HP DesignJet 1055cm Plus

This is a four-color, roll-fed 36-inch printer using HP’s dye-based thermal inkjet system of its era. It runs on HP 80 inks paired with the HP 80 printheads — a design that separates the head from the ink supply, so a clogged or worn head can be replaced without discarding a full cartridge. That architecture is one reason these machines earned long service lives in busy plot rooms: consumables are modular, and the failure modes are familiar to any technician who worked the DesignJet line.

Media flexibility is broad. The supported roll list spans everyday bond and coated stock through matte film and photo-gloss papers, so the same machine can turn out a permit set in the morning and a presentation board in the afternoon. Maintenance items such as the printhead cleaning and service kits are part of the documented consumable set, which matters when you are budgeting uptime rather than just acquisition.

The honest read on the 1055cm Plus today is that it is a legacy machine holding down duty in firms that value a paid-for, well-understood asset over the latest feature set. As a monochrome plotter for CAD line work on bond, it remains genuinely useful. As a color device, it renders coordination drawings and GIS overlays competently — the color is distinguishable and consistent, which is what those documents demand — but it is dye-based and single-roll, without the pigment durability, dual-roll unattended operation, or integrated scanning that newer AEC platforms bring.

• A firm running an existing 1055cm Plus that still meets its plot volume and wants to defer capital spend.
• Monochrome-dominant CAD output on bond, where line quality and reliability matter more than color gamut.
• Occasional color coordination sets, GIS maps and simple presentation work on coated or matte media.
• Shops with a technician comfortable servicing the modular printhead-and-ink system.

It is less appropriate for teams that need integrated large-format scanning, dual-roll automatic switching, or the water- and fade-resistance of pigment inks. Those requirements point toward a modern MFP-class device such as the HP DesignJet T918 36-in, which folds scan-copy-print into one footprint. If you are weighing a replacement, the side-by-side comparison frames the generational gap plainly.

Plan around the modular design. Heads and inks are separate line items, and the documented maintenance kits cover the cleaning and servicing this system periodically needs. On the media side, the compatible list is deep — from plain bond through matte film and semi-gloss photo stock — so you can tune output to the job without leaving the HP media ecosystem. The practical caution is availability: as a mature platform, local parts and technician familiarity vary by market, and that single factor can swing the ownership experience more than any spec on the page. Confirm your service coverage before you commit to keeping one in production.