Hi there,
I couldn’t see a post on plotter recommendations, especially recently, but apologies if this has already been covered - I was just wondering if anyone uses a plotter with Seamly they would recommend?
Many thanks, Olivia
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The simple answer is: Every plotter kann be recommended. A little bit more concrete: A plotter is useful, if it is big enough (I am happy with a 24"-model). It should be not too expensive, especially with respect to consumables. Plotter paper is cheap, ink tanks are not. There is another issue - an inkjet plotter has to be used regularly, because the printhead(s) may run dry. This is really expensive!
I won’t give a recommendation. My own plotter is primarily intended for making photoprints. Printing patterns is a nice byproduct.
Greetz, hp
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I’m still dreaming of making this one: V plotter - HomoFaciens
It uses pens and the paper is hung on the wall, so you don’t need any space for it 
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That’s really then a large ink jet printer, not a plotter. A plotter ( vinyl cutter) uses a pen (or marker) in place of a knife blade. It’s why we have plotter fonts… because you don’t plot fills. Pens markers are cheap. While I have at my shop a dedicated 72" Ioline plotter, we also have several vinyl cutters where we can swap the blade out with a pen… so we can “plot” or “cut”.
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I would look for a vinyl cutter / plotter. They can be used to cut or plot by changing the knife blade to a pen or marker. They’re geared to use roll goods. We have a 28" Lynx cutter / plotter… haven’t hooked it up to Seamly2D yet. 
If all you want to do is plot, you wouldn’t have to be as concerned with the cutting specs - like max knife pressure, etc. In other words a lower end model might suit your needs.
You could try a place like uscutter.com or
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Of course you are right. We used to use penplotters some decades ago; I remember an A0 plotter made by Ferranti (1970s!), a Benson which used ballpoint pens etc. But nowadays all plotters in the CAD business are large inkjet printers. Getting a real penplotter seems to be difficult, same for cutters. And if they are large they tend to be expensive, too.
Sorry for my misunderstanding. The last penplotter in the dept of mechanical engineering of my former university has been disposed before year 2000.
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I had been too fast … indeed, vinyl cutters seem to be cheap, even in Germany. So this is a good idea (not for me, I produce photos). Remains the question of drivers/software.
Sorry again.
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At some point I need to spend a Saturday afternoon at my shop with my laptop and the Lynx cutter / plotter and see how it performs with Seamly2D.
The Ioline plotter I know won’t work with a Windows driver as it’s proprietary to the Optitex system.
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I use an online plotting service.
Buying a plotter only for Seamly is to expensive 
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That’s right. To buy a plotter for my at most five, maybe ten patterns/year would be ridiculous. Plotting services can easily be found, e.g. in the neighbourhood of universities. In my very special case the plotter (= large format inkjet printer) had already been there, long before I discovered seamly2d. So for me it is a really nice side effect, as the only extra I needed had been the cheapest CAD paper.
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Thank you all for your help!
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That’s your opinion… if one owns a shop, maybe the cost of an inexpensive vinyl cutter / plotter is not an issue. For ex: the current job I’m working on would easily cover the cost of a $300 plotter. Besides Oliva asked about plotters, not plotter services.
That being said, nothing wrong with using a service… we actually have a service next door to us, and have used them on occasion, not because of a cheaper cost, but rather time - it’s just quicker for them to plot a pattern.
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I had a look … the plain idea is simple and appealing. BUT (in capital letters): For patterns you will need a large plotting area. The region next to the mechanical parts is not very usable because of bad linearity, so some distance might be better. An educated guess from my engineering experiences tells me that for a really useful V plotter something the size of a door is necessary. I can imagine a driving system clamped on top of a door, plotting on paper fixed on the lower (!!) parts of the door. And there still remains the question of control. Ok, Arduino. Nice.
An alternative solution uses toothed belts, also called synchronous belts. These have the advantage of purely geometrical control (https://www.instructables.com/ARDUINO-POLAR-V-PLOTTER/).
I share the opinion of Douglas. Plotting is the method of choice for the production of many individual patterns. Finally, a cutting plotter will be less expensive than a home-crafted v-plotter. Without the pleasure of building something useful, of course. Moreover, a cutter takes the place of a sewing machine.
Lots of thoughts. Best, hp
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I’ll lend you know what I end up going with!
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I keep looking at the sitting room wall… Toss out the TV, remove the pictures… A nice 6 x 4m expanse… Ideal for the plotter.
But I don’t think the rest of the family will agree 
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You could tell the family… if you set up a plotter it would mean less time taping printed pages together and more time to spend with the family. LOL
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Plotted pictures may replace the TV, although a little bit slow. But it might be too graphic … [SCNR]
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