A flatbed pen plotter is a device that uses pens to draw graphics[graphics?:graphics pattern] and pictures, instead of printing[printing?:printing cutting finishing solution] heads, nozzles, and ink cartridges used in typical printers. Used mostly to produce architectural and engineering drawings, flatbed pen plotter has a flat vacuum bed or table and a moving arm to accommodate pens. Flatbed pen plotter use vector graphics to draw and can be up to 50 feet (15.24 meters) across. A special roll mechanism feeds paper[paper?:paper sample maker cutting machine] into the machine, while another rolls up the paper after it is drawn on.
Motion is controlled by a robotic arm, or several of them to accommodate more sophisticated drawings. The paper can be held down by clamps, but is often secured to the surface by an electrostatic charge generated by the system. On large flatbed pen plotter, a vacuum system is used, which is turned on after the paper is placed on top of the machine. The beam sits above the flatbed pen plotter table, on which a pen moves along the length of, and the beam moves along the flatbed pen plotter length, allowing for X- and Y-axis motion.
The flatbed pen plotter is not designed for printing text, but an inkjet head can be incorporated if text or annotations are required on the printout. It is also possible to modify a flatbed pen plotter into a flatbed cutting plotter by attaching routing and milling tools to the arm (like CUTCNC[CUTCNC?:cutting machine sample maker manufacturer] flatbed cutting plotter), Materials from cardboard to metal can be cut using this kind of flatbed pen plotter.
