BOUGHT: HP 7440A GP-IB pen plotter (DE) - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Peter_O
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 01, 2022, 07:45:50 pm
content: Edit 2022-Dec-26:Subject changed to 'BOUGHT'.I found and bought a 7440A and decided to stick with it for the forseeable future.Thx to all for the information given, appreciated!I'd like to have a workingHP pen plotterwith pencarousel and some pens.If there aresome more pensdried out, that would be fine too.Smallpaper and machineformatis preferred, i.e. the 7440A.And it should be theGP-IB-Version. I'd like to be able to connect it with test equipment devices.Living in Germany, a220V-Version would be fine. In case the PSU is missing and the price is right, it might be OK too.GPIB is a must, format etc. is negotiable.

author: Peter_O
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2022, 01:53:19 pm
content: Meanwhile I do have a 7470A, that's the version with two pens.I might be interested in a 7475A with GPIB, despite it's the bigger one.

author: Tony_G
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 18, 2022, 04:05:47 pm
content: I have a 7090A and recently bought some of these pens to use with it - They worked well (except for one pack where a pen leaked in shipment).https://www.duall.com/store/category/470/koh-i-noor-plotter-pens.htmlTonyG

author: simba15
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 19, 2022, 01:51:08 pm
content: There is a 7440A on ebay, price is ok.https://www.ebay.com/itm/384450944770?epid=1401620017&hash=item59830fdf02:g:FhMAAOSw3KFha6gR&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoHIwsm14uCtR5seAsoxBnebeRlxAzspgMY6QzMxzCpaMBaoNJIr%2FbgTHCViKYeIh%2BYCU8J9sZIV31GBAUYRpLbq5xwoAXuynieY9kxoflaaIShI69k1cnJ5P2oxfypTmIlytXXFIQdvs8H1UdOr1u2jlgrIHllSpzfnAZh%2B3bGAdw857rli21JvscFJW58mpbZZNpmuT8g919cegR%2FaKlEA%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR4CA_KmlYQI also have a HP 7210A that may be available.sent me a Pm if its interesting.

author: Peter_O
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2022, 01:41:33 pm
content: Thx for the links and offers, guys!I'm living in DE.Shipment of plotters or pens from US or Canada is to expensive, looking at the prices of the devices.The koh i nohr pens are not available in europe.I 3d printed some adapters and shortened some standard pens. That is a mess but does work in principle.https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/msg4236643/#msg4236643A XY-plotter is on ebay over here too:https://www.ebay.de/itm/394386421794

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2022, 01:55:43 pm
content: Has anybody tried any NOS (emphasis on theOld) HP or other brand pens recently? I used to get new sealed HP pens that were years out of date and they still worked fine. But that was at least ten years ago.The HP pen plotters were amazing devices. It was fascinating to watch them work!

author: super7800
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2022, 02:15:10 pm
content: In my experience pretty much 100% of the pens that are still sealed worked great, especially the ones where the ink and pen are separate. The issue is the seals on the plotters are always rotted, so after every use the pens have to be taken out otherwise they'll go bad.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2022, 05:56:21 pm
content: Yes, I noticed that problem with the seals in the plotters many years ago. You can take the pens out and put the caps on them but the caps are rigid plastic and not elastic so I doubt that they would provide an adequate seal for long term storage. My solution was just to never opened the original factory package until I needed to use the pen.I took a look at Ebay and there are still many people (in the US) selling the pens but none say how old they are or what the expiration date on the package is.

author: Stray Electron
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2022, 06:02:44 pm
content: Quote from: Peter_O on December 20, 2022, 01:41:33 pmThe Staedtler Mars pens were made in Germany. Are they available? Other brands of printers and plotters also used the exact same style pin. One of the small Tektronic plotters I specifically remember.

author: Tony_G
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: December 20, 2022, 08:11:13 pm
content: Quote from: Stray Electron on December 20, 2022, 05:56:21 pmWhen I bought some new pens (mentioned above) I was having an issue with them drying out in the carousel - What I ended up doing was removing the little rubber cups:And dropping them into a jar with some IPA - Over about a week or so, every time I would pass the jar I'd pick it up and shake it, I took them out and they were clean (the IPA was a nice shade of blue though) and sealed the pen tips again - I think that the ink that had solidified on them stopped them from sealing properly.That said, comments from the HPAK group seem to indicate that these rubber caps will eventually turn to goo and fail completely.TonyG

author: Peter_O
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 21, 2022, 10:18:16 am
content: Quote from: Stray Electron on December 20, 2022, 06:02:44 pmSearching "plotter" the steadler website gives no relevant hit at all.So it seems to be history.

author: Neepa
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 21, 2022, 08:46:45 pm
content: Some quick googling found these replacements:http://plotterstifte-faserschreibfedern.de/epages/d0ad59d0-2179-4e1a-a881-03dcaece632c.sf/de_DE/?ObjectID=1471769&ViewAction=ViewFaceted&FacetValue_CategoryID=1471769&CurrencyID=EUR&CurrencyID=EUR&FacetRange_ListPrice=&FacetRange_ListPrice=Shop is indicating them to be replacements for some HP Part Numbers.

author: Peter_O
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: December 22, 2022, 10:05:02 am
content: Yes. These would fit.I remember, I had found that page some month ago too and decided 5 Euros inkl. shipment per pen as too expensive.Thx for reminding me and giving the link to all of us!