Blueprints?

[Bannerday]

Have an engineering firm that is interested in having us print all their drawings.

They say they will send them over as pdfs.

I know nothing about this type of work. Any thoughts or pricing clues would be appreciated.

I'm running an HP L25500

 

[rfulford]

No one really does blueprinting anymore. Blue prints were replaced by blue lines which have been replaced by black lines. Typically these are all done on bond paper with b&w laser printers. Kip and Oce are the big players in this type of printing. The market for blackline printing averages around $.05 per sqft. You will not be able to be competitive with your latex machine. Color on the other hand may be different. You will most likely see two types of prints. Color line work will be color coded plans with very light coverage printed on bond paper. You will also see renderings and elevations which will have heavier coverage but still be far from full coverage. Both types of color work will usually be on bond paper again. Will latex printers even print on bond? I am not sure. Heat could be a big issue. If you have to look for another material, you will want something extremely matte with a surface that can be written on.

If you want to outsource this check your location for reprographics companies. A good place to look for companies in your area is www.repromax.org

 

[Zzyzx]

You should be aware that these drawings now also include photos in addition to the black line, almost all of these are created in autocad and converted to pdf.
If you look you will probably find that there are a few local independent shops that are doing them now. Ours locally has about 10 machines of various sizes and types including a 36" drum scanner.
Chuck

 

[redmondcopy]

I do large format printing with a Richo 480 and I charge $1.25 per page for 24"x36" prints. I don't think your HP would work. If they are looking for construction documents to be printed I would think your HP would take to long. My printer will print 12- 24"x36" in a minute. Hope that helps.

Grant

 

[Bannerday]

Thanks for the info.

 

[Dsmantledyou]

Are the drawings color or in black and white? You should be able to make some margin if they are in color. We offer blueprinting services here. We own 2 KIP blueprint plotters and use our HP 5000 to print all our color drawings.

 

[CanuckSigns]

would you be able to put a pen attachment in your plotter and do them that way?

 

[phototec]

would you be able to put a pen attachment in your plotter and do them that way?

That's how I do black-line (blue prints), I use a pen insert instead of the blade in my Graphtec plotter, loaded with a roll of 24# bond paper (made for this purpose), open the PDF files in Illustrator and using Cutting Master2, send the files to to the plotter, works great, however it a allot slower then the large format laser printers.

http://www.advantagesignsupply.com/Graphtec-Rollerball-Pen?source=googleps

 

[Bannerday]

Are the drawings color or in black and white? You should be able to make some margin if they are in color. We offer blueprinting services here. We own 2 KIP blueprint plotters and use our HP 5000 to print all our color drawings.

I don't know yet if they are b&w or color. The fellow I have to talk to is out of the office for a week or two.

I just wanted to get as much info as I could before I talked to him.

What are you getting for color?

 

[OldPaint]

i went to drafting school in 1964. was taught how to use a drafting pen. with india ink on blue oilcloth. thats why they called em blue prints.
heres the pen: you also had to learn to hone the tip so it wouldnt drop ink everywhere.