Seeking advice to creating a plotter output tray

Joe Dunfee

My company recently acquired a HP T-120 plotter.  It can handle a 24" wide roll, and at $1,000 is a good buy.

I did not get the stand with its catch-bin, because the catch bin tends to accumulate a bunch of rolled-up prints that have to be sorted later.  I tried putting the plotter on a table, so the output would simply slide across the table, but that does not work.  The paper tends to roll up right at the output, and the end stays at the area where the cutter operates, and so occasional jambs.  As a result, I need to baby-sit each print, and with my current 25 page job, that get tedious.

It would see that I need to have the paper slide out onto a tray just below the output slot, and then the tray be at a slope.  The slope would need to be shallow enough, that the paper does not roll up, and steep enough that the paper will slide down it, and away from the output.

Before I start experimenting, I was hoping that one of you would have a proven design.

-Joe

Roy Klein Gebbinck

You will find that when you get towards the end of the roll all prints curl up. Having them slide onto a table does not prevent this. So perhaps the standard catch bin is the 'proven design'?

Joe Dunfee

I know that some plotters, at least years ago, had a heating element to "iron" the paper to be straight.  This is probably a high-end option, not available for a $1,000 plotter.

I am imaging a design that has a wire guide above, to keep the paper relatively flat. Then, below the paper output on the plotter, to blow a little air to keep the paper gliding over the paper below.  This may also encourage the paper to drop free from the output slot.

-Joe