Anyone ever buy their own plotter printer?

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MarkyMarkNC

MarkyMarkNC

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Raleigh NC
I see a bunch of plotter printers on Ebay in the $500.00 to $1000.00 range and I am wondering whether it makes sense to buy one of these. My eyes get burnt out from reading 11 x 17 prints, but I hate spending hundreds of dollars a year on printer companies for full size sets.

Does anyone know what the approximate associated costs are with a plotter printer - paper and toner/ink etc.?

Also, what are some good brands or types to watch out for?
 
When I was bidding a lot of commercial jobs I bought a HP designjet 750C. I used it all the time and was very happy. A GC would email me plans and I would print the pages I needed. If I wanted to look at something closer later on (like a mechanical or architectural sheet) I could just print it off.

Now I do mostly maintenance and don't really use it. One problem is it is not windows 7 compatible so I need an XP machine hooked to it to print. I think there might be some "fixes" you can buy but have never tried them. Make sure the plotter you buy is compatible with your operating system.
 
HP by far (imo) is the heat, just note what operating system its running under, as mentioned.

Also ask if the plotter has ever had authorizied service or any at all, the belt is what wears-out. It's 350.00 min. for that service call, but they should fix everything about it.

HP earlier models had default ascii files that could be altered for plotting, but most of this is now invisble to the average user. Your software will be the real determination of what you can see , view and plot. Now-a-days it's almost seamless but your software (program) and CAD software need to be considered.

Major CAD software all maintain complete listing of what they can output to, small CAD packages there's just less varaities...

Now a days a lot of work is sent out in PDF's this could also a consideration.

Good Luck!
 
I got rid of my plotter.

I use an Epson wide photo printer that will do 12 x 22" paper which gives me essentially half size plots, good for checking, etc.

When I need full size I simply E-mail PDF's to the local drawing print shop and get them for $1.25 for each 24" x 36".

I can't justify the cost and supplies for a plotter vs the low cost of having them plotted outside.

RC
 
The OS doesn't really matter when you install Virtualbox. You can run any version of Windows, Mac, and Linux on any other platform. I'm running Linux with Windows7 and WindowsXP at the same time.
 
Plotters

Plotters

I purchased a HP 350C a few years back off Craigslist for 350, came with lots of paper from what the guy had left over. Ink was about $150. So that put the total for around 500.

I also recommend that you buy one with a Roll feed, a friend has one that is manual feed, and that just takes so much time. Each time a page prints you have to feed another sheet. Well if you have 10 pages to print you don't want to be tied to your plotter for more than you need to. You may end up sitting at your plotter feeding paper for the next hour :(. With the roll feed you'll want to have it auto cut for you too :)

Craigslist is good, but make sure when you speak to whom is selling it to try it out before you buy. If you have a laptop, take it to make sure you can print from it.

Good luck
 
We have a HP DesignJet 500. In the last 12 months we've gone through 28 rolls of bond, 36" wide by 150 feet long. That's 2,100 Arch D size prints at a paper cost of about $525. We've had about 2 sets of cartridges used up, 4 at a clip for about $45 per cartridge or $360. We've had the belt replaced, it was about $500 and the tech said it should be replaced every 4 cartridge sets. At the high end our annual costs are $1,135.

It looks like e-Bay has them for around $750. Add our annual costs to that and you get a total of $1,885 for the first year. Using RaginCajun's plot cost, our output would cost us $2,625. We could buy a new plotter every year and still come out ahead.
 
It obviously depends on your plotting demand.

I do engineering and I send PDF's to all my clients. The only full size plots I run are for check sets, and most of the time I do half size plots on my Epson printer in 12 X 22". In the last year I ran only two or three full size sets.

But, if you are running lots of plots for the field, that's a whole different volume!

Good Luck!



RC
 
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