DJ510 needs replacement.

[Hansoon]

Customer has an DJ510/A0 and was very happy with it since many years. Now the machine is getting more and more troubles and we replaced several times the critical parts already but the customer is afraid that we cannot keep the machine alive in the future. For his work he is solely depending on this plotter. All his work, structural engineering, goes through it and he is making at least 70 plots per week.

Question: I'm a copier guy with little or none experience with plotters. Any advice please from you guys for a follow up machine? Brand doesn't matter but it must be heavy duty production equipment.

Hans

[D Hook]

Re: DJ510 needs replacement.

Do you think he's looking for new or used?

Does it run through a server? Some of the older used machines (T1200, T1100) may not be compatible with the newer Windows server software. Just had a client have to replace a perfectly good T1200 with a newer model because the server software his companie's IT guys switched to won't support the HP driver. Instead it loads a generic microsoft driver which doesn't have all the printing options on it that he needs.

If no server, he has a lot of choices out there for used machines that will easily handle the workload. Designjet 4500 comes to mind. Has dual rolls and uses wide swath print feature that increases print speed dramatically and needs only four color cartridges. But it requires 8 printheads, two of each color to print in the wide swath. Heavy duty production printer. Works with Win 10 also.

If he buys used, be sure the belt is replaced recently.

Newer models are out there too but I'm not as familiar with them so don't want to speak to their features or reliability. Hopefully others with more experience will chime in.

[Kiran Otter]

Re: DJ510 needs replacement.

What width paper is he printing on currently? Is the 510 a 42" model? Does he need 42" capability?

You said A0.. so that's about 33x47" so I assume he needs at least a 36" model.

If the 510 did what they needed, they should be happy with a HP Designjet T-730. Plus it will be a lot faster.

Kiran

[Hansoon]

Re: DJ510 needs replacement.

Thanks for your input guys.

Indeed is the DJ510 a 42" model and he needs that. Another restriction is that the space for the machine is only 67" wide.

Customer doesn't have a server, in fact he is still using a workstation with Windows 7 since his CAD software must be updated if he starts using Windows10 and that would cost him thousands. So he wants to stay as long as possible with W7 which works for him perfectly fine. The workstation he uses has no Internet access so that should not be critical.

Since there are here no good suppliers for used plotters we both, customer and me, believe that it would be better to have a factory new model. I did before and still can do myself some rebuilding work on a plotter such as the drive belt, encoder strip, ink station, ink tubes etc. but when it comes to the printhead assembly I feel unsure because I'm lacking experience. (With rebuilding color copiers its a different story.... )

Kiran, you helped me in the past often with advise for this plotter, but I do not have myself the professionalism and experience you have and don't know what to do if unusual problems develop when rebuilding myself plotters.

Hans

[Kiran Otter]

Re: DJ510 needs replacement.

If he has to have the 42" width, there is a HP Designjet T1700 but I think it's been discontinued because I don't see it on HP's website. I do see resellers listing it though. The other choices are the HP Z6 and Z9, both of which are graphics printers and overkill if all they're doing is CAD. Unfortunately HP apparently decided to go back to 36" printers in the last couple years. You might look at Canon.

The good news, is there are drivers for Windows 7 and the T-730. So if he can live with a 36", at least there's drivers.

If you've had the carriage out of a 500 to replace the belt, then you've replaced the carriage assembly. Personally I think a 500 is about as simple as they get, compared to any sort of laser printer/copier.

Kiran

[Hansoon]

Re: DJ510 needs replacement.

Hi,
I still can find the HP Designjet T1700 here in Germany. Price is around 4200 USD from Internet seller Amazon. Strange enough hard to find any sellers here locally. So the idea is the customers gets the machine through the Internet and I will install and set it up for him.

Since I'm not much familiar with plotters, what can I expect by installing the beast myself. Besides the usual unpacking, installing feet etc and installing the print heads and ink cartridges, what else to do? Any calibrations or other set up routines?

Thanks

Hans

[Kiran Otter]

Re: DJ510 needs replacement.

There's no surprises, no calibrations. Give it a static IP address, and disable IPv6 are about the only things I'd recommend.

Kiran

[Hansoon]

Re: DJ510 needs replacement.

Thanks Kiran.

Hans

[blackcat4866]

Re: DJ510 needs replacement.

There's a startup wizard that walks you through the whole thing. Be sure to order at least one more full set of inks. The setup procedure will suck up 80% of the startup cartridges. It comes defaulted to square meters (not square feet) so you're all set with that.

The one thing that I'll recommend is strictly following the paper installation animation. Customers that ignore the paper loading instructions end up with no roll feed or multiple rolls feeding at the same time.

You won't have any trouble. =^..^=