A1 Wide Format Plotter with a Roll Feed and Cutter

roll feed with an automatic cutter, which is the difference between printing ten drawings and standing there with a scalpel

Office equipment is sold on headline numbers that almost nobody can use. A printer quoted at 40 pages a minute is quoting a single sided black page from a warm machine, and the cost that matters is pence per page over five years rather than the price on the box. Every listing here states the real running cost, the monthly duty cycle the machine is actually built for, what the consumables cost and how long they last. Where a cheaper machine would do the job we say so, because the money in this trade is in the consumables and we would rather you knew that from us than worked it out in year two.

Specification

• Use: a design office, a print room or a drawing office. These are not general office machines and we would not sell one as though it were
• Specification: a heavier duty build with a higher monthly duty cycle and a longer service life, for a machine that works all day rather than occasionally
• Capacity: roll and sheet feed up to the width stated in the title, with a media take up or catch basket on the floor standing models
• Consumables: individual ink tanks or toner by colour, so you replace what you use rather than a whole set. Cost per square metre is published for each media type
• Connectivity: gigabit ethernet and wireless, with PostScript and HP-GL/2 on the plotters so they drive properly from CAD rather than through a workaround
• Running cost: published in pence per square metre on plain, coated and photo media, which is the comparison that matters at this size
• Sustainability: Energy Star certified, with cartridge and media core return schemes. We state the actual certification rather than the word sustainable. For paper that means FSC or PEFC with the chain of custody number on the wrapper. For recycled content it means the percentage. Anything described only as eco friendly is described that way because there is nothing to certify.
• Delivery: two person delivery and positioning, with installation and a handover included
• Weight: approximately 70.40 kilograms
• Warranty: three years on site, next business day response
• Media profiles: loaded at installation for the media you use, not the sample
• Roll cores: returned and recycled under our collection scheme
• Trade: Trade account customers get thirty day terms on approval, a published price file, next day delivery on stocked lines and a named account manager rather than a queue. Ask for it, because we do not upsell it.

What arrives

• the machine and its stand
• a starter ink or toner set with stated yields
• the take up or catch basket where fitted
• media profiles preloaded
• installation and a one hour handover

Setting it up

Half a day including media profiling, which is the step that decides whether colour comes out the way it looked on screen. We profile the media you actually use rather than the sample roll in the box.

Which one to buy

The question is whether you print lines or pictures. A plotter is optimised for line work and text and is cheaper per square metre. A graphics printer has a wider gamut and pigment inks and costs more to run. Buying the wrong one gives you either dull posters or expensive drawings.