The Mutoh Scriber ET203 (PWJ215)

I found this funny and interesting device in the dumpster. It's from the 1990s and it was used by professional draftsmen as an electronic stencil for lettering on the drawing board.

[@loqAtMefi]

I learned manual drafting and technical drawing before CAD and desktop publishing, and I used to have the Rotring version of this device that I got at a flea market for a few dollars, though I never used this device professionally because CAD and DTP was already a thing before I left school. One point I can talk about is that when I was learning drafting in the 80s and 90s we spent weeks just on lettering, labeling, dimensions and other indications. Before lettering plotters like this or CAD drafting there was a whole system to lettering, labeling and dimensioning everything correctly entirely by hand that was like 90% of the work, and we never, ever used stencils because we had to learn hand-lettering first, and once you learned that hand lettering was faster and cleaner than stencils. If you couldn't hand-letter to ISO/ANSI specs you weren't a draftsperson. These mini lettering plotters were super rare and a niche thing that might be used on final master copies of blueprints and plan drawings in a very specific and narrow period of time because of how expensive they were, and there was only a very brief historical window where they made any financial sense, because by the time these were a thing so was CAD software and fully digital drafting workstations, and full sized ink/pen plotters predate these drawing board lettering plotter tools. The price of one of these desktop lettering plotters was very nearly half way to the price of a basic IBM PC Clone CAD/CAM workstation even in 1980 or 1990 prices, at least before you included the price of Autodesk or other CAD/CAM drafting software or including the cost of a plotter or large format printer. So it was kind of a "stop gap" piece of tech where a drafting/blueprint office or team might be able to justify the costs of a lettering pen plotter because they're still drafting by hand and using all-analog blueprint copying machines for reproductions and prints, but they still can't afford a full CAD workstation and software and a full sized plotter and so saving some amount of time on hand-lettering and dimensions is worth the retail cost of the pen plotter for a very brief moment in time.

[@JohnHawkins92]

That's really interesting! Thanks for the context.

[@onkouth]

Just like myself, I had the Rotring pens, rules, set squares and the scriber, to be honest I would rather use a stencil, I was always very accurate with those.

[@ChipGuy]

Chips: The MB622902 is an old gate array from Fujitsu. The Processor is the HD64180 from Hitacht which is a 10 MHz Z180 (Z80 on steroids) CPU. Next to it is a SANYO 32kByte SRAM. The stuff with the many resistors is a basic sinusoid DDS. The MB7112 are small ROMS containing sinusoid waveform data which goes through the drivers to the resisistors to make up a waveform for microcstepping and quiet stepper motor driving. I can see datecodes from 1992 on some ICs.

[@user-yw8sr3uj1w]

Thanks for the info!

[@PlaywithJunk]

I knew someone will figure out the details, thanks a lot. I had the feeling that the resistors are some kind of D/A or A/D conversion stuff. But I assumed the stepper drivers were smart enough to handle that alone. Sometimes the details are even smarter as you may think. That's what I like from 1990s stuff. They didn't have all those specialized ICs. They took standard parts and did some external wizardry :-)

[@RBLevin]

Love the beeps and blips it generates when writing. Cool device.

[@Petertronic]

I could watch this machine writing for hours, the teardown was fascinating

[@PlaywithJunk]

I can play with it for hours.... :-)

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

Used to love the sound of pen plotters, I still remember my my first A0 circuit diagram plot,it took 3hrs to plot and when it finished the pen returned home from top right to bottom left without lifting. It decided to cross out all my hard-working 😢😂

[@PlaywithJunk]

Something similar happened to me with my CNC milling machine. Milling a part for half an hour and the crash into the support screw...

[@TheEmbeddedHobbyist]

@@PlaywithJunk i once set an A0 plot going and came back hrs later to find a credit card size plot in the middle of the sheet. Another funny thing was at one point we could not plot on Fridays. the plot queue blocked on Thursday midnight and released on Friday at midnight. the program vendor said it was a plotter driver issue and the plotter folk said it was a program fault. This went on until the pen plotter was replaced with an ink jet one.

[@sevua]

I think, it would be fun to dump the ROMs and add the device to MAME/MESS for preservation

[@MaxNippard]

I have an older but very similar scriber branded as a rOtring NC scriber. The case and mechanism is very similar but the electronics on mine were all 1980's DIP IC's on multiple PCB's and tactical switches with hard plastic keys. The kinematics of these is the same as the original Ultimaker 3d printers. I fitted mine with an esp32 running fluidNC firmware so it can draw any vector art sent from a phone or computer via WiFi. I sent the original electronics and power supply to someone restoring one so it wasn't thrown away.

