Calcomp 565 digital incremental plotters

UvA Computer Museum catalogue nrs 00.84 and 06.09

calcomp 565
teapot_565
The Calcomp Model 565 (1966, also sold by IBM as Model 1627) is a drum-type XY plotter driven by step motors. Each step causes the pen to move (relative to the paper) a fixed increment (0.1 mm) in either a positive or negative direction at a rate of 250 steps per second. A solenoid permits the pen to be lifted or lowered.
When we acquired the plotter, its built-in electronics was adapted by the previous owner for connection to a PC printer port. We have carefully restored the original wiring, and we have built an external adapter for interfacing the plotter with a PC-hosted digital i/o card. A simple set of plotting routines and a driver were written in Pascal *).
Our second Calcomp 565 comes with a Model 1210 Teletype Interface. It is capable of interpreting remote plotting instructions routed to it by (or typed at) a Teletype terminal.
The lower picture shows our Calcomp 565, having completed the drawing of the famous 'Newell Teapot'.
This plotter has been used at the Van der Waals physics laboratory, University of Amsterdam. It was donated by Mr. A Mulder, together with a set of accessories and the original handbook.
The remote plotting installation was donated by Mr. K. van Os, The Hague
*) Schematics and program source.

CM_homepage