Plotter

I'm going to put absolutely minimal effort into this page. I'm not even sorry.

About the plotter

The shop has a HP DesignJet 650C. The full modem number is C2859A. This plotter will plot 300x300 dots per inch on a 24 to 36 inch wide paper. There is a roll of paper in it; I have no idea how long that will last.

Tough road ahead

The thing about this plotter is that it is Satan. I (hfuller) have been screwing with this thing for the better part of an hour and a half (while drinking vodka on and off) and I have just now gotten it to plot anything. So I felt like I should document everything in case it decides to be the son of Lucifer ever again. If you need to plot anything ever, be ready for a world of hurt; that's all I'm saying.

Lern 2 plot

1. First, open the roll cover, and never close it, ever again. It only makes things impossible and doesn't really have any benefit that I can tell.
2. Now, make sure that the roll is mounted correctly in the plotter. (It can plot on sheets, but I've never tried this, only on a roll.) There is a core plastic rod that holds the roll of plot paper. It has two ends. One is large and one is small. The small one mounts on the right side of the printer. One thing of note is that when you pull the paper toward you, it must be coming off the TOP of the roll!!! This is absolutely vital. If you are ever trying to plot anything and the plotter is just absolutely destroying the paper, crashing, locking up, making awful noises, etc., then you have likely screwed this up. To fix it, remove the roll, put the smaller end cap on the floor, and stand the roll upright. Then pull on the larger end cap, and the roll will dismount. Take the rod out, flip the roll over, and remount everything together like it came apart. Then mount the roll in the plotter with the larger end to the left. Wow, that was a hell of a bullet point.
3. Make sure that the end of your paper is straight and not totally mangled and destroyed from your past encounters with the Satan-plotter. If it is not straight, you can pull the roll out a little bit and lay it over the top of the plotter. Pull out your knife or a razor blade or something and cut the paper along the groove provided. It's just above the top of the hinged window. Then take up the slack you just made in the roll.
4. At this point (before you have fed the paper into the plotter at all) you will boot the plotter. It will complain about not finding media, or not finding the edge, and that you need to reload the roll. Move the lever next to the control panel so that it is down. Find the perforation on the right side of the big brushed aluminum rod thingy. Line up the tail of the roll so that it entirely covers this perforation. Now, put your fingertips on top of the tail so that you are holding it tight against the aluminum thingy. Scoot the paper forward so that you are kind of guiding it along the aluminum thing. At some point the plotter will hopefully grab the paper and pull it in, then inexplicably eject it back toward you. (If this doesn't happen, check out the troubleshooting section.)

I'll finish writing this when I get home.