What type of plotter(s) do you use? Looking for suggestions.

[Anonymous]

I'm looking for suggestions for a new large format plotter. One that can handle large amounts of plots and run for more than 20 minutes without a service call. Does anyone have any good suggestions for a plotter and/or web site(s) I could take a look at?? With all of the options out there these days, I'm not even sure where to start looking. We're currently using an Oce 9400 and 9600 with Repro Desk 4.21 on a dedicated WinNT server (the rest of the company is running WinXP). Thanks in advance! -- I support two teams: The Red Sox and whoever beats the Yankees.

[Anonymous]

we have a 8825 and its a POS. Another company down stairs in my building has a 510 and its a POS. I am going to ship out my 8825 to our new office that has 5 employees. It just breaks too much for a 20 man office. We are going to replace it with a TDS400. We have a HP1050 in another office that has 7 cad guys and its too slow. Also ink jet is too costly, the consumables are like $0.15 sf compared to a tds400 which is $0.05 "Santa CAD" |>We just replaced our 8830 with a 510 and it is down as much as our 8830 was. |> |>Our vendor claims that there is a design flaw in it. |> |>Myself, I don't beleive it. I think their technician does not know the |>product. |> |>We are changing from that vendor to Xerox itself for service. |> |>When it does work, it puts out excellent plots. |> |>"lsaapedd" wrote in message |>news:2468175.1102961905465.JavaMail.jive@jiveforum2.autodesk.com... |>> Xerox 8830 DDS (Digital Data System) upgraded to a Synergix system. |>> Hoping to replace it with a Xerox 510 Copy System. 3 roll sizes (11", |>> 22", 30") covers the 5 paper sizes we use. |>> For color, an HP 800 42". Similar paper requirements. |> David

[Anonymous]

"Matt W" wrote > I'm looking for suggestions for a new large format plotter. I've had a Xerox 6050 for about two months. Can't really say how reliable it's going to be yet, only that it hasn't needed any repairs so far. Our 8830 (which is going to be on the market shortly, in case anyone's interested) would have needed at least a cleaning in the same period. We had some initial teething problems, which boil down to "don't buy one without the optional AccXES controller." Print quality is substantially better than the 8830, but it may be a little too good in one respect: the repro house we deal with can't reproduce some of the fine detail we're getting out of the 6050. http://www.xerox.com/go/xrx/equipment/product_details.jsp?prodID=xes_6050

[Anonymous]

I'm saddled with the Xerox 8830 in two offices, a Xerox 8825 in the third. Good thing we have a service contract. For the most part, they work fine. Because ours were bought "on the cheap" - i.e., they were repro house plotters in a previous life - they have seen their better days. I recently had the motherboard / BIOS updated in the one in my office because it was acting the fool with image files in AutoCAD drawings. The Xerox AccXES tools software is total [edited]. It has the look and feel of a bad Windows 3.1 application. I've also found that the Document Retrieve tool (usd to grab scans off the scanner) does NOT work on XP with the Windows Firewall enabled. Also, the scanner had issues with scans over a certain length, creating TIFF tiles that were unreadable. That was a fun one to diagnose. Given the choice, mine would be an Oce TDS600/800. Matt mstachoni@comcast.net mstachoni@bhhtait.com On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 11:15:55 -0500, "Matt W" wrote: >I'm looking for suggestions for a new large format plotter. One that can >handle large amounts of plots and run for more than 20 minutes without a >service call. > >Does anyone have any good suggestions for a plotter and/or web site(s) I >could take a look at?? >With all of the options out there these days, I'm not even sure where to >start looking. > >We're currently using an Oce 9400 and 9600 with Repro Desk 4.21 on a >dedicated WinNT server (the rest of the company is running WinXP). > >Thanks in advance!

[dlacomb]

I'm curious - we have a Ricoh 470W. Why did you consider it a maintenance pig? We've had relatively few problems other than an occasional glitch in the software which resolves itself once the main unit is powered down then back up again.

Our only pain is that the PlotBase Client has a hard time dealing with sending batch native AutoCAD files through. They just don't print right. If a batch of PLTs are sent, everything works well.

As far as plotting to it, we've been successful. Copy mode is crisp and clear.

Dave LaComb

[Anonymous]

broke down continuously. I would say every 2-3 weeks it would be down for a day or 2. also we had the drums go out twice in a 1 1/2 span. plus the software had a limited seat capacity and gave us an unknown print error all the time. other than that it was awesome.(he said sarcastically)

[dlacomb]

interesting, ours is coming up on a two year anniversary and we haven't experienced those problems to date. Got to say that we probably don't have the use a lot of firms typically put their machines through on a day to day basis. Thanks for your thoughts.

Dave LaComb

[Anonymous]

no problem, maybe we just got a lemon

[MBCAD]

HP 1050C Here. Not one problem with it.
We run it all day sometimes. Keep it serviced, clean and lubes, and it will be happy.

[Anonymous]

Thank you all for the feedback! -- I support two teams: The Red Sox and whoever beats the Yankees.