OT - HP DesignJet 500

Looking at this model. Does anyone have any opinions! Good, Bad, Fast,
Slow, Expensive to run, Good build Quality, Software/Drivers, SolidWorks
issues?

Simon

 

pretty old tech, compaired to the new ones. (new ones are phot quality)
paper loading a big pain, but I have not compaired to others other than off
a roll.


G

 

We bought one about 5 months ago. Prints black and white and photo quality
renderings very, very well. The ink is reasonably priced and last an
amazingly long time. We haven't replaced a cartridge yet. We run about 4
b&w's a day and 1 or 2 color renderings a week You will want to run the
HPGL/2 driver and definitely use the "small margins" setting with SW. We
opted for the 42" model and the paper is also reasonably priced. I don't
think you can go wrong with this machine.

 

Model numbers for the "New Ones"? I think the main reason for the 500 is
price, I am trying to keep under £1800 - £2000

Cheers Simon

 

HP is a great plotter supplier, and I am still running my 650C
PostScript model after over 10 years. But, you generally get what you
pay for. If you talk to architects or look at your local "blueprint"
shop who run lots of prints, you will find the higher end HP plotters
are preferred for a variety of reasons.

Internal Hard drives, memory, internal software, large capacity ink
reservoirs, and such add to the price and speed up the processes.

Bo

 

Thanks Rob.
Could you give me a bit more info on running the HPGL/2 driver, why and how?

Cheers Simon

 

There are a couple of different drivers available on the cd or at the HP
website. One of the drivers is an HPGL/2 driver. I don't know all the
particulars but the HPGL/2 driver gives you more settings options in the
print dialog. On of the extra settings is "small margins". If I don't use
the "small margins" settings my prints from SW won't fit on the page. I
believe the default HP margin is 1/2" and the "small margins" settings
changes this to 1/4". Not a huge difference but when you keep losing your
title block off the page it keeps the hair in your head.

I also find paper loading to me much easier (for roll and sheet) from older
HP plotters. This plotter is at the lower end of the price scale but it has
worked very well for us.