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» The Letterville BullBoard » Letterhead/Pinstriper Talk » Large format printer

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Author Topic: Large format printer
Bart Robinson
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Member # 6678

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Cant decide which printer to purchase.

My wife is an artist and we want to make our own prints to work art shows.

Her originals are acrylic and we would like to make copies 18-24" wide.

Fella next to us at the last show has his originals scanned at kinkos and prints I think up to 13" with an Epson.

Any suggestions would be helpful.

Thanks

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Bart Robinson
Bart Robinson Pinstriping
Corpus Christi Texas

Posts: 78 | From: Corpus Christi Texas | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Jane Diaz
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Member # 595

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My suggestion would be to go to some type of convention where these type of machines were displayed and talk to the reps about what you want them to do for you. You could actually LOOK at the output quality, ease of operation, materials cost, etc. and then make your decision.
We love our VersaCamm and we have planned to use it for artwork too, but it's too busy pumping out truck doors and signs!!

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Jane Diaz
Diaz Sign Art
628 W. Lincoln Ave. Pontiac, Il. 61764
815-844-7024
www.diazsignart.com

Posts: 4102 | From: Pontiac, IL USA | Registered: Feb 1999  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Paul Luszcz
Resident


Member # 4042

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Epson makes beautiful printers for your purpose, in many widths from 8.5" to 44".

Lexjet is a good Epson dealer and they can answer any questions you have on a choice of printer.

Scanning is something else again. Wide format scanners cost as much as printers. Some fine art printers use small format scans and "stitch" the files together (tile), but this looks really hard to do well.

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Paul Luszcz
Zebra Visuals
27 Water Street
Plymouth, MA 02360
508 746-9200
paul@zebravisuals.com

Posts: 483 | From: 27 Water Street, Plymouth, MA 02360 | Registered: Jul 2003  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Doug Allan
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will you be printing any exterior sign related prints too? ..or just the indoor art reproductions?

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Doug Allan
http://www.islandsign.com

"you get what you settle for"

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Bill Lynch
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If it's just for art prints you can go with a smaller machine, 24" is good. I do art prints for my wife on my HP5000 they look pretty good.
I had the originals professionally photographed by
a studio that is familar with art reproduction.
They were too large for scanning

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Bill Lynch
Century Sign
Hamden, CT
centurysign@snet.net

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Jonathan Androsky
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Member # 2806

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Hi Bart,
There are so many variables and options here that it's staggering. What is the size of your originals?

If you just want to print for interior use, the Epsons Stylus series printers offer excellent quality, the 7800 is the 24" model. Be careful if you are looking at an older model printer, Epsons had an awful ... uh ... "feature" whereby the printer would consume an ENTIRE set of inks to prime and calibrate the machine when it was first installed.

Truly the best thing for you would be to try and get to a show, many times the folks demo-ing the printers will even print out your file for you so you can see the output. Be sure to ask lots of questions about things like maintenance, additional expenses (will you need a RIP?) ink consumption, and print costs.

For a ton of information of fine art printing, printers, color calibration, scanners, etc. I recommend the FLAAR website:
FLAAR Site, Click here
Their free reports have a ton of valuable info in them.

Good luck!

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Jon Androsky

Posts: 438 | From: Williamsport, PA | Registered: Mar 2002  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
Steve Eisenreich
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Epson 4800 would probably do what you need.

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Steve Eisenreich
Dezine Signs
PO BOX 6052 Stn Forces
Cold Lake, Alberta
T9M 2C5

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Robert Salyers
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I have run everything from paper and vinyl to heavy canvas through these printers. Interior or exterior. They're workhorses!
http://www.vutek.com/Resources/sign_shops.aspx

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AirbrushBobby.com
Clearwater, FL
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing.1Cor1:18
“The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord”Rom6:23

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Bart Robinson
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Member # 6678

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Thanks everyone.

Her originals I was planning on having scanned at Kinkos and placed on disc.

Then printing her work at home. The art work would be indoor only.


The two artists on either side of us at Thr Rockport Texas art show were using an epson.


They really liked it becsue it saved them lotsa money.

Im going to look at the 4800, that number sounds familiar.

I wanted to ask sign people like yourselves

Thanks

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Bart Robinson
Bart Robinson Pinstriping
Corpus Christi Texas

Posts: 78 | From: Corpus Christi Texas | Registered: Jul 2006  |  IP: Logged | Report this post to a Moderator
   

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