Hello Jmugs, Wide format machines can go as small as you like but you will waste more if you don't make the most out of your paper space. These printers are surprisingly low cost compared to their potential applications. Also they will bring your ink costs down a bit as well with eight colour machines giving you better colour too.
Xpres SublimationPowering Personalisation
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Epson class 17inch as wide format its not really important what size do ypu need.i have 44inch epson and 44 inch canon kit 17inch epson too. I use the 17 for sublimation the 44s for canvas and photo printing. I preferthe epson and im epson authorised engineer and resller so it makes more sense
Most of our business is wide format. We have 16 altogether. Mainly Epson 9890's, 7890's and one 11880. We also have an HP Latex 360. We don't use any of them for Dye Sub work, only photo and canvas printing.
If anyone has any issues, especially with the Epson's I'm happy to advise. I know all their benefits but especially their problem issues.
Just about to buy a 44" HP Z3200, I'm afraid I'll be avoiding Epson this time around :-)
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Great Printer Justin. found an interesting review over at BH Photography that you may find interesting....Originally Posted by Justin
LOVE IT! *Read this for SETTINGS help*
By Jason
from Eden Prairie, MN
Bought this HP Z3200ps 44" to replace my HP 5500ps 42". This new printer is great, B&H by far has the best price and customer service, but here's some things I've learned that might help.
ACCURATE COLORS FROM PRINTER *MOST IMPORTANT*... If you're not using RIP software like me, make sure you have the printer control the color calibration, not the software you're printing from. I was frustrated at first. Calibrated the paper I was using (very easy), then printed and colors were off quite a bit. Once I set up color calibration to be controlled through the printer, beautiful wonderful prints came out.
SPEED... Really no different than my HP 5500ps although I was hoping for faster speeds. Draft speed is fast and looks ok from a distance but you can see some banding in solid color fields. Normal speed turns out nice prints.
REAR FEED... I now understand why they did this. There's no vacuum to hold the paper down like the 5500. Good thing is there's less to fail but paper has to be fed through straight as possible off the roll. Makes sense but changing paper is inconvenient compared to a front loader but not a deal breaker at all.
HEIGHT... It's lower than the HP 5500 and I like it. Output is closer to the table. Looks good and works well.
INK... I read a lot about how you don't get full ink cartridges so I was worried about any production right out of the box. Not to worry. I've printed 10 posters, full color, full size, and the ink is around 50%. You have time to print and order new cartridges if needed.
ALL HP PRINTERS HAVE THIS PROBLEM. PET PEEVE TIME... If you're like me, you like to see the print as soon as those print heads start moving to quickly check color and size. The plexiglass cover is tinted like the 5500 and all HP products. It's impossible to see anything until it's coming out the front which can be 5" to 6" from the print heads. CLEAR COVERS HP!!! make it an optional piece for $100. Sure the whole printer looks cooler from the outside but functionally I call Boo!
I hope these insights help you. I'm very happy with the printer and with B&H.
Jason
YaYaYa graphics
I love our HP Latex 360. The 775ml cartridges are only £74.
I was looking at changing to HP Z series after buying the latex machine but the inks are so expensive. £50 for 130ml works out at 3 times the price of the latex inks.
The Epsons have their issues, especially the print head longevity but sometimes it's better the devil you know.
There are so many determining factors. I'm happy to pay more for ink and be changing rather than leave huge carts in there to go out of date, assuming I'm not printing huge volumes for a while. I know the HP's use far less ink maintaining etc. than Epson so I guess it's all swings and roundabouts. It's a bit like sublimation, if you're selling at the right price the print price should be easily covered whichever way you go :-) Print head issue is what puts me off Epson, being in Shetland I need the warranty and HP will honour this.
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We do very large quantities of large format printing on the Epsons so the big cartridges don't last very long for us. I just bought the last two 7890's from Epson, there are no more and the *890 series is now discontinued. This will take me up to 18 LFP's.
The problem with the *890 and *900 printers is the printheads. They sacrificed printhead quality for speed. If you get a block of missing nozzles that won't come back with power and SSCL cleaning cycles, they will never come back. The printhead delaminates and that's it finished. You can only get the printheads from Epson and they install them for £1100 flat fee. I'm almost relieved with a printhead fails when a machine is still under warranty. That's happened 4 times now.
The *800 series were the workhorses. We still have one 7800 that's printed over 30km of canvas and has never needed a printhead replaced. I wish I had kept more of them but the speed of the *890 series makes up for it. We print so much canvas they pay for themselves fairly quickly.
There are a few of us who got our fingers burned with the 7890. Just out of warranty and the head went, I sold it for parts. I put more print through an epson 1500w without problem then I managed through the 7890 at 10 times the cost. Left a very bad taste with regards to epson. They would not acknowledge it was a poor printer for durability.
Nice range of print equipment you have.
Janners
Annie ( I am guessing from your user name, apologies if I am wrong)
Do you have to use the Latex printers constantly like you would with a solvent printer. I ask as I do sign work as well but not enough to have a solvent printer due to this reason.
Many thanks
Iain
Equipment used A4 Ricoh printer, HP3085 Heat Press Graphtec cutter, Jarin mug press, CJV 30-60 solvent printer and lots of help from DSF.
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