[@simontay4851]

Wow, i really like the way the Y axis mechanism is designed. Thats very clever.

[@f.k.b.16]

Pen Plotters are so cool! I really like the look. We used to use a large format plotter to make layout for simple prototype jigs. Watching it print was somewhat mesmerizing!

[@jetraid]

The mechanics are link core xy 3d printers. Awesome machine. Thanks for sharing

[@liammhodonohue]

Mother in law worked for technical bureau for Soviet cinematography as draughtsman (draftswoman?) she still has very tidy writing, especially when completing forms and other official paperwork. My dad trained as an architectural technician but got bored with office life and worked as bricklayer instead. For a little extra money he would draw for people's request for additions/alterations to the local council. He would usually bring me to hold the tape. He never moved to using any kind of CAD, for e-waste this would be ideal for him.

[@graemedavidson499]

It would be fair to say it makes a lovely “din”! I remember using very expensive Rotring pens and stencils back in the day. This device would have saved a lot of time!

[@Gooberslot]

Someone might think that's junk but I think it's awesome.

[@PlaywithJunk]

I agree. Best find since years.

[@tezy0193]

what a cool machine, never knew something like this even existed

[@PlaywithJunk]

I think I saw one in an advertisement when they were new but I completely forgot about it. They were very expensive.

[@chrisridesbicycles]

I learned to write Normschrift without a stencil at school in the late 90s. How much would I have loved a device that did that for me and made R2-D2 sounds. Somebody had to write a lot of assembly for that neat machine. I think it should get a laser instead of the pen!

[@PlaywithJunk]

The laser could be driven with the drop solenoid output...

[@colinstu]

CAD killed this thing! Another casualty. Neat tho!

[@simontay4851]

As someone whose handwriting is poor, this would be really useful. I could write on all sorts of things perfectly everytime.

[@PlaywithJunk]

A handwriting font would be nice :-)

[@Matt_The_Hugenot]

Me too

[@FiizgetsTV]

Sounds like a Mimaki! As I have noticed, every manufacturer of Wide format inkjet printers - ones that got at about 1.6m wide. Have their own distinct sound. If you are in a game long enough, just by the sound you can make out what make and which model is working. Mimaki's stepper drivers are programmed in such a way that they sound almost like a music, maybe it's also a preference of one manufacturers stepper motors, but it seems it's more in way they are driven in software. And this thing has the same sound signature.

[@Akitene]

I own my father's old and (then) trusty Mutoh ET-202. Sadly enough, mine it's of a slightly lesser quality than your ET-203 model: while perfectly functionning, its keyboard is made from a crappy sheet of rubber that crumbles apart. I've been searching for a replacement part for over 10 years now. Anyway, your video is an eye candy.

[@rarbiart]

from the age before silent stepper drivers were invented. the threading of the wire is interesting, at first i missed the location/point here the wire is fixed on the right side of the machine.

[@Wtfinc]

What a flipping awsome bit of kit. What monster would toss this in the garbage? U could even put a laser on it! Add a Hall effects sensor to the drop arm that turns the laser on and off. I hope I come across one one day. U know what I would use it for is probably writing on walls. Could do some giant wall art of schematics! Lol that’s exactly what i would do.

[@simontay4851]

Absolute monster indeed. These cost over 500€!

[@puciohenzap891]

The swiss! :-D @@simontay4851

[@kevinpreid]

Those nuts inset in the bottom are neat. I've seen many pieces of equipment that have mounting screws with heads on the outside, which puts you in the position of "Will unscrewing this open the case, or will it make something inside fall off?" With the nuts, no problem: you get the advantage of all-metal mounting, but they can't be removed from the outside.

[@PlaywithJunk]

And it's more precise than a self-threading screw into plastic.

[@theposguy1435]

That's super cool!

[@mumiemonstret]

What a useful little device! I'm pretty sure that the "Y" wire is anchored at the pen holder and that the partially hidden wheel is for guiding it along the rail.

[@PlaywithJunk]

The Y wire is fixed to the right side of the chassis. The pen holder is kept in place by rollers only. If the wire would be fixed to the holder, then it couldn't move in X direction

[@mumiemonstret]

@@PlaywithJunk Aah, now I see! I just assumed that the wire also had a roller on the opposite side just as the X belt, and then it would make no sense. You are right, it is like two cranes working in opposite.

