Need Plotter Recommendation - one man shop

Hi. New to this forum so please forgive me if this is an old topic. Spent much time looking through old posts and could not find my answer.

I am a one-man shop Electrical Engineer (power, lighting, fire alarm etc designs for buildings) and am considering purchasing a new plotter. Most projects are done on 24x36 but occassionally have a need for 30x42. I currently have to take these to a local Architect to plot which is a hassle for us both.

Can anyone recommend the best bang for the buck 30" wide plotter? Color printing is not that important to me. It would be nice at times but is not a necessity. My volume is also not that great as compared to a full service AE firm.

thanks,
Brent

 

I have a similar office -- just me and two part-time students, plus my
wife who does the billing. We used a CadJet2 for 8 years and were
pleased, but when it died we didn't want to go with their new products,
primarily because of the proprietary ink cartridges. We used 24" and
30" paper rolls, swapping as required. We tried trimming, but found it
took more time than the paper swaps.

We got the short list down to two manufacturers: HP and Oce. Like you,
we don't need color. If you go HP, look for two things: roll feed with
cutter (get a second paper mounting bar), and generic cartridges that
you can get at Staples -- nothing worse than finding your spare
cartridge won't work at 8:30pm when the deadline is 8:00am the next day.

We went with an Oce TDS400 2 roll with scanner. The scanner will pay
for itself in a year based on savings in FedEx (we can plot, sign, scan,
then send the pdf files to out-of-town clients legally in this state).
The plotter will have about a two year payout due to the faster speed
and lower per square foot printing cost.

You might want to run the numbers past your accountant. There's a
trade-off between lower initial cost and long term value. Also, Oce was
the logical choice for a laser plotter in my area. Kip might be more
readily available where you are, and they seem much more proactive in
customer support.

Martin

 

Stay away from Encad. Can't stress that enough. I suggest going to HP's web site, look at the various models, and then purchase a refurbished model. A used 700, which you should be able to get for almost nothing, would probably work for you.