a roll paper holder. Maybe a battery pack too?

#RetroComputing #PenPlotter

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A white 3D printed case with a small plotter mechanism inside with paper coming out with cursive hello printed on it. There’s four buttons on the top of the case. Some tiny pens are next to it on the table.

The original circular HP pen plotter organizer boxes have foam dividers for the pens. Now the foam is turning to goo. I created a new insert to replace the foam and hold 40 pen plotter pens. Should fit the short or tall circular pen box.

https://www.printables.com/model/1359611-hp-circular-plotter-pen-organizer-divider

#PenPlotter #RetroComputing #3DPrinting

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A circular box with foam that is rough and sticky inside with holes cut out for pens. A single pen is in the foam.

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A circular box with a new 3D printed plastic pen holder in white plastic with 40 holes arranged in a circular pattern. There are some pens in the holes.

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A clip from a vintage HP catalog showing the 3 different types of pen organizers they sold: 2 circular ones in short or tall holding 30 pens each, and a rectangular one holding 33 pens.