Plotter recommendations

[CADken]

I was wondering what some of you guys use as a plotter, which has worked best for you, which do you currently use, any problems, suggestions...

if you were to purchase one in the $2,500 to $3,500 range, are there any good recommendations...

Our office is in the market for a plotter and this is our first :)

thanks guys!

[Ako]

We have a couple of HP Designjet 800's and they are reasonable worhorses as long as you are not in too much of a a hurry. Get one with an integral hard disk. This will let you reprint the last job from the plotter instead of firing up the CAD machine again. It has saved me time a few times now when someone rushes in and wants another print of that last drawing you plotted for them. Not sure what it's like over the pond but I have managed to get 2 ex-demo ones now which only had 3% ink usage at greatly reduced prices.

Dave

[overkill2006]

I just completed a 2 month query into my firms new plotter. I will talk briefly about what I discovered.

It all depends on what you want to plot. If your company intends on printing color prints for presentation purposes then there are a few things to consider.

Color plotters are currently capable of very vivid detail and high quality.

Color capability is not cheap, on the front end or the back end

Color plotters are going to be much slower than there grayscale only cousins.

Currently there are no large format “laser” plotters. Color plotters are basically inkjets on steroids.

If your office does not want color to be a major factor in the plotter purchase, then you just need to figure out a few things. In order to maximize the time spent with your local plotter sales man. You need to know the average square feet and linear feet of paper your company currently requires. If you have been outsourcing all your printing then you will have to go through the invoices and calculate it.

This will aid the sales rep in placing you in the machine that can best suit your needs. If you only print 3000 square feet per month then you will have little need for a machine that is capable of 6000.

Another thing you will want to discuss before hand is extra features. Many machines include features like scan to file, scan to PDF, scan to email, etc. As you would imagine all these features cost more. If you can rule out the possibility of ever needing certain features then you can save your self some money.

BRAND NAMES
If your market is like mine you will have several companies in town that will be more than excited to come by your office and discuss there products with you. Be prepared for many of them to be selling the exact same machine with a different name badge on it. The large format printing business is just not very diversified. You have OCE`, Kip, and Ricoh controlling the lion’s share of the market. I have only had limited experience with the Kip and the Ricoh (also sold as the savin). What I can speak for is the OCE. My office has had an OCE for the past 5 years. The machine in its own right is a great machine. The problems come with service and parts availability. Now we did have a service contract with our leasing company. So it did not cost us any extra cash but down time suffered when ever the machine did break. I received many excuses for this and it was always contributed to the manufacturer making the service process difficult. I was able to confirm this by calling other OCE sales reps in other cities. So that left me with basically two choices, the Ricoh and the KIP. Now for many reasons I eventually decided to go with the KIP. The number one selling point was that KIP only makes wide format machines. Another reason was the presence of a High Definition printing system with 100% toner efficiency. Feel free to visit http://www.kipusa.com and look at the current models. I went with the Kip 3002. Which is the dual paper roll version of the 3000. I cannot vouch for how this machine performs yet as it will not be installed for a few more weeks.
Other things you will want to consider before you make your decision is buy vs. lease. I am more in favor of a purchase because the finance cost about half the price. If you are very concerned about keeping the latest technology’s and always being on the cutting edge than a lease may save you money. These are decisions that you will have to make for your firm.

Now if you lease your machine you will be required to have a service contract. If you purchase your machine I highly recommend that you still keep a service contract with the company that you purchased it from. The machines only come with very short warranties and there are several components inside the machine that will eat up a years worth of service contract fees in one breakdown. This is especially true if you end up going with an OCE`. Service contracts range in options but they almost all offer all parts, labor, and toner that the machine requires. Some even include paper.

That is basically it, if you have any comments on what I wrote please let me know. I will be glad to answer any of your questions.

[CADken]

I just completed a 2 month query into my firms new plotter. I will talk briefly about what I discovered.....

....That is basically it, if you have any comments on what I wrote please let me know. I will be glad to answer any of your questions.


we do very small work, we usually get away with 8.5 x 11.5 drawings, color is and isnt a factor, we use different colors for line work, for landscaping, etc.

We've be referred to a HP design-jet 110, or a 110+ (by our sales man) and so far, it's been the best bang for our buck... i've got the owner of our compnay reviewing everything and hopefully if i get the ok, we're gunna make the purchase in a few days...

thanks for all you're info!