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Need advice on buying a plotter


mrkmpn

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We are looking to take the plunge and buy a plotter for the office. I have very little experience with plotters (have printed to one maybe 3 or 4 times) and really don't know what to look for.

 

One big consideration is that it needs to take up very little room. We have no space for some of the mammoth sized plotters I've seen on occasion, but I have noticed some that look very "thin" from front to back, which would be ideal to have here in my own (small) office.

 

We also don't really need the best plotter out there, but obviously we want something that is reliable and works well with Autocad (2012 if that matters, and running on Windows 7).

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What is your budget?

 

How much room do you have to put the plotter?

 

Does it have to have color capability?

 

What size (max) paper must it be capable of printing to?

 

Don't forget to budget for things like ink cartridges and plotter paper.

Edited by ReMark
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You should see if you can get a used one with not too many plots done on it. As long as you can find a salesman that doesn't wear a suit then you should be able to get a good plotter for a good deal.

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I'm not 100% sure about the budget at the moment, but I believe the last time we spoke about it a couple of years ago he mentioned looking into a used/refurbished plotter for around $1500 to $2000 or so. It all got dropped because he ended up rarely ever having me do any drawings at the time.

 

Length wise, the ideal spot in my office it would need to be 4' long or less. Depth would ideally be 18" or less.

 

Color capability would be nice if I can find it in our price range so if there is anything close to the range stated above please mention it (that range is a guesstimate so please recommend anything close to that range)

 

Max paper size would probably be 24 x 36". I can't see needing anything higher than that since up to this point any printed drawings have been on legal size paper.

 

Thanks for the quick reply ReMark.

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1st and 4th quarters are always the best times to buy but your criteria (both budget and space) will leave you with few choices.

 

Contact your local reprographics firm and ask if they sell plotters. If they do then ask if they have taken any in on trade lately. You might get something within your price range but once again size will be an issue.

 

Don't forget to ask about the cost of consumables like ink cartridges and paper.

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We weren't sure what to buy until we found one salesman who is really honest. He gave us a Kip 3100 and it works like a dream. It can fit any paper size up to 48" I believe. If I can find his number I will PM it to you so that you can try calling him to see what he says if you would like... That's IF I find his number. I don't know what my co-worker did with it and he happens to not be here today. :lol:

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Just my $0.02, I really like my HP Design Jet T790. I have the smaller model, which only plots to 24" max, but that means you could do your 36x24. It's easy to set up, and works really well!

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I think the KIP 3100 would be more machine than what the OP needs. What are the rough dimensions (LxW)?

It probably is but I was mostly saying it so he would check out the KIP models more than anything. They are a good line after all.

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You might want to look at the HP DesignJet T120 ePrinter. Retails for under a grand. It will handle 24" wide paper, it is ethernet ready, and is small enough to fit your allotted space requirements.

 

You can upgrade to a HP DesignJet T520 ePrinter and still come under two grand. It too will handle 24" wide paper and it is just slightly larger in width (20") versus your stated 18".

Edited by ReMark
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I am not arguing how good the KIP multifunction printer/copiers are. They tend to be big in size, weight quite a bit and pricey if bought new.

 

Well whatever the OP decides he best do his homework. There are many things to consider when buying a plotter/printer.

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Thanks for all the replies. I'll do some checking around and check with the guy that makes our company T-Shirts to see if he can help point me to a good salesman (I know he has a couple of plotters). I've been looking into some HP options after resullins' reply because I have always been a fan of Hp printers, mainly due to their excellent support of non-windows operating systems (Easiest printers to get up and running on Linux/FreeBSD), but didn't know what their reputation with plotters might be. I did find this, which pretty much covers all I stated above: http://www.amazon.com/HP-Designjet-Thermal-Inkjet-ePrinter/dp/B0098NXYM6

 

I took a look at the Kip website, all of their plotters appear to be rather bulky.

 

Are there any benefits to buying from a salesman over buying online? We already have a service contract with a local company that services all of our printers, but I don't know if there might be other issues I'm unaware of.

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You might check out the Canon line of large format inkjet printers just for comparison.

