Looking for a Plotter

[JustJimmy]

Hello all - I'm a new member.

I work for a South Florida School District and use AutoCAD almost every day here at my day job. I've been using AutoCAD since version 1.0 and have been teaching it at a local Community College for 15 years as well. I currently have an 11" x 17" color printer but the drawings I print out sometimes need to be larger.

Like most of you, I have a relatively small office cube and can not fit a large plotter in the small space. I've heard that there are "D" size (specifically 24"x36") plotters that can sit on a desk top - they have 24" roll paper.

I am beginning research in the next week or so but wanted to get this out to you all to see if any one has one and can give me some advice as to what I need.

Anything you can add would be helpful.

Looking forward to talking to all of you.

Jimmy

[Wanderer]

Hello all - I'm a new member.

I work for a South Florida School District and use AutoCAD almost every day here at my day job. I've been using AutoCAD since version 1.0 and have been teaching it at a local Community College for 15 years as well. I currently have an 11" x 17" color printer but the drawings I print out sometimes need to be larger.

Like most of you, I have a relatively small office cube and can not fit a large plotter in the small space. I've heard that there are "D" size (specifically 24"x36") plotters that can sit on a desk top - they have 24" roll paper.

I am beginning research in the next week or so but wanted to get this out to you all to see if any one has one and can give me some advice as to what I need.

Anything you can add would be helpful.

Looking forward to talking to all of you.

Jimmy

I am going to move this from the plotting forum, as I believe it will be better served here.

Good luck!

[Glen_Johnston]

Jimmy,

I was in the situation as you (small office area-need for larger plots) awhile back. My solution was to purchase an HP-500ps 24" plotter without the stand. I placed it on a counter, and it worked out great. The dimensions are: 49"W x 19"D x 14"H.
The only issue is that you need to slide the plotter out a bit to replace the roll of paper, really not a big deal.

I rate the quality of plots on this unit as very good.

Hope this helps, Glen

[JustJimmy]

The dimensions are: 49"W x 19"D x 14"H.

Excellent. I am looking for something just like that but a little smaller. I understand that they have a few models that have 24" wide paper rolls... in the hopes to have a little smaller plotter.

Thanks for your help!

[bbapties]

You could pretty much get any 24" roll plotter and use it with out the stand...and be about this size....

The plotter I'm currently using is a HP DesignJet 430
its dims are 40" wide x 16" high x 12" deepI havent had a problem with it except for it being sloowwwww....when Im in a hurry.

[JustJimmy]

You could pretty much get any 24" roll plotter and use it with out the stand...and be about this size....

The plotter I'm currently using is a HP DesignJet 430
its dims are 40" wide x 16" high x 12" deepI havent had a problem with it except for it being sloowwwww....when Im in a hurry.

A few questions...
How sloooooow?
How much memory do you have installed?
Does it support AutoCAD 2006?
Did you get the color upgrade?

Thanks

[TheArtDept]

Hello all - I'm a new member.

I work for a South Florida School District and use AutoCAD almost every day here at my day job. I've been using AutoCAD since version 1.0 and have been teaching it at a local Community College for 15 years as well. I currently have an 11" x 17" color printer but the drawings I print out sometimes need to be larger.

Like most of you, I have a relatively small office cube and can not fit a large plotter in the small space. I've heard that there are "D" size (specifically 24"x36") plotters that can sit on a desk top - they have 24" roll paper.

I am beginning research in the next week or so but wanted to get this out to you all to see if any one has one and can give me some advice as to what I need.

Anything you can add would be helpful.

Looking forward to talking to all of you.

Jimmy

Hewlitt Packard makes a good B&W unit that is very affordable that can sit on a desk runs 24X rolls Designjet 430 and there is a variety of other Designjet models that you can choose from and they all run with AC and ADT drivers that come pre-installed in the software.

[JustJimmy]

Hewlitt Packard makes a good B&W unit that is very affordable that can sit on a desk runs 24X rolls Designjet 430 and there is a variety of other Designjet models that you can choose from and they all run with AC and ADT drivers that come pre-installed in the software.

Excellent.

[bbapties]

How sloooooow?

I timed a regular plot.....

sheet size : 24 x 36 (black and white)
Plot size : 328 kb
time for plotter to start : 1 min 25 secs
time to plot : 4 min.
time for plotter to cut paper : 2 min 45 sec.... ( you can hit the manual cut button every time if your standing there to save 2 min 30 sec

but that's 8 minutes per sheet.......if your trying to plot a set of 15 sheets... thats TWO hours.....

(maybe I'm just used to my old firm....their Oce plotter took like 15 seconds per sheets.........I got spoiled)

[JustJimmy]

I timed a regular plot.....

sheet size : 24 x 36 (black and white)
Plot size : 328 kb
time for plotter to start : 1 min 25 secs
time to plot : 4 min.
time for plotter to cut paper : 2 min 45 sec.... ( you can hit the manual cut button every time if your standing there to save 2 min 30 sec

but that's 8 minutes per sheet.......if your trying to plot a set of 15 sheets... thats TWO hours.....

(maybe I'm just used to my old firm....their Oce plotter took like 15 seconds per sheets.........I got spoiled)

DUDE!!! I feel for ya... that seems to be unacceptable. I'll look at other brands if this is the case.

THANKS for the heads up... I only wish I could return the favor (for the good advice)

Good luck with that.