Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Hp 7475 Plotter Servo's

Alan,

Thanks, I'll give your suggestions a try. I hope to have some pics and
drawing done up next week of the drag knife and then I can send them to you.
Several other people have expressed interest as well. I have to get on the
road tonight and will not be back in town until Sunday night, the reason I
will not get to it until next week.

On the blinking error light, it does it even with no cable attached to
the computer. I thought that maybe it was blinking because I did not have a
cable hooked up to it and it had some buffered command that it was trying to
send out. But hooking up the cable makes no difference, even when trying to
send commands through DOS to the plotter.

My computer indicates that there are no problems with the COM1 port, so
I at this point I can only assume that the port works, but the plotter is
not responding to any input from the computer.

What I tried and how I tried it came from the HP web site and is as
follows:

ISSUE: How can I determine if my cable and RS 232 port is working?

SOLUTION:


The easiest way to test communications to the HPGL pen plotter is from the
DOS prompt. Use the following instructions:

1.. Verify that the HPGL pen plotter is at the factory default settings.
See the HPGL pen plotter User's Guide for these settings).

2.. Close all programs and place the cursor at the C:\> prompt.

3.. At the prompt, type mode com1:9600,n,8,1,p and press ENTER.

4.. When the cursor returns to the DOS prompt, type echo
in;sp1;pd4000,4000;sp0;pg; >com1 and press ENTER.



NOTE: If connected to com2, substitute com2 for com1 in the above two
statements.

5.. After pressing ENTER for the second statement, the HPGL pen plotter
should grab pen #1 and draw a diagonal line. If the HPGL pen plotter does
not respond, verify that a HP cable is being used and test by replacing the
cable to see if the cable is defective.

6.. If communication with the HPGL pen plotter is still not established,
contact Hewlett Packard hardware technical support.

Number 6 is pay for support.

On the drag cutter I basically took a pin from the plotter, removed the
guts, turned a holder to fit in the pin, with a bearing and a magnet to hold
the blade in. I'll have the pics next week.

Thank You

Victor








---- Original Message -----
From: "Alan Marconett" <KM6VV@...>
To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 10:30 AM
Subject: RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Hp 7475 Plotter Servo's

> Hi Vector,
>
> It could very well be a NULL modem cable that's required. I was hoping to
> find my manual last night, but failed.
>
> I still have it cabled up to one of my older computers and a serial
> switch,
> so that would be a way to verify what is needed. And the dip switches
> will
> be set up, probably 9600 baud for me.
>
> If the LED is blinking, then it didn't like one of your commands. You
> might
> route the plot commands to a file (still 7475 format), and see what they
> look like. First char for initialization is an ESC (which doesn't print
> very well in a text file), then two more characters, like I copied in my
> email. Then possibly one or two more initialization codes, and then plot
> commands.
>
> From DOS, you can "copy" a valid PLT file to the plotter, and that is a
> basic test. Baud rate must be set up, of course.
>
> I'd be curious how you made a drag cutter out of a 7475 pen.
>
> Alan KM6VV
>
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
>> [mailto:CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Victor A. Estes
>> Sent: Thursday, September 29, 2005 6:20 AM
>> To: CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com
>> Subject: Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Hp 7475 Plotter Servo's
>>
>> Alan,
>>
>> According to everything I have read on the plotter a NULL Modem cable
>> is
>> required. So I went out and bought a new serial cable with a null modem
>> adaptor. Still does not work. This was after I tried making my own
>> cable
>> based on the pin outs that I had read would work, no joy. I set the baud
>> rate, parity, stop bits, and everything on the dip switches just as I had
>> read was the thing to do from several different web sites on turning a
>> 7475
>> into a vinyl cutter. I'm running windows xp and the driver for it is a
>> HPGL/2 driver which I understand will not work. Has to be a straight
>> HPGL
>> driver, windows 3.1, 95, and 98 have it. But I thought I would try
>> anyway
>> to see if I could get any response fro the plotter. When I failed to get
>> it
>> to respond out of windows xp I switch to the DOS window and tried to the
>> direct commands by activating the COM1 port, still no joy. So I am still
>> at
>> a loss here. In my original post I did not mention that I made a real
>> neat
>> drag knife holder for the plotter out of one of the original pins. I
>> want
>> to try vinyl cutting with it. If I cannot get that to work then I want
>> to
>> take it apart and make the eggbot.
>>
>> Victor
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Alan Marconett" <KM6VV@...>
>> To: <CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com>
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 28, 2005 6:01 PM
>> Subject: RE: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Hp 7475 Plotter Servo's
>>
>>
>> > Hi Victor,
>> >
>> > Are you sure a NULL MODEM cable is required? I have a 7475A plotter.
>> > I
>> > probably haven't plotted with it for 10 years. There is also a switch
>> for
>> > baud rate, as I recall. Insure that you are talking the proper baud
>> rate,
>> > parity, stop bits, etc. (which I'm sure you've already checked).
>> >
>> > I wouldn't mind finding a 7475 plotter that I could experiment with as
>> you
>> > describe! I even started an EGGBOT project a few years ago.
>> >
>> > Alan KM6VV
>> >
>
>
>
>
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