Accurate Ink Jet CAD plotter suggestions?

[schenkadere]

I need a very accurate and consistent ink jet printer to plot die lines for our die manufacturing department. I've experimented with our Epson 9600 and 9900, neither of which give accurate enough results so I've stayed with our Screen filmsetter, but would really like to replace it.

Any experience or suggestions? I got a sample from the new T series Epson and it was accurate, but that was one print, one time. I can't be certain the results will be consistent without actually having one here to test.

Thanks!

 

[Printdog]

Canon IPF765

 

[schenkadere]

Canon IPF765

You've had a good experience with this model? Does anyone make a monochrome printer for this task? I really don't need anything but black.

 

[schenkadere]

Bump...no one else has had this need? Does everyone else do die lines on their CAD tables?

 

[Wayne_Watkins]

We needed a 60 in printer for some of the sheet metal part inspection mylars we print. The previous engineering company used an HP Z6100, but it would print about .030 short every 10 in. We replaced it with a Canon iPF9400S last year. It's better, but we're finding that there's still some error that isn't easily measured on shorter prints. For example, I made a print last week of a part that is 145.588 in long. It printed about 145.47 in. The printer can be adjusted in .02% increments, but that leapfrogs the ideal dimension to give us 145.67.

 

[schenkadere]

We needed a 60 in printer for some of the sheet metal part inspection mylars we print. The previous engineering company used an HP Z6100, but it would print about .030 short every 10 in. We replaced it with a Canon iPF9400S last year. It's better, but we're finding that there's still some error that isn't easily measured on shorter prints. For example, I made a print last week of a part that is 145.588 in long. It printed about 145.47 in. The printer can be adjusted in .02% increments, but that leapfrogs the ideal dimension to give us 145.67.

Frustrating, isn't it? I'm interested in Epson's offering in the T series. The one sample print I had done was close to my imagesetter, but not exact.

Curious...what sold you on the Canon?

 

[Stephen Marsh]

As mentioned in post #4, a flatbed CAD sample table machine, plotting with a pen tool rather than knife is a good option. I would hope that the accuracy would offset the cost! Yes, this is an expensive suggestion when compared to an inkjet, however the expense would of course be relative to manufacturing errors.

Example table sizes here with 0.1mm accuracy:

AOKE Cutting Tables | Idealsolution


Stephen Marsh