Thank you all for your input.
Ref. the HP Designjet 100 - our plotter had not been subjected to particularly heavy use in the drawing office, as most of our drawing work in the past has been plotted on A3 printers.
Before purchasing the Designjet 100, we used the OfficeJet 1220 A3 printer, which proved to be extremely reliable, very robust, and is still working satisfactorily five years on. In comparison to the 1220, the durability of our Designjet 100 is most disappointing!
Anyway,our office (me) has decided to try out the Canon BJ-W 6400 - I'll let you know if we have any problems........
Regards,
Peter Lee
PJ Lee Architect | Wales UK
VW Architect & Renderworks 11.5 (Windows XP/2000)