Replace or Repair? How to Determine When to Retire an Aging Plotter

Plotters are big investments for businesses that rely on large format printers for plans, designs, and technical drawings. While built to be durable production workhorses, eventually even the best-maintained plotters start to show their age. Weighing the costs of repeated plotter repairs against replacing the machine can be a difficult decision. This guide outlines factors to help assess when it makes more financial sense to retire an aging plotter versus sinking more money into repairs.

Age of the Machine

As a general rule, most wide-format plotters have a usable lifespan of 5-10 years with proper maintenance. After around 5 years, the frequency and costs of plotter repairs tend to increase significantly as more components start failing. Most service experts advise budgeting to replace a machine that's over 8 years old unless it's a particularly robust model that's proven very reliable over the long-term.

Signs of Degradation

In addition to increasing repair frequency, other degradation signs indicate a plotter is nearing the end of its serviceable life:

• Declining print quality like banding, streaking, or fading inks

• Paper feed issues like jamming, skewing, or damage

• Increased error rates and overall reliability problems

• Outdated technology lagging behind current specs and performance These symptoms suggest internal components are excessively worn and replacement parts can't restore full functionality.

Cost of Parts and Labor

Over time, the combined costs of parts and labor for plotter repairs add up fast. Whenever your technician provides a repair quote, calculate what percentage of the original purchase price you're paying. As a rule of thumb, if a repair exceeds 50% of the current market price for a new comparable plotter model, it's more cost-effective long term to put that money toward a replacement.

Downtime and Productivity Impact

Having a plotter down for repairs is a major productivity bottleneck. Calculate the costs of employee idle time, project delays, outsourcing reprints, and potential client dissatisfaction from missed deadlines. If the downtime combined with escalating plotter repair costs are severely impacting your bottom line and cutting into profitability, replacing the machine makes more business sense.

The Conclusion:

There's no single cutoff age when a plotter absolutely must get replaced. It depends on your repair cost history, the machine's condition, performance issues, and business productivity impact. Most service experts recommend developing a plotter lifecycle management plan that factors the total costs of ownership - repair costs, supply/ink usage, maintenance and the purchase price depreciated over the usable lifespan. With proactive planning, you can optimize when to retire an aging device and upgrade rather than sinking endless money into fruitless repairs. 

The key is maximizing your plotter's ROI throughout its productive years, but knowing when enough is enough. Contact Diamondsource Manchester to get more information about printer and plotters maintenance and repair. You can visit the website for thorough information.

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