Summary: The Business Case in brief
You know the feeling: you send 10 plans to the plotter. Plan 1 falls neatly into the basket. Plan 2 falls on plan 1. Plan 3 slides half off, creases, and pushes plan 1 onto the floor. The result: an unsorted chaos (spaghetti) that you have to untangle and sort manually. The time you gain with a fast printer, you lose at the catch basket. A professional Stacker solves this. It lays up to 100 prints flat and sorted on top of each other, ready to take straight to the meeting.
The Annoyance: The “Catch Basket” vs. The Stacker
The standard ‘fabric basket’ under many plotters is fine for 1 or 2 sheets. But for a set of architectural drawings, it’s a disaster.
- Creases: Prints that fall on top of each other in a curve remain curled.
- Order: The first printed page is at the bottom. You have to turn the whole stack over to find page 1.
- Damage: Ink that is not 100% dry can smudge on the next page as they slide over each other.
The Solution: Top Stacker vs. High Capacity Stacker
HP offers two solutions:
- Top Stacker (DesignJet T2600/XL 3600): The prints come out on top of the machine and are stacked flat.
- Capacity: Up to 100 A1 prints.
- Advantage: Takes up no extra floor space (footprint remains small).
- High Capacity Stacker (PageWide XL): An external unit for production.
- Capacity: Up to 500 prints.
- Advantage: You can leave the printer running unattended for an hour.
Business Fundamentals: Time Saved Sorting
Sorting a set of 50 drawings from a basket takes an average of 10 minutes (searching for page numbers, straightening, stapling). From a Stacker, you grab the stack in 10 seconds, perfectly aligned. On an annual basis, this saves hours of frustrating searching.
Media & Supplies
Stackers work best with standard 80-90 gram paper. Beware of very thin paper (tracing paper) or very thick cardboard; these can sometimes get stuck in a top-stacker due to static electricity. HP Stackers feature anti-static brushes to prevent this.
Europlan Service: Upgrade your current plotter?
Do you have an HP DesignJet (e.g., the XL 3600 MFP) T1500 or T2500 without a stacker? Unfortunately, a stacker can rarely be retrofitted on older models. However, it is an important consideration when purchasing your next machine. We are happy to demonstrate the difference between a basket and a stacker in our showroom.
Conclusion: Order in the Chaos
A tidy office starts at the printer. A Stacker provides peace of mind, overview, and professional-looking prints without creases.
Want to see how this works?