Printers, but not for labels...

[Sparky's Auntie]

Good morning! You lovely people have been so helpful so I'm picking your brains again. Is there any value in getting a printer that can print drawings, EICR certs (some of our clients insist!) and all things in between. We spend quite a bit on printing and I wondered if you might have recommendations.

Thanks as ever

 

[telectrix]

i use a Canon printer with scanner. <£100. does everythingi need. good enough for photos as well. i get ink cartridges from China, cheap as chips.

 

[Sparky's Auntie]

i use a Canon printer with scanner. <£100. does everythingi need. good enough for photos as well.

Right, thank you. I think they wanted something that could print a3 drawings too?

 

[UNG]

When you say print drawings what format are you looking to print / plot, currently I use a Canon A3 printer for producing small format drawings which suits my needs if you are looking to go to A1 or A0 then you are heading into major spend. I closed a business down 20 years ago and we had A1 and A0 plotters that were seeing less and less use as our customers wanted the as fitted drawings on CD or DVD rather than paper prints the most use they ended up getting was if we wanted construction drawings onsite or to talk a client through a design and build project
As a comparison an A3 printer can be bought for £150 - £200 at the cheap end of the market and an A1 printer plotter will be around £650+ move to A0 and then it is £1500+

 

[telectrix]

i only go up to A4 but make sure customers have specsavers phone number.

 

[Sparky's Auntie]

When you say print drawings what format are you looking to print / plot, currently I use a Canon A3 printer for producing small format drawings which suits my needs if you are looking to go to A1 or A0 then you are heading into major spend. I closed a business down 20 years ago and we had A1 and A0 plotters that were seeing less and less use as our customers wanted the as fitted drawings on CD or DVD rather than paper prints the most use they ended up getting was if we wanted construction drawings onsite or to talk a client through a design and build project
As a comparison an A3 printer can be bought for £150 - £200 at the cheap end of the market and an A1 printer plotter will be around £650+ move to A0 and then it is £1500+

THANK YOU! That makes a lot of sense. I think they find it easier to price up a large project when it's sprawled on the table, basically.

 

[UNG]

i use a Canon printer with scanner. <£100. does everythingi need. good enough for photos as well. i get ink cartridges from China, cheap as chips.

I use the refillable cartridges that's even cheaper

 

[UNG]

THANK YOU! That makes a lot of sense. I think they find it easier to price up a large project when it's sprawled on the table, basically.

If you are doing large projects there is a software company that produces software that automates the material take off from a CAD drawing unfortunately I can't remember their name
If you need to view drawings in large format for estimating I would suggest a large monitor or wall mount screen or projector onto a plain wall or smartboard rather than going down the route of plotters
The smartboard option would allow interaction with the computer to allow input of take off information etc

 

[Sparky's Auntie]

If you are doing large projects there is a software company that produces software that automates the material take off from a CAD drawing unfortunately I can't remember their name
If you need to view drawings in large format for estimating I would suggest a large monitor or wall mount screen or projector onto a plain wall or smartboard rather than going down the route of plotters
The smartboard option would allow interaction with the computer to allow input of take off information etc

I would never have thought of that! Thank you

 

[telectrix]

I use the refillable cartridges that's even cheaper

doubtful. i buy 4 packs of 5 for £13. 20 cartridges in total.

 

[UNG]

doubtful. i buy 4 packs of 5 for £13. 20 cartridges in total.

So £28 buys the 6 refillable cartridges for my printer and enough ink for about 10 refills of each cartridge after that the set of inks costs about £10 - £15, by my reckoning that works out cheaper than your cartridges