I salvaged a pen plotter from the early ’90s. The owner, a retired architect, was ready to free up some space in their home after decades of disuse. The unit was in fair condition and required hardly any maintenance: some cleaning, tightening of a belt, and a slide rail that needed lubrication; after that, it was ready to go.

The bigger challenge was how to deal with the proprietary pens, which are long out of production. What you find on eBay is dried up, leaving DIY as the only option: I had decent luck refilling old pens using ink reservoirs from other pens or markers, and I have recently started designing my own adapters and prototyping them in PETG using a 3D printer, although with mixed results so far.

What is certain is that this plotter will travel many more miles with this new owner. As a megalomaniac, I’m loving plotting in A0 format.

Here’s the manual of the unit, to the best of my knowledge previously unavailable online.

https://jamez.it/blog/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Calcomp_Pacesetter_2024_2036_manual.pdf