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Plotter
About

The Plotter was a two year science project (2004-2005) which is able to write things on a paper using a pencil. It is powered by 2 stepper motors, one for each axis, and a solenoid to pick up the "pen". I'm now trying to refurbish it to make it work and look better (right now most of the circuitry is on breadboard).

Tech Info

The plotter was designed to be able to write on paper using a writing instrument, such as a pencil. The plotter is composed of a wooden frame which houses the two trolleys, X and Y. The trolleys move the pen in different directions. The Y trolley is mounted on top of the X trolley. The trolleys are controlled by two stepper motors. The stepper motors are connected to a control box by way of a 9-pin serial connector. The control box, controlled by a key switch, will interpret the data coming from the computer and send the information to the stepper motors and pen unit. The control box is connected to the computer with 6 wires, X step, Y step, X reverse, Y reverse, Pen Up, and Ground. By sending different combinations of signals down these wires, the plotter is able to draw in any direction. In the circuit board, there are four IC chips (2 AND, 2 NOR) to map out the address 30016 from the standard ISA bus. The fourth IC is an 8-bit D-latch which will latch onto the incoming data and hold it until the plotter has responded to it. The computer program will output a 5-bit number to 30016, each bit corresponding to each wire. For clarity or more information, please see any of the following files.

Documents