Which Plotter for my Graphic Artwork Business?
I need a plotter for my graphic artwork business. Which one should I get?
When considering a plotter for your graphic artwork business, you must take into consideration the kind of printing you will be doing. Signage, graphics, or artwork naturally use quite a bit of ink. Coming up short on even one color ink while printing can be frustrating and time consuming. To avoid that, you should consider a plotter that has a bulk ink system. A bulk ink system will have a constant feed to the plotter, stretching the time between refills far longer than the standard ink systems. This will definitely relieve the stress of a production lost and the time it takes to reprint.
Then, there are the inks . . .
Now, the question arises “should I go with indoor or outdoor inks?” If you are making signs that will be exposed to the sun you will have to go with the outdoor, archivable inks (UV inks). These give your work the longevity it needs, without the ink fading.
You also want to be aware of the color gamut. If you are doing skin tones, for instance, I would suggest something that has light sided sensitive magenta ink. These are the standard mark. Those available are cyan, yellow, magenta, and black, the four basic colors. When you start adding cyan and magenta into the mix, you’re increasing the gamma to 95-97%. This is what is called pantone, which is nothing more than a number that is associated to a different color. Hence, if you had a client like an ad agency, then your client will know their color is 1,2,3,4. That would be their pantone color.
So, the plotter for you depends on what type of plotting you want to do, and the volume of printing you expect to be doing. Will you be doing artwork?, or pictures? If you’re just getting started I’d recommend that you get the HP Designjet 2500CP, because it comes with the Adobe Postscript Level Three and the bulk ink system. If you will be doing a lot of plotting, I’d recommend you purchase something in the HP Designjet 5000 series.
