atkelar | Restoration Project #16 - rOtring CS50 @atkelar | Uploaded August 2020 | Updated October 2024, 14 minutes ago.
The device in question has been made in the late 80s to aid technical drawing people like architects or electronics designers in writing some basic common symbols as well as the dreaded DIN/ISO letters. It was made by or at least rebadged by, rOtring; which is - or rather was - a German company with an almost century long tradition in making equipment for these professions.
I think it's safe to assume that it would not have worked right if I had tried it before my cleaning/recapping session. The chip was clearly on its last breath even when I unboxed it. I'm lucky in that it is a common TTL chip, and still available. Some of the other chips, most notably the acutal stepper drivers are no longer to be found. There might be similar replacements, but for all I can tell, no pin compatible version exists anymore. In other words, if the electronics ever fail on this, I'd have to completely reconstruct them from scratch.
Here's a few reference links that go with the video:
Stepper motors - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor
The mentioned blog - nippard.com/2018/12/08/the-niche-80s-pen-plotter
DIN font - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_1451
rOtring - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotring
Donate a few bucks for some coffee (or some equipment upgrades)
ko-fi.com/atkelar
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:00 Disassemble / Battery / PSU
2:03 Cleaning / threded inserts
2:47 X/Y mechanism
3:56 PCB assemble / first try
5:06 Stepper motor theory
5:52 Oxydized plugs theory
6:23 SMD chip with "gunk"
7:08 Success / closing up / threded insert redux
8:20 Tryout + whiteout
9:30 Final view + goodbye
10:04 Outtake
Music:
My Train's A Comin'
Unicorn Heads
(YouTube Audio Library)
The device in question has been made in the late 80s to aid technical drawing people like architects or electronics designers in writing some basic common symbols as well as the dreaded DIN/ISO letters. It was made by or at least rebadged by, rOtring; which is - or rather was - a German company with an almost century long tradition in making equipment for these professions.
I think it's safe to assume that it would not have worked right if I had tried it before my cleaning/recapping session. The chip was clearly on its last breath even when I unboxed it. I'm lucky in that it is a common TTL chip, and still available. Some of the other chips, most notably the acutal stepper drivers are no longer to be found. There might be similar replacements, but for all I can tell, no pin compatible version exists anymore. In other words, if the electronics ever fail on this, I'd have to completely reconstruct them from scratch.
Here's a few reference links that go with the video:
Stepper motors - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stepper_motor
The mentioned blog - nippard.com/2018/12/08/the-niche-80s-pen-plotter
DIN font - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DIN_1451
rOtring - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotring
Donate a few bucks for some coffee (or some equipment upgrades)
ko-fi.com/atkelar
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:00 Disassemble / Battery / PSU
2:03 Cleaning / threded inserts
2:47 X/Y mechanism
3:56 PCB assemble / first try
5:06 Stepper motor theory
5:52 Oxydized plugs theory
6:23 SMD chip with "gunk"
7:08 Success / closing up / threded insert redux
8:20 Tryout + whiteout
9:30 Final view + goodbye
10:04 Outtake
Music:
My Train's A Comin'
Unicorn Heads
(YouTube Audio Library)
