Mike, what are all the noises we hear in the background of the video? This is just a pen, not a cutter ... Is there a vacuum holding down the sheet of paper?
 

Hi, Dave -- yes, the noise you hear is mostly from a Fein vacuum (self cooled, so won't overheat when sucking against a closed head). The vacuum sucks the paper flat to the machine bed very effectively (I use masking tape to hold and seal the edges).

The bed is a one inch sheet of light density MDF into which I've carved a deep (3/4 inch) v-groove 'waffle' pattern (bottom side). The MDF is very porous and the waffling makes it even more so. The top is solid-looking and has been planed flat releative to the machine. This works very well when I machine plywood.

I have tried drawing without vacuum, but when I do, the paper stretches quite a bit in the denser areas and buckles up enough to bend the pen nib, so I have resigned myself to suffer the noise. Another drawback (or advantage, perhaps) is that the paper becomes a large air filter and over time (a week or more) develops a very pleasant gray cast as particles of who-knows-what (dust, mostly) are strained into the paper surface...

I've also experimented with coating the bed with a re-positionable spray adhesive, but this doesn't hold the paper as securely, and some winds up adhereing to the back of the paper which I find undesirable...

Constantly working out the kinks and trying to improve, of course!

-- Mike