What to Consider When Purchasing a Large Format Printer
In a recent blog post we discussed how to do your own printing at home, or at your local copy shop so you don’t have to rely on myself or others to print for you. And it’s great! It’s a quick and relatively painless route to get exactly what you need with more control over the output.
But great businesses like yours tend to grow. Growth can perhaps mean more frequent large format printouts are needed. Spending your days at the big box office supply store just doesn’t seem to fit the dream you had envisioned though. Eventually you start to wonder if it may be worthwhile to consider purchasing your own printing setup. Yes, it’s an investment, but maybe it’s going to save you time and energy in the long run- which is key to business investments!
As someone who frequently uses large format printers/plotters, I feel pretty confident in giving you my advice and words of wisdom on the subject for those looking to ditch the desktop printed pages that you have to tape together so you can skip the line at your local print shop.
Printers and plotters are not the same
The terms printing and plotting are used interchangeably but the functions of each machine varies quite a bit and when you go to purchase a machine, you are going to want to know the difference. Now, there are lots of sources out there that will give you many opposing view points, so having worked with both, the below is my own takeaway and best explanation. Also, this is from a garment industry perspective. Not graphics. So if you are printing patterns for mass production, I want you to be very clear on what you need.
What a printer does
A printer is set up to print graphics and images. Yes, they can also print text and line drawings, but a printer's strength is in images. The process of printing requires different dots of colored ink applied line by line, very closely where it’s almost impossible to see any breaks in color and shape. We have all waited impatiently for a printer to spit out what we need and are familiar with the repetitive back and forth motion of the inkheads as our paper comes out little by little.
The most common width of large format printers that you will find are generally within the 36” width range. Yes, they can be wider, but for most startup budgets this is probably where you are going to land.
What a plotter does
Plotters are designed to print simple shapes fast which makes it perfect for apparel patterns. Plotters are generally only black ink because of its utilitarian uses. There’s really no need for colorful ink printouts in pattern making.
In my very first industry job we had what was called a pen plotter. It was fantastic. It could spit out pattern printouts in a matter of minutes. No line by line waiting. The pen would shift across the paper as needed to achieve a shape and the paper would go up and down as needed. However, from my research, industry grade pen plotters seem to have gone out of fashion. But an inkjet plotter will definitely speed up your process!
Speed is key
If you are making the jump to professional equipment, you will absolutely need to factor in the speed. Yes, it could be tempting to say, “Oh, I’ll just go with the one that’s a little slower to save a couple hundred dollars.” But if you are doing serious printouts like markers, speed will make a huge difference in your workflow.
At a previous job we had a large format HP printer. This thing was a beast! It took up serious real estate and printing a pattern was always very dramatic. Would it choose to connect to the software correctly today? What error would I get? Would it be out of ink? But the biggest issue was that it took 20 minutes to print a ladies blouse pattern! I can’t tell you how many times I was tempted to shove it out the window from our 10th floor into the dumpster below. We never used it and trying to resell it on Ebay took many months, freight shipping arrangements, and one sucker.
Apparel industry plotters are designed with speed in mind. But let me set the bar- it’s not instantaneous printing still, but it’s better. For my own setup I went the cheaper route for slower speeds and I deeply regret it. I can print about 25 yards in an hour. Back in the olden days of apparel manufacturing mass production markers needed to be printed out overnight, so I think I’m still doing better.
Widths
Printer and plotter prices are directly related to their widths. The wider the printing capabilities, the more expensive it will be. This is another area that people can easily just see price and make sacrifices they will regret in the long term. Yeah, buying one that has a 36” width makes a lot more sense to your bank account, but if you are printing bridal gowns, you are never going to fit entire skirt pieces on a single sheet of paper. Likewise, if you have 20 pattern pieces to print, that printout is going to use more paper on a 36” width than a 72”.
