Hey all,
I couldn't find a Minolta 1350 locally to have a play with, or try any test print on, so I finally settled on the HP 1022, primarily because of warranty and availability of spares etc. As a general use printer, on paper the output is great, nice and crisp using 600dpi.
I tried a few test board plots on cheap Transparancies from Staples, and the results were about 75-80% of the rock solid quality I was expecting, not bad overall, but I think I would need to print out a couple and pick the best one to contact print with. This of course could very easily be cheap media problems though, so I'll reserve final judgement until I splash out on some high end stuff to try with.
I also tried it on Polymer Film, which is what I would normally use on the plotter, and apart from a slight wrinkling due to the heat distortion, the output was impressive, I guess the toner fuses better to the film as it has a slight grain to it. So when I find a way to tease the wrinkles back out...I think that will be the way to go with it. Perhaps a slight warming again with a hairdrier or something will ease out the wrinkles.
I seen somewhere on the net, that decent quality Tracing Paper is even better than the Polymer Film, primarily because it is less susceptible to the wrinkle due to the heat. I have some, but haven't tried it, because after looking at it on the light box, I think it's too grainy, and the grain pattern will most likely be transferred at the contact print stage. I'll get some high end stuff and have a look.
The tests were done at 1200dpi. My initial conclusions are that it's not a bad printer, both for general use, and for plotting boards. I would say like most printers, media quality will play an important role in getting the results you want from it. For the money, I can't complain, it cost me less than £100
so was well within my budget, so what's left over, I'll dedicate to beer and better quality media