 

We had a HP DesignJet 500+ that ran for ten years before we swapped it out for a Canon. In that time we had it serviced only once to replace the drive belt. When it came time to swap out the printheads (which we had to do twice in ten years) I found instructions online and did it myself.

 

The only benefits you might receive if you buy through a local company vs. online is they usually include delivery, setup and a quick run through of how the machine operates. They'll most likely try to talk you into a service contract, typically 3 years parts and labor, but you aren't obligated to take it.

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In all my years using a plotter, I've never used anything BUT an HP, so I may be biased. However, I can say that we've NEVER had a major problem with them, and some of them are more than 7 or 8 years old. So in my opinion, they're great plotters. Also, I have the T790 in my home office and we ordered it from Amazon or something, and got a good deal. And since I knew how to do it and everything, we didn't need the set up. Though that would have been nice considering my fiance and I had to carry the damn thing in and put it together.

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Same here for the most part. My grandmother has an all in one ink jet printer that was a bit of a lemon, but other than that I've never really had many problems with HP printers. I have a laserjet at home that I bought for $50 from an asset recovery company that had stuff listed on Craigslist. 4 years later I have yet to have an issue with it, and still haven't had to replace the toner cartridge yet (I know that's not because of HP quality, just an anecdote as to what a great deal that ended up being). We have a couple of Konica Minolta multifunction laser jets that are constantly being serviced, but after replacing the old HP printer/copier/fax that finally died for good, I replaced it with a newer model a couple of years ago and it hasn't required service once (except maybe a reboot by myself when it appeared to freeze up). One of the konica minoltas was bought after I bought the HP and it's been serviced at least 4 or 5 times since.

 

Thanks again for all the advice everyone. I have to say that this is by far the best forum I have ever joined. I'm so used to forums where you receive short, vague, sarcastic, or just generally unhelpful replies it's refreshing to find a place where, so far at least, all of my questions have been answered by knowledgeable people. In fact, I mentioned in another post some of you helped with that I had found a tutorial online for doing helical bolt threads, but it had been so long I'd forgotten. I dug through my email and found the files that where sent to me after I contacted the author on his website, and just realized that that helpful gentleman is also a member of this site. (JD Mather)

 

You guys put most companies customer service departments to shame. And I mean "guys" in the general term resullins, I came across another thread while searching for info about plotters and someone asked about your new baby, so I know your female. (Plus that avatar would seem like an odd choice for a guy in a cad forum.)

 

*Edit*

It was your post on CAD Standards Manual... I wish I had something along those lines

Edited by mrkmpn
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Try looking for a used Ricoh MP-W2400 or W3600 wide format printer.

I had always used HP and thought why anything else.

This company I am with now has 2 and it is awesome.

It is only B&W, the toner is just over $100 but last forever. 9-12 months at 100+ pages a month.

Uses 36" width paper, It takes 30 seconds to warm up from overnight. Once it is warmed

up it prints an Arch D every 6 seconds.

Now that I have used a printer this fast I wont go back.

I have used HP 750C Plus and a 1050C in the past and they were 2 min. prints no matter how warm it was.

And the ink and print heads were changed often. We print probably 100-150 pages a month.

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We have HP's and did have a novajet all work well, only problem now with the older HP is the drive belt wears out eventually and needs replacing maybe 5 years, problem now is our service tech has advised that if it goes again none are available, so if buying second hand check that parts are available in case something goes wrong.

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We have HP's and did have a novajet all work well, only problem now with the older HP is the drive belt wears out eventually and needs replacing maybe 5 years, problem now is our service tech has advised that if it goes again none are available, so if buying second hand check that parts are available in case something goes wrong.

 

 

 

We were told the same on the belts by our service company, I went to HP parts site on the web and they were all well stocked brand new, I showed my boss and he notified the owner of the service company. We have now switched our printer service company.

 

 

To save headaches you are definitely better off using HP Plotter with Linux/BSD.

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They will always tell you that the parts wont be available so that you will go out to buy a new machine. The service man we use told us that he can get parts for our 10 year old Cannon for as long as we own it.

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