Flatbed Plotter

Written By Eisla Sebastian

In the field of engineering there are several key pieces of equipment that are necessary to do business. One of the most important pieces of office equipment used by engineers is the plotter. Plotters are large scale printers that translate computer aided drafting (CAD) images onto large pieces of paper. Plotters come in many different varieties including flatbed plotters, electrostatic plotters, and pen plotters.

What is a Flatbed Plotter?
A flatbed plotter is basically just a CAD plotter that prints on paper that is laid on a flat surface. This is different from a drum based CAD plotter that prints paper on a rolling drum. Engineers and architects use flatbed plotters to print out full size schematics and blueprints that they have created in their CAD software programs.

Key Features of a Flatbed Plotter
If you want to buy a flatbed plotter then there are a lot of different features that you need to look at. First of all you need to look at the basic features of the plotter. For example, you need to look at the paper sizes that the machine can handle, the types of media that the machine can handle and the hard drive size of the machine. All of these features will impact how useful the machine will be to your business.

Next you need to examine the speed of the flatbed plotters that interest you. For example, the turnaround time for the printer cartridge is going to be impacted by the drying speed of the ink, as well as the return speed for the cartridge arm. The data transmission speed is also going to impact how fast your drawings will print. To get a quick overview of each flatbed plotter's speed look for the number of square feet per hour that each machine can print.

The final feature that you will want to look at when shopping for a flatbed plotter is its compatibility with your other software and hardware products. For example, you first need to make sure that the plotter can support the printing language that you normally use such as TIFF 6.0, HP RTL, PDF and JPEG. Most plotters will be able to handle a number of common graphic languages. Next you will want to make sure that the printer is compatible with your computer system.

Find a Plotter Dealer
The best plotter dealers will provide not only the best deal on your initial purchase, but the best ongoing support to make sure you get your money's worth from your purchase. BuyerZone can connect you with leading plotter dealers – try our free request for plotter quotes service to let multiple suppliers compete for your business.