Calcomp 565 Plotter working

[jvanegas14]

etch a sketch on steroids.

[KDF9andTD1A]

I programmed a Calcomp plotter driver for the Honeywell 16 Series while at ESRO Noordwijk. We used it during satellite checkout for the TD1a astronomical satellite. Great fun

[CJim007]

There's a Calcomp 565 visible in the movie "The Crawling Hand." It was on Mystery Science Theater 3000, episode 106. It shows up about 12 minutes into the MST3K show. The layout is very similar, but there is a large aluminum bar with "Calcomp 565" deeply engraved on it. The bar appears to be about an inch higher up than yours. Thanks for sharing this video!

[pwoody1958]

My dad worked for Calcomp in the 70s and early 80s. Once in awhile he'd bring a plotter home to keep us kids entertained. There was computer the size of an ottoman that drove the thing. We would get pictures of nesting boxes, sexy ladies, various kinds of waveforms -- all sorts of test patterns. The plotter made a tremendous racket which drove my mom nuts, but we had a great time with it. Amazing to see it here again.

[douro20]

How is the pen actuated?

[davidseid]

@douro20 It is solenoid activated

[kinglonewolf104]

Pretty cool. I had no idea what it was drawing until I saw the first sine wave drawn.

Very neat machine... I guess someone could have made a prototype out of Meccano, with lots of pulleys and motors :)

&eB

[brookwoodt]

I once visited Cal-Comp's factory in Anaheim back in the 80's for a tour. Went on to the factory floor. It was a busy place with people assembling and repairing plotters.

Cal-comp was also marketing stand-alone cad-cam systems. Saw some demos of those. Pretty impressive. Now it's all gone but for the memories and the remaining machines.

[CoreyJKelly]

Looks really cool once it starts plotting the actual curves and you can see the two axes working together... simple yet effective! I love old technology...

[jeantodt]

長官,這台機器可比集團還有歷史喔!!!!!瞭解技客文化對技術­創新可是大有幫助!

[svofski]

Beast of a machine!

[douro20]

It is a drum plotter with a rope-driven head; because of the rope-driven head it is not as fast as a belt-driven one.