B Scale or Bigger Printers

I've got this POS HP7000 that has fought me about loading every page since I got it. It's not something that I use often, but it seems that some draftsmen kan't be bothered to put the text in a size that can be read at anything smaller than a D scale sometimes.

I don't think that I could read this print on a B, but the dumb thing just won't feed, so I guess we'll never know... Did some checking online and it seems that the consensus is that the best update for it is to unplug it from the wall, wait 15 seconds, and chuck it in the dumpster.

I use a big one very infrequently, so the cost/page really is not an issue, if I can save $ on the upfront.

Would consider a larger unit as well, but I don't know much about them, and I'm making single parts, not full assemblies, so a D scale shouldn't really be needed. And if I did want a D scale print, I have a customer with a big plotter, so ...

Anyone have any recommendations other than just load up and go to OfficeMax and get whatever they have on sale and take my chances aggin?


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

If you have a staples store close by most have a print center

30 miles every time I want to print?


My wife goes to one of those places when she's getting a bunch of copies made - like 50-200 of something....
But for me, I'm guessin' that I would just make doo without if it came to that.


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

I bought a refurb Ricoh color copier. Prints and scans 11X17, folds and staples booklets(catalogs and pricelists), can be used as a fax also but I didn't hook that up yet, might when the fax machine dies. I've had it for 2 years and only replaced 1 of the 4 used toner carts that came with it. We use it all day every day and have had exactly zero difficulty except for about 4 paper jams. It's a pleasure to feed a stack of documents into it, push 3 buttons and have all the pages scanned and saved to a PC on the network as a PDF file to be attached to an email. Oh yeah, it will email directly out but I don't do that because I want to review the doc before I hit send.
I have a D size inkjet plotter in the corner, it hasn't even been plugged in for years. don't know if I could even get a driver to run it from a late model PC. If I really need bigger than B size I can tape a couple pages together.

Check on Craigslist, there are folks that just deal in refurb copiers and printers like this who will ship to you, or call a small independent office machine guy near you. The guy that mine came from was near Phila and he had hundreds of off-lease copiers in a warehouse.

My last copier lasted 10 years or so.

If I need a larger than letter size print, I use the poster option in the PDF reader and print it on 4 pages, then tape together. It's not very often, so no big deal.

Bill

I've got an older HP I picked up at an auction. takes a 24" roll so it works great for any drawing I need to plot. I don't think I would ever buy another HP though. Everything they make now is junk.

We can do B size on the Xerox but one thing I will never do again - buy a printer that isn't postscript or hp-gl. That whole "driver" runaround is the biggest waste of time and aggravating hassle ever.

(You can get a Xerox 7700 or newer for pretty cheap and they do B size and they are network printers so everyone in the office can print to them, which can be kind of useful. In fact, if you want, you can set them up to print from your internet connection so if you go somewhere and want to send back a print, you can do that. You probaly don't want that but what the heck ... )

For a D, you can print it in two parts and tape them together ... anything bigger than B is going to be either expensive and huge, or junk. The inkjet stuff is worthless if you only use it once in a while.

Here's a laser one but pretty expensive for occasional use. Maybe you could beat em down tho, it's been for sale for several weeks.

Xerox 3L large format printer with paper - business/commercial - by owner - sale

I run epson large format printers - a 44" carriage one for photo work - epson9900 - probably way too much money.
And a 24" carriage epson 7700 in the shop for drawings. 24" x whatever -> so Ansi D and Arch D - have to go home to get larger sizes.
These are full color.

Their merits - I use them for multiple things, I'm guessing Ox wouldn't.
They feed from roll paper - lots of different papers, ranging from plain bond to pressure adhesive to whatever.
Keeping the jets clean can be a pain, but paper loading is not. And if you are making a print say every few days, you might never need to clean the heads.

On the other hand, the biggest ipad isn't so costly any more, and there are decent .pdf viewers for ipads, which can all zoom pretty well - maybe time to try that?

If it's a CAD file then zoom it.

If it's a hard copy

HP DesignJet are the (in my experience) go to for large format printing. Im sure you can get a T1200 for under $800. The ink and print heads last forever as well. Ive seen one eat a hard drive, but its a standard 80gb 2.5" drive, so maybe a $40 drop in replacement worst case. So if you can find one with a HDD error, it will be a steal and 5 minute repair.

big ol' T1200ps for $550 OBO T12PS HP CK834A 44" Wide Format Designjet Postscript Printer | eBay

Update

Well, I appreciate the few reply's that we got on this thread, but I am more concerned with just being able to print a B scale, and don't find that I have much need for anything bigger in machining. Big fab products are a nother thing, so I don't think that I want to get into a used, big, commercial plotter for $800 or whatnot.

Was more lookin' to see what others have, and have had good luck with in the more domesticated units.

Went to Office Max today, and they only had 2 units that would even print 11 x 17, and neither was a simple printer. They both did everything, including have 2 paper trays. My smaller unit is a basic HP 8-1/2x11 printer/fax/scanner unit, and I wasn't planning on replacing it, although it is quite old by now. And I've never had any troubles with it.

They had an HP unit, and an Epson unit. Although I had issues with this last "wide format" HP unit, the wifey said that she has had good luck with her HP's, and like I said - my old unit is HP, and .. well, it's old, so it must have worked good for a long time. At least since the last direct hit from lightening anyhow ... (it's prollly a good 10 yrs old at least)

I have no experience with Epson, so the favor was towards the HP unit (one more chance?) but it was white, and the Epson was black. White has no business in a shop office, at least not mine, so we scurried the Epson on home.

Good grief, this thing is heavy! And I've never had anything this big before (My old 11x17 was just a basic printer only) but I did print out a B scale print just now, and sho-nuff, out she popped slick as a whistle, and QUIET!

This thing has 2 paper trays, so 1 is set for 8-1/2 x 11, and the 2nd is for the 11 x 17. I will keep the old small unit hooked up for a while to run out the ink or whatnot, but then retire it and just have the one I guess.

Not sure why I would want to, but this thing seems to be able to print directly off of a USB memory stick, or from a little camera card.

So, it's a little early to give a "long term test report", but at least the first one off was fine.
Unit is the Epson WF-7620



Amazon.com: Epson WorkForce WF-762 Wireless Color All-in-One Inkjet Printer with Scanner and Copier: Electronics




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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Ox said:

I've got this POS HP7000 that has fought me about loading every page since I got it. It's not something that I use often, but it seems that some draftsmen kan't be bothered to put the text in a size that can be read at anything smaller than a D scale sometimes.

I don't think that I could read this print on a B, but the dumb thing just won't feed, so I guess we'll never know... Did some checking online and it seems that the consensus is that the best update for it is to unplug it from the wall, wait 15 seconds, and chuck it in the dumpster.

I use a big one very infrequently, so the cost/page really is not an issue, if I can save $ on the upfront.

Would consider a larger unit as well, but I don't know much about them, and I'm making single parts, not full assemblies, so a D scale shouldn't really be needed. And if I did want a D scale print, I have a customer with a big plotter, so ...

Anyone have any recommendations other than just load up and go to OfficeMax and get whatever they have on sale and take my chances aggin?


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Think Snow Eh!
Ox

Click to expand...

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my new $3,000,000 cnc they going to put computer with ultra high def 60" monitor next to it. cost of printing adds up. many shops spend over $10,000. year printing drawings

Sounds like you got a good compromise there Ox.

Latest at work (large format roll type) I have found out,

Can make vinyl decal type prints.....

Me thinks I want to get a roll of the vinyl for this project....