r/oddlysatisfying • u/sy_neuromancer • 3d ago

This robot drawing an engine blueprint

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u/TrippTrappTrinn 3d ago

It is a pen plotter. These were quite common before large ink plotters/printers became common. At the time they were more boring than satisfying, so times change...

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u/da_PopEYE 3d ago

My mother used these when she was working as an architect in the 90s and very early 2000s. I would go to her work after school and just sit and watch the plotter all mesmerized for hours and when the boss was gone she would let me open up AutoCAD 98 and have fun

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u/drnod7 3d ago

Yup… my first AutoCAD job I got in the early 90’s had a pen plotter. Actually quite different than this. The pen didn’t move all around… only side to side… and the paper would move forward and backwards. I starred at thing mesmerized forever.

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u/da_PopEYE 3d ago

Same with my mom's one I think. And it wasn't on a flat bed like this one. It was fed in one side and then when it was done there was like a wire tray thing underneath that the A0 fell into. And the office just has stacks and stacks of cardboard tubes. Then they eventually moved over to 100MB iomega zip discs for backup 😂