How would you define a flatbed plotter?

29 Jul.,2024

 

Flatbed plotters: why use them and how to choose - Valiani

Flatbed plotters: what they are and what they are used for

 

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Flatbed plotters are called &#;flatbed&#; because, compared to roller plotters, they use a beam that moves the tools over the material rather than having the material move under the beam, and the same material is placed on a flat surface.

The main function of these devices is that they allow the operator to cut several substrates without the use of a traditional die cutter. These machines therefore process the raw material by giving it a defined shape. A precise shape that can have different types of applications: the raw material can be transformed into a box, a sticker, a sign or many other applications, depending on the capabilities of each machine.

Flatbed plotters differ from each other mainly for the applications they can realize. The applications are decisive in the sense that they delimit the reference markets of the single model. 

Another fundamental element contributing to the differentiation between plotter types concerns the tools that can be mounted on these machines. In fact, tools are very important in determining the applications that a plotter will be able to carry out and the way in which it will be able to do so. 

It is often misjudged that size is the most important factor. To be honest, this is the last of the aspects that we should take into account when evaluating a plotter. First of all, we should make sure of the plotter&#;s ability to process the materials we are going to handle. The choice of the machine size will then go hand in hand with the size of the material to be processed and, if it is printed, with the capacity and maximum print size that can be achieved.

Another factor that determines the type of digital plotter is the software applications. This is not because the machines come without them, but rather because of their ability to manage multiple file formats which, in some way, will also determine the work that will be done.

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If we receive a vector format from programs such as Adobe Illustrator or CorelDRAW it is easy to understand that we are dealing with applications belonging to the world of graphics with print-cut combination.

If we receive a .DXF file it is more likely that we are dealing with the world of cutting and modeling of a material. Finally, there are specific files of third-party programs, which do not belong to the machines on the market, and which may have proprietary formats (for example the CF2 of Valiani m3).

What is a Flatbed Plotter?

Flatbed plotter

A flatbed plotter is a computerized plotter that works using an arm that moves a pen over paper rather than having paper move under the arm as with a drum plotter.

The paper is placed on the bed, a flat surface, of the flatbed plotter. The size of the paper that can be used is dependent on the size of the bed. Larger flatbed plotters can print on paper up to 60-inches in length.

Some flatbed plotters can print on material other than paper, including cardboard, plastic, or even metal. Flatbed plotters can also generate perfect copies again and again, with no loss of quality in the printed drawing. However, they can be quite large in size and very costly to purchase.

An example of an early flatbed plotter is the CalComp Model 738. Used in the s, it had a large bed, allowing it to create large drawings. The CalComp Model 738 was an offline flatbed plotter, so a magnetic tape was used to input data into the device.

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