[@PlaywithJunk]

Exactly 🙂

[@38911bytefree]

Under arduino control could be a good PCB printer, with a good permanent pen you can do all the traces, pads etc and then use acid to attack the exposed copper.

[@PlaywithJunk]

I made PCBs in that way and it works. But the small plotter can only reach 40x140mm. For a small PCB that may be fine.

[@koraypekericli]

Amazing device! If you one day you get bored and would be interested in donating it, we would happily accept it for our drafting technology exhibition cabinet at METU Faculty of Architecture, in Ankara. 🙂Thanks for the video! Great stuff as usual... Koray.

[@simontay4851]

Its like a plotter but a much smaller version.

[@PlaywithJunk]

It is a plotter. Definitively! Just with a usable draft area of about 140mm x 40mm :-)

[@puciohenzap891]

Kinda surprised how accurate it is!

[@lalmuanpuiamizo]

Not boring. Awesome

[@dav1dbone]

Reminds me of my grandma writing my excuse note for school.......

[@PlaywithJunk]

Did she master the perfect DIN writing? 🙂

[@dav1dbone]

@@PlaywithJunk Not sure, if the whine of the servos is anything to go by, then yes, because she made those kind of noises.

[@sonjakavalut]

Awesome device, never knowing that something like this exists. Still 800 euro today on Ebay. Thank you for another great insight. Best regards.

[@simontay4851]

800€ fk me! Definitely NOT garbage. WTF is wrong with people.

[@puciohenzap891]

@@simontay4851 I can ask €1000 for my used socks = this is what Ebay pricing means. Just greedy people trying to make you think something is valuable/rare and so on and asking outrageous prices. Then, 2-3 years later, you see the same stuff still hanging on Ebay...

[@PlaywithJunk]

Prices on Ebay are what people WANT. If they actually get it, is a totally different story.

[@simontay4851]

Does it have a serial port header inside? you could send data to it from a terminal program.

[@PlaywithJunk]

Hmm I don't know... that would be a cool feature.

[@WhoCares4uM8]

Again first buddy 😂😂

[@maxschmidt2416]

Hi Play with Junk! Would it be possible to scan the instructions and make them available for download? Thanks!

[@PlaywithJunk]

Hi there! Unfortunately I don't have the original manual. But I found a manual for a similar device from another manufacturer that fits in most parts. But it is in french: archive.org/details/alpiake3100manueldutilisation

[@maxschmidt2416]

​@@PlaywithJunk Thanks a lot!

[@chuckray8675]

Very jealous of your recycling bin… mine never had anything remotely so interesting in it :(

[@PlaywithJunk]

That was the public container of a small village. Most of the time there's not much interesting.

[@Sven_Dongle]

Whats min font size?

[@PlaywithJunk]

Must try that... 1 or 2 mm but then you need a thinner pen.

[@4623620]

7:38 Retro-bright⁉

[@PlaywithJunk]

I think I will try that. 🙂

[@simontay4851]

I just searched Mutoh Scriber ET203 on google and these still cost over 500€! Theres even one on amazon for over €1000 What monster would throw this in the bin. WTF is wrong with him/her They need to be sacked from the company and given a slap round the face.

[@PlaywithJunk]

Well, Amazon prices is always what people WANT. But what they finally get is a different story. I wonder how much it was new....

[@chrisridesbicycles]

Amazon prices - and Swiss trash bins 🙃

[@mz4637]

1

[@johnsenchak1428]

OFF TOPIC STOP SPAMMING MY ACCOUNT

[@Wtfinc]

What ever are you talking about?

[@Wtfinc]

I just went to your account and you don’t have any videos so he can’t be spamming that way, he’s not uploading 10 vids a day. Turn off the bell if you don’t like it. Last thing, are you ok? Did you take ur meds?

[@johnsenchak1428]

@@Wtfinc I don't have any videos because I don't live off youtube and people who watch the videos

[@johnsenchak1428]

This another youtuber who says "like and subscribe " and then bait and switch when they realize nobody is watching what was uploaded

[@reggiep75]

Calm down, princess!

[@timb7085]

Basically a specialized pen plotter - very interesting device. I'm of an age where I used a number of actual pen plotters from desktop ones to "E" sized beasts - and all were impressive watching them do their work. Thanks!