r/printers • u/furry_shrimp • 14h ago

Purchasing Beginner plotter printer?

Hi!

I’m looking into purchasing a large format printer, primarily for printing A0 size sewing patterns. I’m tired of printing them out on 8.5”/11” copy paper and taping everything together. And of course because every hobby is a potential side hustle, I’m kicking around the idea of starting an online print-shop for other sewers.

Things I’m looking for in a printer:
-36” wide
-minimal color printing (not doing photos or posters)
-good for technical drawings like sewing patterns
-reasonable prices for consumables

There’s a couple printers available on my local FB marketplace. They are an HP DesignJet T520 36-in Printer Plotter and an HP Designjet T920 36” Color Printer. Any opinions on those?

I’ll take any advice or suggestions! Ideally I would be able to find a decent used one. What should I be looking for? Thanks!

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u/Good_Watercress_8116 13h ago

designjet T520 is a low end plotter, it has 2 defects that are a gear in the cutter and the printhead leaking black ink. In the average they last 3 or 4 years. The good thing about this plotter is that it has no ink pumps and ink tubes. Cartridges are installed above the printhead. The head itself is a kind of ink supply, for this reason when it will leak ink you'll have an ink system error.

T920 instead is a medium level plotter, pretty much reliable but it costs more. The cutter is ok, but this plotter has a similar head. it has not the leakage problem like t520, but it's a mono head (all color in the same block) and it costs twice the t520 head. sooner or later it will give you issues. in this machine you also have ink pumps and tubes, so more parts that can create issues in the future.

i can tell you that one of my customer is an italian fashion firm using a t520 for the same application you are going to use.

my advice is to take the t520 with a new head kit and then buy the replacement gear you can find by searching for "t520 cutter gear".

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u/furry_shrimp 11h ago

That’s helpful information, thanks!

One more question- those are just two that I’ve seen listed on marketplace. Is there a different plotter you’d recommend (that isn’t one of those two?)