What good is an HP plotter?

[Martin Hepperle]

(05-06-2018 02:08 PM)rea5245 Wrote:  Hi,

I just scored an HP 7475A cheap at a flea market. Is there any modern software that can make use of it?

It's missing its carousel and they don't seem to be available on eBay very often. I could try reverse-engineering it and 3d print a new carousel, but before I go to the effort I'd like to know what I can use this for.

Thanks,
Bob

These plotters appear quite often on the market for low prices. Rebuilding a carousel would be rather difficult as this is a precision part made of many small parts. If you limit yourself to a single pen, you could probably use it as is.
You probably need to trick it into believing that it has a carousel.

Some people have modified these plotters (collectors please turn away in disgust) into vinyl cutting plotters to make stickers. You can find info on the net.
Many graphics programs can still export in HPGL format (e.g. Corel Draw and others, many also on Linux). You can then write a small program (e.g. in Python or whatever you prefer) to send the HPGL to the plotter via a COM port or USB-COM cable.

Martin