Later plotters used standard interfaces such as serial and high level commands sets which let you send the end points for lines and text for the plotter to draw. They could also draw much faster, over 30 inches per second on high end plotters. The pen plotters have pretty much been replaced by plotters which are large inkjet printers. Modern plotters use either sheets of paper or roll paper without sprocket feed holes.
This link has information on a IBM 1627 plotter that is a relabeled Calcomp 565 plotter. The 565 is the 11 inch wide version of the Calcomp 563 plotter.
These plotters were also used to make art pictures, some are shown on the Smithsonian science service computer art page.
Documents related to this plotter
Jeffrey S. Jonas 1627 page has pictures of the accessories and links to sites with more information on this plotter My plotter is missing the accessories and the roll paper is no longer made. If anybody has these items I would be interested. Contact info at end of this page.
The following picture links also have descriptions of what is shown in the pictures.
Front view ( 23K)
Back view ( 14K)
Pen assembly ( 38K)
Pen coil ( 40K)
Plot sample 1 ( 13K)
Plot sample 2 ( 27K)
Old plots ( 35K)
Paper ( 45K)
Back view without cover ( 22K)
right view ( 52K)
left view ( 49K)
bottom view ( 41K)
Circuit card ( 61K)
Circuit card back ( 60K)
Power supply fan oiling ( 43K)
Bottom of supply ( 41K)
Supply location ( 33K)
Making Replacement Parts. The MARCH computer group was given a original PDP-8 and a Calcomp/Bendix plotter that was missing some pen parts. The following pictures show making the replacement parts.
Pen top on lathe ( 60K)
Lathe ( 57K)
Turned parts ( 42K)
Polished parts ( 35K)
Plated parts 1 ( 49K)
parts 2 ( 37K)
Final parts ( 53K)
This site has pictures of some of the accessories for the plotter that I don't have.
Plotter Videos