Used plotter?

I am giving serious consideration to buying a plotter. Anyone know where to but a used one? I want to produce line drawings, not large photos so an older unit, lower tech unit is fine. I don't need the latest and greatest by any means.

Jeff,
I got a buddy in California who has one he wants to find a home for. It's a big one. I just called him and he still has it. I'll PM you his phone number.

craigslist would be a good bet

Check with local engineering firms. They may have surplus that they have not yet sold off.

Also check into graphic art suppliers. HP makes great wide format printers, we have one that we have been using daily since 1998 and has over 3 million passes on it.

I am watching Craigslist and EBay. Sisters boyfriend in Houston sells them but I think he doesn't fool with the lower ends stuff. HP seems to dominate the market. Still just trying to educate myself.

What size do you need? I plot on an old Epson 13" wide inkjet. If I need wider it's tiled.

Jeff just a thought, but places like Kinkos do large plots. I was thinking you might find the economics worthwhile just to send it to them every time you need a plot. You dont need to keep paper inks or pay for the machine. Are you going to be doing plots that frequently that you want to have your own. If your use is infrequent you might find you are using lots of ink as sometimes these pens or cartridges dry up when not used for a while.

Just thinking of other ways to meet your needs. You can send guys like Kinkos drawings online and then only need to collect although in Canada they are owned by Fedex so they can even deliver them for you.

Ed Thomas said:

What size do you need? I plot on an old Epson 13" wide inkjet.

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I am looking for at least 24" and probably a 36".

Rob Keeble said:

Jeff just a thought, but places like Kinkos do large plots. I was thinking you might find the economics worthwhile just to send it to them every time you need a plot. ....

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Small town blues here. But I think Staples has a large printer? No kinko within 50 miles.

At first it probably is cheaper just to have them printed but down the road I hope to need one regularly.

I had inquiries about buying plans for my boats instead of kits. So I am looking at offering full sized patterns. So for now, I don't really need one. But I don't think it would take long to pay for one either. I am just shopping at this point looking at options.

Jeff,
Did you call my buddy. I believe his is a 48". I think he'd let you have it real cheap. He wanted to give it to me but I had no use for one. Freight can't be more then $100 or so.

You can find lots of used and reconditioned HP Plotters. I came up with this site...one of many...that had HP 430/450 plotters at reasonable prices. The 430?? I bought in '95 is still going strong. I guess it depends on how much you want to spend. As others have suggested some engineering/architectural firms may have a black and white plotter that still works tucked away in a corner. A lot of firms have switched to large format 'xerox' type machines and don't use the plotters any more.

http://www.aectec.com/cad-plotters.htm

Jeff Horton said:

I had inquiries about buying plans for my boats instead of kits. So I am looking at offering full sized patterns. So for now, I don't really need one. But I don't think it would take long to pay for one either. I am just shopping at this point looking at options.

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Jeff, Does any of the on-line printer folks provide services where you supply the design and they print and mail for you (or customer could pick up at their local store)? I understand that you still want to be able to provide the prints as needed, but might help cut overhead.

Jeff,
The expense of running a plotter isn't really in the front end purchase (especially if you're buying used). It's in the upkeep. Ink or toner for large plotters isn't cheap, neither is the paper. And, if it sits unused for a while, any ink in the thing will fail. You may need to do more than just replace the ink at that point. Plotters are kind of like old cars - run them regularly or they don't want to start or stay in tune.
I don't know where you live, but surely there's an engineering firm, architect, or some sort of design company in town that may charge a few bucks for a plot. If you can make a pdf or plt file, it will save you the headache of needing to coordinate your print settings with a specific piece of hardware.
If your town or county has its own planning or engineering department, they may be able to plot for you as well.
I work as an architect, and i can tell you that plotters usually work when you use them a lot. When you use them infrequently, they're a constant source of frustration and unplanned maintenance.
paulh