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CADALYST Labs Surveys Plotter Options for CAD Users
What a difference a decade makes. When I first started writing for CADALYST, the plotter market was full of innovation and excitement. A dozen or so companies were building everything from large-format dot-matrix printers to 6'-wide pen plotters. Plotting technologies included electrostatic, laser, thermal, and pen.
Today, the plotting world is totally different. Of the technologies in use ten years ago, only laser remains viable, with three manufacturers (Oce, Xerox, and KIP) responsible for the bulk of the market. Inkjet, the most widely used plotting technology today, wasn't even on the radar screen ten years ago.
With CalComp closing its doors earlier this year, only three significant players remain in the inkjet plotting market: Hewlett-Packard, ENCAD, and Selex (part of Canon). While a few other companies make wide-format inkjet printers, as a rule they focus on posters and photorealistic artwork. Only these three produce inkjet machines specifically designed for plotting CAD drawings.
Since there's not much new on the market, we decided to pull together most of the LED and inkjet plotters that we've reviewed over the past two years, plus a couple of new ones. In the tables on pp. 46-47, you'll find company information and basic specifications, along with the plotter's CADALYST Lab rating, when applicable.
Inkjet Plotters CalComp
TechJet 5536
CalComp is almost out of business-most of its divisions are sold or shut down. When I reviewed the 5536 several years ago, I found it to be a very nice plotter. It was fast, with good image quality. As I write, the 5536S is still available from Dayton Associates. The TechJet 5536S doesn't include an Ethernet card, and you can upgrade it to PostScript for a small fee. Fortunately, CalComp (and newer Summagraphics) inkjet plotters were originally manufactured by Selex, so you should be able to find printheads for a number of years. Dayton Associates also has a few TechJet 5500 printers and a few dozen DesignMate 3024M pen plotters in stock. The DesignMates are selling for $495-quite a steal.
ENCAD CADJET 2
The CADJET 2 is probably the most venerable plotter made today-that is to say, it's been around a while. In testament to its basic good design, ENCAD continues to sell...