I returned from the recent VCF-West with one more item off my ever-shorter "must have" list - I am the new owner of a very nice Calcomp 565 drum plotter. Even better, I was able to find the perfect shipping container for it at Weird Stuff!
Photos here - http://tinyurl.com/calcomp565 . The only problem, unfortunately a major one, is that it is completely lacking the pen mechanism. This is actually a multi-part assembly that threads into the carriage on the front rails of the plotter and lifts the pen up and down in response to z-axis commands from the controller. It is a solenoid that uses the pen as the core and was thus supplied in many configurations depending on the kind of pen used. I'd be happy with any bits of any configuration if you might have an idea where to find such items. BTW, I'm well aware (and deeply envious!) of the fine work done by Tom Mikulic who recreated the entire mechanism from scratch - http://tomislavmikulic.com/proj-565.html . Thanks for any help you can provide, Jack
