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Need Advice on Buying a Wide-Format Printer for Posters/Canvas Maybe Vinyl Too

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Greetings! I am in the market for a wide format printer, and am curious if anyone has an experience with these or can set me in the right direction.

 

I mainly want one to make prints, to cut apart and use for mixed media canvas art. I would also love the ability to print on canvas.

 

I am trying to avoid Epson at all costs, as I had very bad luck in the past with clogging print heads, I don't plan on printing every day, maybe once a week to 2-3 times a month. 

 

I am curious if the print/cutters that they sell here, can also print onto paper and canvas? Do they make a paper that can run in these machines that can be print onto and cut? It would be awesome to have my prints be contour cut by the machine as this would save a lot of time, but not sure if they make a paper that works like that for these printer/cutter systems.

 

Thanks in advance for any advice. 

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Good Question! At least 22-24" wide. Anything larger than that is probably unnecessary for me but would be a bonus. 

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Anything flat you print on probably calls for a flat bed printer.  I mention that as you say poster and I am not sure what kind of substrate you envision.  Alternatively, your talking rolls of substrate and transferring something printed on roll media to the flat substrate, if you are even dealing with flat surfaces.  Canvas and paper do come on rolls however.

 

I am partial to Roland printers.  I have worked on them, but don't have one now.  Wish I did.

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I was looking at the Latex printers the cost is around 10k for that footprint that will print on everything you mentioned. Eco solvents may also work I am not an expert on either. 

 

I have an epson 1430 aqueous printer it works well for my needs. I just purchase media that is made to use in an aqueous printer. You can coat almost any material and it will work in an aqueous printer. 

 

HP makes a decent aqueous desktop that is 24 for under $1000 . 

 

This company sells media for aqueous printers http://www.freedompaper.com/ if you go that route. 

 

It really depends upon your budget. If you go aqueous get a CIS ( continuous ink system ) it will save you money. 

 

Latex & Solvent are also good choices but are a little more expensive. 

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Thank you for the replies! When I said poster I meant straight up posters, like the paper ones you get at the store with bands on them. When I said that though I kind of meant any paper, just something in a roll form to print on then cut apart, or make photography prints out of. I would love a flatbed printer, but those are far out of my budget at this point. Around $10k is my max. 

 

I also have an Epson 1440. I guess that's not what I meant when I said wide-format. I wan't to be able to print on rolls of canvas and paper, at a very minimum of 22" wide, but like I said, the larger the better. It looks like I can get a good solid printer that does just that for around $2k. Curious if anyone has any brand specifics they'd recommend, and also if they make ones that ALSO cut/print on vinyl. A machine that cuts/prints on vinyl, paper, and also print on canvas is what I'm curious about. Sorry for any confusion, I'm horrible at explaining myself! 

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Hi I bought a 24inch Hp 800ps, does a really good  job of posters/photo's onto canvas and paper, it's an old printer and can be bought quite cheap on the bay, cartridges are very reasonable. I don't use it regularly but just switch it on and it prints great so no probs letting it stand.

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Something to keep in mind with large format printers (that may or may not cut) is that they often require RIP (Raster Image Processor) software to do their thing which is expensive too. That software must also have drivers for your printer (and if an operating system is ever updated to a new release, the manufacturer of the printer may or may not continue to support said printer on that OS version). HP is notorious for discontinuing their printers (and computer products for that matter) and making their drivers be tied into a maximum OS version. I've been burnt by them before on a computer and its drivers not supporting Windows 8.1 or higher for example - my last HP machine ever no doubt. I've seen their planned obsolesce model on desktop printers too. I wouldn't chance an expensive investment in an HP large format printer no matter how great they are.

 

Roland's are typically eco-solvent ink printers that can print on vinyl substrate and come with Versaworks RIP software (for both printing and cutting) and it is very capable and very easy to use (YouTube has lots of videos to get up to speed quickly). Roland is a very big name and won't disappear overnight. They have fantastic support too. Getting their RIP software at the same time as a printer purchase is a great incentive. They'd get my suggestion.

 

Another thing to source out is the cost of ink and ink cartridges. If you buy a new printer, using third party ink or ink cartridge may invalidate your warranty if you ever need service (which you will one day).  Source out replacement blades too if you get a cut capable device.

 

There are cheap Chinese eco-solvent printers available through Aliexpress.com for example. BUT, when things break or need fixing or replacement, not many (if any) North American support techs will have their parts or know how on how to fix them. The good thing about them though is that you can typically buy TWO machines for the cost of ONE Roland printer/cutter though so you could technically have a back-up. 

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Something to keep in mind with large format printers (that may or may not cut) is that they often require RIP (Raster Image Processor) software to do their thing which is expensive too. That software must also have drivers for your printer (and if an operating system is ever updated to a new release, the manufacturer of the printer may or may not continue to support said printer on that OS version). HP is notorious for discontinuing their printers (and computer products for that matter) and making their drivers be tied into a maximum OS version. I've been burnt by them before on a computer and its drivers not supporting Windows 8.1 or higher for example - my last HP machine ever no doubt. I've seen their planned obsolesce model on desktop printers too. I wouldn't chance an expensive investment in an HP large format printer no matter how great they are.

 

Roland's are typically eco-solvent ink printers that can print on vinyl substrate and come with Versaworks RIP software (for both printing and cutting) and it is very capable and very easy to use (YouTube has lots of videos to get up to speed quickly). Roland is a very big name and won't disappear overnight. They have fantastic support too. Getting their RIP software at the same time as a printer purchase is a great incentive. They'd get my suggestion.

 

Another thing to source out is the cost of ink and ink cartridges. If you buy a new printer, using third party ink or ink cartridge may invalidate your warranty if you ever need service (which you will one day).  Source out replacement blades too if you get a cut capable device.

 

There are cheap Chinese eco-solvent printers available through Aliexpress.com for example. BUT, when things break or need fixing or replacement, not many (if any) North American support techs will have their parts or know how on how to fix them. The good thing about them though is that you can typically buy TWO machines for the cost of ONE Roland printer/cutter though so you could technically have a back-up. 

generally those have been based on old outdated mechanics and not current clones - we just had someone post not long ago about one and the heads were tied to a specific model of epson printer on that printhead model and no one knew which one so the replacement wasn't even possible if I recall correctly - so cheap is in the eye of the owner - getting oem parts for a 8 year old roland is money better spent in my eyes but again that is arguable 

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You can't beat a Latex for those things especially the current generation and soon to be released 4th gen.

If you get a 110/310/330 it comes with flexi

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