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Disposing of HP plotter
I have an old HP500 plotter that has been collecting dust in my barn for years. Finally got around to cleaning out the barn and throwing lots of stuff into a dumpster that I rented. They say no electronics, so I assume that I cannot put this in the dumpster (but I can put the base in). I sent a picture to them to verify if I can or cannot throw the HP500 in, but I am assuming for now that I can’t.
How does one go about getting rid of something like this? My local town is having a “Hard to Recycle” event in two weeks, it says printers are accepted for a fee, but this is a bit larger than your normal printer.
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15 Replies
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Our local town has a trailer set up for “recycling electronics”. They get old TV’s, computers, printers, etc. They do have some value, and can be recycled. Ask around your area.
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I just got an email back from the dumpster company…I can put the plotter in to the dumpster.
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I used to buy plotters at scrap price, refurb and sell them. There is probably a market for it if it still fires up.
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When I started my business, I found a used 500 on ebay for $150.00 (this was about 6 years ago). The print-heads were bad (stated in auction) but, it came with extra ink, rolls of bond and vellum and the stand. Shipping was around $200.00 and the deal was worth it for me. Found print heads on ebay and had a great plotter for about $500, all in. Still working, btw.
This is to say, if you’re conflicted by throwing away a well-made item with life remaining, get some exposure (i.e. ebay, craigslist, ?) and see who’ll bite. You might make a young surveyor’s/ engineer’s day> week> year.
Or, throw it in the recycling bin.
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The problem with old plotters is getting the ink cartridges – that’s generally why they go for scrap.
However, assuming they are on a stand, strip off the top and the stands are great for all sorts of things once you bolt a top/shelf/whatever into the place that the printing unit used to sit – and lots of them are wheeled, so you can pull it around the workshop to suit.
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Supposedly I had someone a few years ago who wanted it, so I put it in the barn. they never came to get it. Now, after a few years of exposure (barn is not weather-tight) it is probably ruined.
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Local high school has an annual electronic gadget day when they collect most anything for recycling.
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Plotters are full of nifty servo motors, power supply, switches, structural components and other hobbyist stuff. I have a recently-retired HP-450C that’s waiting for completion of a remodel project when I get my garage shop back again, at which point I’ll part it out and salvage the more interesting bits.
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I am an expert on this particular issue. In an Uncle Cash way.
Four years ago I bought a new Epson plotter just like our old one and decided that I was going to take the old plotter apart and recycle all of the big aluminum ‘stuff’ that was in it because it was the responsible thing to do.
We use the Epson printers because the K3 ink is fantastic on our Weatherproof Paper. The UV life (and this is an important factoid for this story) is over 120 years in direct sunlight to a 50% fade. The K3 ink is truly archival and it is totally waterproof.
A single 700 ml cartridge has enough ink to paint every surface, of every building on our block, inside and out. There are 8 cartridges in the machine.
About 5 minutes into the take apart project I had the inkling (pun intended) that this might not be a good idea. It was only 8:30 am and I was not drinking beer. After 6 minutes of screwing around I had accidentally cut the delivery tubes where they connect to the sliding head thingy and all of the residual ink from the tubes was on the carpet (I had put a towel down but it was like trying to dry the ocean with a single Kleenex) and there was ink all over the case and stand. After 7 minutes my pants, shirt and underwear were soaked. After 8 minutes my arms were covered from my hands up past my elbows. Somehow I got ink all over my face and neck.
10 minutes into the recycling project I pulled the plug and got some reluctant help getting the project remains into the dumpster.
I went home around 9 am to take a shower and was impressed that none of the ink that was covering me would even start to wash off. Luckily I was still driving the 20 year old truck so it was not a big deal that the seat covers were ruined.
You probably are wondering if my wife was impressed that I had painted my junk: she appeared to not be impressed.
So from my personal first-hand experience, I strongly recommend that you not give your old plotter to any high-school aged students. Something bad might happen.
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Like Mark, I’m an expert at this, too, also. However, I was fortunate to not end up looking like Rod Steiger in “The Illustrated Man.” ????
I purchased an HP DesignJet 3500CP back in 1997 to provide satellite imagery products to my clients. It was a great printer and could handle paper up to 54″ wide. The printer was still in great working condition, but HP stopped making the ink supply cartridges and print heads. In late 2015 I was no longer able to buy the ink systems and had to resort to buying out-of-date ink.
Finally, when I could no longer maintain the print heads I was faced with how to get rid of the albatross. Unlike Mark, I hauled the printer out to the garage, gathered up all my Torx head screwdrivers and began to methodically disarticulate the plotter. Over the course of 6 weeks, I filled my garbage can with a lot of plastic parts. I separated out the circuit boards and recycled them. My old plotter only had 4 inks and they were water soluable. It was quite cathartic disarticulating the HP plotter. There must have been well over 1000 screws in that machine.
The garbage company was happy to haul off the plotter in pieces parts including the huge cardboard shipping box on a wooden pallet that I sliced up into managable pieces.
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Local garbage won’t take printers (or monitors, or TV’s, or…). I had to get rid of an HP laserjet, I disassembled it and got rid of it that way. But I do have several old desktop PCs sitting around here. Never know when I might need a 5 1/4″ floppy drive, right? I think that makes me a hoarder…
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There’s gold in them there printers.
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I am blessed with a father who would bring home various things which me and my buddies would take apart. Couldn’t always get them back together again but it fostered a curiosity in how things work which I’ve passed on to my heir apparent. Dad used to drop me off at a local junk yard where I would spend the day salvaging light bulbs, pulling apart dash boards and the like. I made a few $$ scrounging back seats for coins.
I believe that we pay a disposal fee when we buy a computer, printer or appliance which allows for us to take unwanted ones to Goodwill or St. Vinnies where they gladly take them and are reimbursed by the state for the trouble. I suspect that I can take a plotter there or that fax machine which is gathering dust in the corner. Call it what you want it keeps recyclables out of the
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I have a HP1050C that someone on this board was supposed to pick up this spring on way back from Florida. Still have it but am intrigued by above posts and may just take apart and use the servo motors for body parts.
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I have several HP Plotters located near Charlotte, NC that I would give to anyone that wants them.
Ed
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