Software compatibility
Printers are able to print directly from graphics programs like Adobe Illustrator and even your word docs. You can take basic jpeg and PDF files and easily print them out. Setting up a printer is just like hooking up your desktop printer (perhaps they even do wifi these days).
But when you are dealing with a plotter, it generally requires a CAD program to connect to and specific file types to plot. Plotters are designed to speak the language of CAD systems like Optitex, Gerber Accumark and Lectra, to name a few. For instance, in my Optitex software, I am able to set up a specific connection that was designed for just Ioline plotters. It was built into the CAD design. (Now, it’s not to say that it’s impossible to print from Adobe Illustrator with my setup, it’s just tricky and I don’t have that kind of time to figure it out, nor the need). Plotters require specific file inputs like HPGL or PLT files. With my plotters I do not have the ability to plot out PDF files, it has to be a file created in a CAD system.
Additional costs to consider
Ink is expensive y’all! But you know what’s even more expensive? - Paper. And what’s even more expensive than paper?- the shipping cost of shipping paper!
But seriously, ink can be costly. I pay around $70 a cartridge for my black ink. I print occasionally, so I go through maybe 4 cartridges a year. The good news is that most printers and plotters' ink can be purchased at your local big box office store. Most use HP ink cartridges.
Printer paper for narrower printers like HP’s that are around 36” are pretty easy to find online and are relatively inexpensive. You can even buy different thicknesses of paper. When you are dealing with larger print bed widths you have to go through specialty providers that offer plotter paper and they can be challenging to find (more to come in my setup and resources).
When purchasing extra wide plotter paper, shipping must be taken into consideration. Based on the size and weight, these papers need to be shipped via big carriers like Fedex or UPS. Boy are they heavy! I don’t need to tell you about shipping costs. You know exactly how much it takes to ship a garment to a customer. Imagine the cost of shipping rolls of paper!
My Setup and Resources
I have used, experienced, and purchased equipment for my business, so I want to give you my perspective and what works for me.
I currently have two plotters. I purchased my first plotter from Ioline (no longer in business) back in 2013. It’s a Studiojet 45” plotter which worked for my projects and my budget. But it was a HUGE investment for me- around $7000 at the time. It was great though! It lived in my apartment and took up a small footprint behind my desk. It was relatively quiet as well, which my downstairs neighbors were grateful for.
This plotter has been my go to for all small printing projects. If I need to do a quick muslin, I’ll use this to print only what I need and it takes a matter of minutes. It takes 42” rolls of paper which I get from Plotter Paper Direct. I usually buy about 4 rolls at a time to save on shipping. It uses a single HP 45 ink cartridge that I get at Office Depot for around $70.
But this plotter is like an aging pet that you just don’t want to part with. Before Ioline went out of business, this plotter was discontinued and software updates were no longer available. When I upgraded my PC that I used to connect to it, it no longer worked on the new version of windows. I had to specifically set up a computer with old Windows just so I can still use this plotter (fingers crossed this pc doesn’t fail me otherwise my little buddy plotter is a paperweight!)
Next up- the big guns! Before I made the move to full time for my business in 2019 I knew that a large format plotter that could print markers was going to be essential. I made the decision to go with Ioline again and purchased their Flexjet 72” plotter. It was around $11,000. I went with the cheaper option for slower printing which I definitely regret. Plotting a 25 yard marker takes around 1 hour and this plotter is very finicky so I have to sit with it during the printout to give it little tweaks so it doesn’t rip the paper up. This paper ripping has been an issue since day one. I’ve found workarounds, but even if Ioline were still around, I would not purchase another plotter for this reason.
The paper that I use comes from South Star Supply. Each roll of paper costs around $150. I usually order two to three rolls at a time and shipping is around $200. This is why I have to charge what I do for printouts.
Food for thought
I hope this all makes sense to you and gives you something to start with. Yes, there are a lot of technical posts about printers and plotters on the interwebs that you can do a deep dive into, but my goal is to give you a little more industry insight into what will work best for your business. Your money needs to be spent wisely!