If you have been looking into high-volume wide-format printing lately, the kip 860 has probably popped up on your radar more than once. It's one of those machines that people in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) world talk about with a certain level of respect. But if you're trying to figure out if it's actually worth the floor space and the investment, you're in the right place. We are going to break down what makes this thing tick, why it's different from your standard inkjet plotter, and how it handles the daily grind of a busy office.
What Exactly is the KIP 860?
At its core, the kip 860 is a networked color print system that's designed to do a little bit of everything. It's an all-in-one "workgroup" device, meaning it handles printing, copying, and scanning without needing a bunch of external peripherals. Most people recognize it for its sleek, integrated design. Unlike older systems where the scanner looked like an afterthought bolted onto the top, this unit is built as a single, cohesive machine.
The big selling point here is that it's a dry toner system. If you've spent years dealing with inkjet plotters, you know the struggle: the ink is expensive, the prints come out damp and wavy, and if a single drop of rain hits your site plans, the whole thing turns into a blurry mess. The kip 860 uses CMYK dry toner, which means the prints are crisp, waterproof, and—perhaps most importantly—fast.
Speed That Actually Keeps Up
Let's be real for a second. Nobody likes standing around a printer waiting for a 36-inch roll to slowly crawl out of the machine. The kip 860 is built for people who have deadlines. It can pump out about 2,880 square feet per hour in black and white, and it doesn't really slow down much for color.
In a practical sense, that means you're getting about 10 "D" size (24x36) prints per minute. If you're running a large set of plans for a Monday morning meeting, that speed is the difference between getting to the meeting on time and showing up late with a handful of warm paper. Because it uses a dry toner process, there is no "dry time" required. You can grab the prints right off the top stacker, fold them, and throw them in your truck immediately.
The Two-Roll Advantage
One of the most underrated features of the kip 860 is the two-roll media capacity. If you've ever had to stop in the middle of a job to swap out a 24-inch roll for a 36-inch roll, you know how annoying that interruption is.
With two rolls ready to go, the machine can automatically switch between sizes based on the file you're sending. Or, if you're doing a massive run of a single size, you can load two identical rolls and the machine will seamlessly cut over to the second one when the first runs out. It sounds like a small thing, but in a high-pressure office environment, it's a massive quality-of-life improvement.
A Massive Touchscreen That Actually Works
We've all used those printers with tiny, resistive touchscreens that require you to poke them five times with a stylus just to make a copy. The kip 860 goes in the opposite direction. It features a 12-inch tablet-style interface that feels very much like using an iPad or a high-end Android tablet.
It uses the KIP System K software, which is pretty intuitive. You can swipe, pinch to zoom, and rotate images right there on the screen before you hit print. This is especially handy for scanning. If you're scanning an old, hand-drawn blueprint to a digital file, you can preview the scan on that big screen to make sure the contrast is right before you save it to your network or a USB drive. No more running back and forth between the scanner and your PC to see if the file looks okay.
The Beauty of Dry Toner
I mentioned this earlier, but it's worth doubling down on: dry toner is a game changer for technical documents. The kip 860 produces prints that are incredibly durable. Since the toner is fused into the fibers of the paper using heat, the images don't smudge.
If you're out on a job site and it starts to drizzle, or if you accidentally set a sweaty coffee cup down on your plans, the ink isn't going to run. Also, the color is surprisingly good. While this isn't a "photo printer" meant for high-end gallery work, the color pop on architectural renderings and 3D maps is excellent. It gives your presentations a professional edge that standard black-and-white prints just can't match.
Space-Saving Design
Office space is expensive, and wide-format printers are notoriously bulky. The kip 860 is designed with a "top-stacking" configuration. Instead of the prints coming out the front and falling into a canvas basket that sticks out three feet into the hallway, they come out the top and sit neatly on a tray.
This allows you to push the machine right up against a wall. It has a much smaller footprint than many of its competitors, which makes it a great fit for smaller satellite offices or trailers on a construction site. You get all the power of a production-grade machine without needing a dedicated room just to house it.
Connectivity and the Cloud
In 2024, if a printer doesn't talk to the cloud, it's basically a paperweight. The kip 860 is fully integrated with modern workflows. You can print directly from or scan directly to services like Google Drive, Dropbox, Box, and OneDrive.
It also plays nice with BIM (Building Information Modeling) workflows. If you're using AutoCAD, Revit, or Bluebeam, the drivers are optimized to handle those complex vector files without choking. It handles the processing on the machine itself, so your computer isn't bogged down while the printer "thinks" about a 100MB PDF.
Is It Easy to Maintain?
One of the biggest fears people have when buying a machine like this is the maintenance. Nobody wants to be on a first-name basis with the repair technician. The kip 860 is surprisingly sturdy. It doesn't have print heads that clog if you don't use them for three days (a common inkjet headache).
The toner cartridges are easy to swap out—you just click them in and out without any mess. Because it's a "long-life" drum system, you aren't constantly replacing parts. As long as you keep it clean and use decent paper, these machines tend to be workhorses that just keep going.
Security Matters
For a lot of engineering firms and government contractors, security is a huge deal. You don't want sensitive site plans sitting on a hard drive that isn't protected. The kip 860 includes some pretty robust security features, including data encryption and the ability to wipe the hard drive. You can also set up user authentication, so people have to swipe a badge or enter a PIN to pick up their prints. This prevents confidential documents from sitting in the exit tray for anyone to see.
Wrapping It Up
The kip 860 isn't just a printer; it's more like a hub for your office's visual communication. It bridges the gap between those slow, entry-level plotters and the massive, million-dollar production presses. It's fast, the quality is sharp, and it's built to handle the physical demands of the construction and design industries.
If you're tired of the "inkjet dance"—buying expensive cartridges, waiting for prints to dry, and dealing with clogged heads—the kip 860 is a serious upgrade. It's about making your workflow smoother so you can spend less time managing a printer and more time actually getting your projects built. It's an investment, sure, but for any team that relies on physical plans to get the job done, it's one that usually pays for itself in saved time and reduced frustration.