24" printing capabilty

RobertN · Nov 16, 2005

24\" printing capabilty

Does anyone do large format printing?

My wife would like the ability to do 18x24 and 24x36 printing here at the house. She does landscape design, and would like to print from CAD without having to go to a printhouse. Right now, she prints larger than 11x17, by emailing .plt files to a local print shop. Then she drives over and picks them up. The print shop is fine, but she would like to be able to print after hours and on weekends.

Most of her work is black and white; for some drawings she does hand color them.

I see HP has some printers in 18" and 24", like the DesignJet 90, 100, and 130 series.

Anything else we should look at? It would be nice to keep it under $1,000-1,250; we can always do fancier printing with the local print shop.

inveresk · Nov 16, 2005

Re: 24\" printing capabilty

I have a large format HP plotter, a Designjet 130nr, 24" plotting width, which I bought last spring. I researched all available plotters before replacing the old HP 350C coloured plotter I have (still). I found the 130nr to have by far the most bang for the buck. It's fast, great quality, inexpensive consummables, has replaceable print heads and so far hasn't put a foot wrong.

jinman · Nov 17, 2005

Re: 24\" printing capabilty

I think the most "bang for the buck" is going to be HP. I'd also stay with 24" maximum width. The extra money you pay for wider carriage printers is hard to justify. You should be able to find the best mix of speed and economy by staying small. For everyday proof jobs, we even use the tabloid size HPs with a single color and single black cartridge. The consumable cost is much less and if we need a bigger proof, we just tile out the image. For final printing of full-size aircraft cockpit artwork, I go to a professional graphics shop where I can print up to 48" width and unlimited length on coated photo grade paper. That ends up costing about $12-$14 per square foot with matte lamination and framing. The cost of printing proofs locally seems a bargain compared to that. /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Soundguy · Nov 17, 2005

Re: 24\" printing capabilty

Ditto what the others said. When we printed our own dirt takeoff's.. we used plotter's similar to those models mentioned.

Soundguy

tjkadar · Nov 17, 2005

Re: 24\" printing capabilty

We have a HP Designjet 1055CM at work that prints on 36" rolls of paper. I think the cost of the printer was around $9,000, but once you look at consumables, etc., you are over $10,000. I think, if you want to use 36" rolls, you are probably looking at around $2,400 to start. 24" rolls are much more cost effective and you can get a good one starting around $1,300.

sneaky_pete · Nov 17, 2005

Re: 24\" printing capabilty

Robert,

I have an HP DesignJet 750C 36" plotter and use it to plot very detailed color maps and cross sections. If I remember correctly, it will plot at 600x600 dpi which is not photo quality but is still very good. It is a generation older than the current crop of large format plotters, but HP sold a lot of these and they are well known for reliability and long life. Parts are still available from HP.

When new, they sold for $10,000 but now you can get refurbished ones on Ebay for around $1,300 +/-. I got mine on Ebay for only $800, and was able to pick it up semi-locally. It had a few cosmetic blemishes that I didn't care about. If you search on Ebay for 750C you will see quite a few.

Pete

MossRoad · Nov 17, 2005

Re: 24\" printing capabilty

We have some HP plotters at my work.
HP755CM
HP800
HP1050C

The 755CM is a decent plotter, but the resolution will not produce clear photos. So, landscape drawings and such will do fine on them. It will do up to 36" wide by very long. I've printed up to 10' with no problems. The 755s are getting hard to find parts for, so be careful. I've seen refurbs for under $1500. Some of them have post script kits installed. This could be an issue, so try to get one that has the kit, if possible.

The HP800 produces clear photos as well as great drawings, but seems to be very slow. Ours is the 24" model. It is expensive to repair. We had to have major guts replace twice.

The HP1050C is awsome. Very nice print quality and very fast. Also has large ink cartridges and individual print heads. Also $10,000.00 new. /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif Very nice printer/plotter. I've seen refurbs for under $5000. Consumables are more expensive at first glance, but the ink cartridges are huge compared to the other models. For example, we typically use one black ink cartridge in a 755CM each day. The1050s seem to last about a month. So even though the cartridge is 5 times as expensive, it lasts almost 20 times longer. May not be that important to the average user, but makes a HUGE difference to a high volume printer.

Anyhow, those are the only three that I've had experience with. HP makes many smaller models that would probably work fine and fit your budget.

All three of the models that we have are not used for their intended purposes and are extremely abused and over-used. All in all, they have held up well past what a normal business user or homeowner could ever put them through and I give them high marks for durability, quality of construction and ease of use. They are also compatible with many programs, such as Quark, Pagemaker, Photoshop, Freehand, AutoCAD, etc... Try to find one with a network card installed. That helps when printing from multiple computers.

Good luck in your search.

Dmace · Nov 17, 2005

Re: 24\" printing capabilty

Here at our Surveying/Engineering form we use a couple of HP800's and they are incredible machines. Black and White plots are perfect and crisp. Color plots will blow your mind away. We can run 24" and smaller rolls or sheet feed and the nesting option is great. The big seller was the onboard memory that cancelles the need for a network printer hub. The plotter has a built in que that saves the jobs in order and prints them out as needed. Extra prints are two buttons away from the main screen without going back to the computer. The rotary cutter is also garuanteed to stay sharp for life.
The HP 800 sets you back $3,495, though.

For your application and budget, I would recommend the Hp DesignJet 130 at $1,295. It can handle up to 24" rolls or sheet feed and a great resolution of 2400 x 1200 dpi.
Click here for more info.

Either way, HP is the top name in large scale plotters. Their support is untouchable too!

rlk · Nov 17, 2005

Re: 24\" printing capabilty

Robert, there is a program you can purchase for $18 that will allow you to do large prints from a regular laser or ink jet printer. I bought the software to make large banners and signs. If I remember correctly you can print signs or banners up to 100 feet long.

Using this software will require you to tape or glue pages together, but if all she wants the prints for is working drawings, then this may be the way to go, and the software, at only $18 is a bunch cheaper than one of the printers or plotters others have priced.

I just used the software to load a .jpg file and then printed the jpg file across 4 sheets of paper, which exploaded it 4 times larger than the original. It works great, and is easy to use. Within an hour after installing it, I was already making 4' by 4' signs.

You can view the software at: http://postersw.com/

Good luck with whatever you decide to use.

Bob