Plotter and Compatible Plotter Inks

Inkjet Ink technology has evolved over the last few years and many good companies have developed technology to give quality Inkjet Inks for the various market. Plotter ink is no exception. There are many Inkjet Ink manufacturers worldwide supplying Quality Large format ink and wide format Inks for different markets.

Types of plotter Inks

Plotter Inks are primarily of two types, Dye-Based and Pigment Based.

- Dye-based inks are used for CAD plotters which are intended to print large documents, drawings, images for indoor purpose. HP Designjet T1500, T2500, Canon IPF 671, Canon IPF 771 are few latest examples.

- Some Plotters with dye inks are also used to print the low-cost photo or banner printing with limited display life. Widely used printers are HP Designjet 5800, 5500, 5100, 5000 with dye-based plotter inks.

Use of plotters

Many plotters are available using fade resistant pigment inks which are used for professional photography, graphic art printing, drawing, indoor display and so on. Epson Surecolor wide format printers, Canon Pro plotters, and HP Designjet Z series are dedicated machines with pigment based large format ink. These inks are water resistant and light fade resistant giving exceptional durability to prints.

Purpose of Plotter

Looking at a variety of colours and inks, it is extremely important to choose the right ink for your plotter which is specially designed and optimized for your plotter cartridge number and printer.

Very often plotter is used for printing large images for commercial purpose done in big quantities. As the use of a plotter or large format printer is not limited to a few images per week, consumers are printing wide format images in huge numbers every day. Therefore, this has  increased the consumption of inks and thus plotter ink cartridges consequentially enhancing the demand. With as many as 12 colors available, managing cartridge stock and ensuring availability is challenging. Also, cost of consumption is important when used for commercial purpose. For many plotters especially 9 color or 12 color plotters, cost of 1 set of full capacity plotter cartridge is almost equal to the cost of a new printer. As OEMs make most out of consumable business and indirectly cover service and guarantee cost through consumable cost, a customer is virtually paying OEMs for warranty of their machine indirectly.

Thus quality and consistency should be an important criterion while choosing your ink partner, but with appropriate technical support, it will not be very difficult to use compatible inks onto your plotter for reducing your print cost.