Plotters draw continuous vector paths — they don’t print rasters line-by-line.
Line quality depends on the pen, paper texture, plotting speed, and pen pressure.
Drawing order matters, and overlapping lines naturally darken areas (like cross-hatching).
Most plotters have two XY axes driven by stepper motors, plus a pen-lift mechanism (servo/solenoid).
A controller board interprets G-code and converts it into motor steps and pen-up/pen-down events.
Rigidity matters more than material: flex becomes drift and wobble on the page.
Use an open-source plan (AxiDraw-style gantry, Polargraph/wall plotter, V-plotter) and validate parts availability first.
Keep rails parallel and belts properly tensioned. Lock pulleys to shaft flats and ensure the carriage moves smoothly without binding.
Install stepper drivers correctly, set current conservatively, connect X/Y motors, connect pen-lift, and power the board (often 12V).
Set steps/mm and max travel limits to match your mechanics and prevent crashes. Start with conservative feed rates and acceleration.
Plot a 100mm square, measure it, adjust steps/mm proportionally, and test diagonals for squareness and drift.
SVG contains paths; G-code contains motion instructions. Converters approximate curves, insert pen-up moves, and ideally optimize path order.
Good path sorting can reduce pen-up travel and cut plot times significantly on complex drawings.
Start from a clean, optimized SVG so your plotter runs faster and produces cleaner lines.
Photo to SVG Drawing Conversion