Advice for plotter purchase?

[10521471]

Dear all,

Good afternoon to you. I would like some advise from people who have experience with purchasing of plotters. I work for Engineering Consultancy firm whereby we provide advice to customers and participate in tenders and etc.

Currently we have a OCE 350 plotter which the maintenance contract is due to end and my company have intentions to replace it. Right now, we have 3 different models to consider and is recommended by 3 different vendors.  OCE 365, HP pagewide 4000 XL and KIP 7170 plotter. Does anyone here have any experience in using the above models or any advice on what might be the most optimal for my company current environment?

Some information that might be useful.

1) We do have a color plotter: IPF 771 to handle the color prints which is generally not a lot or required.

2) The software we use is Autodesk Design Premium Suite which we mainly uses the AutoCad and Revit inside and print and plot from there.

3) Our plotter usage is about 65000m for 5 years so far. I'm not sure if that is consider average printing volume or low?

4) the new plotter is meant to replace OCE 350 and to take on the bulk of the plotter prints which are usually monochrome prints. 

As a plotter purchase is not cheap and is an investment for the next 5 years or so for the company hence I will really appreciate if you guys can provide some advice or suggestions on what to look out for and etc and what might be the best for my company.

Thank you guys in advance.

Best regards,

Peter 

[imadHabash]

Hi,

>>  I will really appreciate if you guys can provide some advice or suggestions on what to look out for <<

i want to draw your attention for that what is the most engineering type work you plot ? i mean is it 2D , 3D , Colored , black ...etc . there is a specific plotters for construction 2d works and others for full presentation colored images . if your output paper works is clear to you will know what to get .

Regards,

[john.vellek]

Hi @10521471,

Your question is a good one. As an Autodesk employee I certainly can't tell you which one is best or worst but I can suggest the following from my own experience with Oce and Kip wide format plotters:

You have a healthy volume of printing on your current device so make sure that you don't select a device with a low duty-cycle.  I have found that current devices are very competitive both feature and price.

I personally never like anyone's drivers but each vendor has unique interface options so I would explore those to see which are most pertinent to your workflow.  I usually do this right in the Vendor's showroom.

Other things to consider are Plot-to-file, Scan-to-print, Scan-to-file, cost per page, whether or not you can lease, can you get maintenance and supplies as part of your purchase to help reduce overall cost.

Overall the quality and reliability of any of these devices should be quite respectable. I hope that other Community members will jump in with hands-on experience to help you in this process.

[john.vellek]

Hi Peter, 

Are you shopping all three (or more) plotters through the same vendor? You might ask them which device they receive the most service calls on.  I would also ask all vendors for referrals from their customers. Many of their customers might invite you to their locations to see the devices in action and will give you an honest discussion of their experience. I know I use to do this quite frequently even for my competitors.

Please add a post with how you proceed and why as it might benefit other Community members going through the same process.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

I am a printer and have experience with Kip, Oce nd now the HP Pagewide. My volume is about 100,000 sf /month.

Far less service and definitely the best print quality. You may not be using color now but most of you will be using it in the near future.. Optimizing the use of color can make your drawings much clearer and easier to understand for the end user. Who is your ultimate end user? The estimator, job superintendent, and tradesmen in the field. Optimize color use (That doesn’t mean a color rendering orr logo to make it pretty).   Making the drawings easier to understand will mean fewer mistakes. Fewer mistakes means happier customeers

The HP technology is by far the best. I can be specific if you message me I’ll be glad to answer questions.

I am seeing more color being used almost daily. If you get. A pagewide You will be ready for the growth of color.

An earlier poster asked if your dealer sold all three. My dealer was selling all three. He no longer sells Kip or OCE. He can’t when the customer checks all three.

Rick