Plotter/printer recommendations

On 5/16/2011 12:27 PM, Kirk Sceviour wrote:

Currently I export my PCB artwork straight from Eagle (5.11) to a laser

printer. Unfortunately this tends to create art that needs to be doubled up

for use in the exposure box (not dark enough). Besides being a real pain on

detailed boards I'm certain this is not getting the most out of Eagle.

 

That being said can anyone tell me a bit about some of the plotters that

show up in the CAM device listings? Will a plotter produce a darker image

than a laser printer for example and which type of device should I be

looking for.

 

I'm strictly a hobbyist however my boards are often fairly complicated

double sided affairs and I'm moving into SMT to lower the footprints. I

need something middle of the road at least.

 

Thanks

what i can tell you about plotters is that nobody uses them anymore, so

they can be found for cheap, if they can be found...

but unless you make hundreds of different boards every year, I would

recommend you just use a board house, they are also cheap these days.

the darkness of the print is dependent on the quality of the ink you use

and the quality of the printer, i think if you will be better off

finding better ink or a better laser printer than looking for a surplus

plotter ( they are also slow). and even better, you can save a lot of

work just using a board house. BatchPCB is slow ( like 4 weeks), but a

board costs only about $10. Beta Layout is higher quality and can be

fast, but it costs more like $70 a board, more than I would spend as a

hobbyist.

On 5/16/2011 12:27 PM, Kirk Sceviour wrote:

Currently I export my PCB artwork straight from Eagle (5.11) to a laser

printer. Unfortunately this tends to create art that needs to be doubled up

for use in the exposure box (not dark enough). Besides being a real pain on

detailed boards I'm certain this is not getting the most out of Eagle.

 

That being said can anyone tell me a bit about some of the plotters that

show up in the CAM device listings? Will a plotter produce a darker image

than a laser printer for example and which type of device should I be

looking for.

 

I'm strictly a hobbyist however my boards are often fairly complicated

double sided affairs and I'm moving into SMT to lower the footprints. I

need something middle of the road at least.

 

Thanks

what i can tell you about plotters is that nobody uses them anymore, so

they can be found for cheap, if they can be found...

but unless you make hundreds of different boards every year, I would

recommend you just use a board house, they are also cheap these days.

the darkness of the print is dependent on the quality of the ink you use

and the quality of the printer, i think if you will be better off

finding better ink or a better laser printer than looking for a surplus

plotter ( they are also slow). and even better, you can save a lot of

work just using a board house. BatchPCB is slow ( like 4 weeks), but a

board costs only about $10. Beta Layout is higher quality and can be

fast, but it costs more like $70 a board, more than I would spend as a

hobbyist.

You can easily find HP plotters on Ebay, for under $100.  Make sure it has the serial port; interfacing with HPIB might be a problem.