Large Format Document Scanners

Hi,

I have been tasked with selecting a scanner for our large format construction documents, and I'm looking for opinions as to the best ones for what we need. I’m also interested in whether anybody thinks I missed an important feature.

We don't unusually need it to plot/copy the scans so those features are not needed. We are archiving some very old drawings (100 years plus in some cases) and blue lines, so I think color is best. The condition of some of the drawings is quite bad, and it should not make them worse. We need at least a 36" width and 40" is probably better. We don’t usually scan foam core boards, but that may just be because we can’t at the moment.

I would also be curious as to any experiences you may have had in archiving old drawings.

Thanks for your time, and have a good one.

Shawndoe

What country are you in? If you just have old blueprints you don't have to scan in colour. I would only scan in colour for maps and the like. Maybe the old P&ID in colour. Big this to look at is the processing software you want to use with the scanner. Do not scan solely to PDF if you intend to distroy your paper drawings. Highly recomment scanning to TIFF @ 400DPI so go can work with the raster file and convert if required. CSoft has their WiseIMage software bundled with a lot of scanners depending on country. Also it can directly control many scanners.

If you let me know where in the world you are, I can give you a couple of contact names/compaines

I've used Oce, KIP, Colortrac, Contex over the years.

Hi,

I'm in California.

We never destroy the archived paper documents, though some as-built drawings for minor projects may end up being scanned then destroyed.

I always scan to TIFF or some other uncompressed format. You can always shrink them later if needed. Color scanning is something that I would only do by request, unless the damage to the document is so bad nothing elses will reliably catch all the data, we do have a few of those.

Which company do you think produces the best quality scanner. I've used the KIP3000 and it scans alright, but seems as though it is more centered around making copies. I've heard good things about the Context, and the OCE. I've also heard that the Colortrax has maintenance issues.

Have a good one, and thanks for your help.

Shawndoe

A lot of the large format scanners were re-branded Contex scanners. I have a friend in South Africa that sells the Colortrax units. I have heard good this there. I have met one of their top men in Norway at a conference. I can hunt out his contact. In the USA the CSoft products are distributed and bundled with Ideal scanners. Phils a straight shooting chap. He will put in on to the right solution for your needs

Contact person:Phil MagenheimAdress:11810 Parklawn Drive

Rockville, MD 20852

USATelephone:+1 301 468 0123 Fax:+1 301 230 0813Send mail: sales@ideal.com

not sure why a icon got in there but that is Phil Magenheim

Looks like I was typing with my thumbs. I forgot to mention I have seen some very good Oce units, but haven't worked with any in the last couple of years. I had been working on a OEM deal here in New Zealand some time ago and liked the hardware a lot

Kevin

Hi,

Thanks for your help. You've given me some good starting info. I'll let you know what we decide and how much it costs.

Sorry it took so long to respond, I'm swamped right now.

Have a goodone.

Shawn

No problems. Hope it helps. I know a guy in Texas too that sells a lot of scanners, just can't find his details at the moment.

We use the Xerox 6279 for all our plotting and scanning needs and have been running it for a bit over two years now. It's a fantastic setup, does great color scanning. I will go into more detail about it if you see you or your company interested in this model. We haven't had any issues whatsoever.

Xerox gear is good too.

I used to OEM software with Xreox in New Zealand, was a great arrangement and happy clients. They then outsourced their wide format to a separate company that did other brands and the market share dropped. But I liked the hardware, although the FTP server had some strange habits.