Wide format printers (24 inch plus).......anyone have their own?

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Wide format printers.......anyone have their own?

Or is it false economy and not worth the time and effort?
 
We've got one in the office for CAD plotting and the boss lets me use it for printing photos. I'm not sure about the economies of printing itself, I bought the paper and use their ink but when I read the manual the potential maintenance costs are huge on it.

We've got an HP Z2100 and I think it recommends replacing the heads every 6 months or something like that, we don't because we don't use it enough but if it was getting used all the time it would cost a bomb to run.

To be honest, if it's just printing for yourself and not as part of a business I think you'd be much better off buying the prints in from a pro lab as and when you need them.
 
Agreed. Home printing is a bit of a money pit, and large format stuff will never quite compete with commercial printers, either on quality or financially.
 
Danny_Two said:
Agreed. Home printing is a bit of a money pit, and large format stuff will never quite compete with commercial printers, either on quality or financially.
Click to expand...

I use wide format printers for personal use Epson 24" 7800 at home and the following for my business

Epson 7800 24"
Epson 9800 44"
Epson 11800 64"

We are currently looking at buying a HP Scitex, not sure which model it will be yet.

All the epsons are run with a RIP Colorbytes Imageprint, probably the best rip out there for photographic reproduction.

We make a nice living out of the business so printing using the same type of printers as these at home is cheap, and the quality is just as good if not better than some labs out there, running costs and maintenance are low, you only need and epson trained engineer for a few jobs the rest you can do your self if your technically capable.

Printing at home isnt for everybody.
 
Some interesting points raised here. I'm interested in wide format printing and would consider getting a wide format printer if I had the money. At the moment I'm happy getting the prints done at a lab.
 
I had a plotter but only used for CAD work, quality is not nearly good enough for photo prints. Have been looking at picking another up as cheap as possible but the running costs are not cheap. I can now print A1 for £3.50, A0 for £6.00 (university) so if I add in good quality paper I can beat any online costs.
 
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I have a Z2100 24" printer. I bought it second hand, with the idea of making canvases for customers instead of getting someone else to do it.
I also thought it would fill in the gaps for when photo sessions are quiet...that I might be able to offer a print-to-canvas service.

I used it to make 35 canvases last xmas, and a few canvases this year. But I've not used it as much as I'd like to have.
It's a brilliant printer, and quite economical on the ink.

What was the original question again? Is it worth the money and effort... I can't really comment on this yet. Hopefully I'll be able to put it to more use this year.

It is handy to be able to have a canvas made up in 3 hours though (2 hours for varnish to dry)
 
I had an HP1050c then a HP 130NR now i'm on an Epson 7800. Cost wise I use compatible ink bought from the US and do all the maintenance myself so I don't find it to be a money pit. If you are confident enough to get your hands (very) dirty and ignore the manufacturers ridiculous recommended service times then your laughing.
 
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