Large-format inkjet: Searching for a dual-purpose printer

A large-format inkjet printer can do credible service as a proofing device and, with minor adjustments, do double duty as a device to produce signs, photo-like posters or fine art (giclee) prints.

Maybe you've tried this before. Your clumsy, old large-format printer might now rest uneasily in

Indeed, the list of potential applications for large-format printing services is long: signature proofing, trade show displays, hotel and restaurant signage, casino display graphics, photography, fine art reproduction, theater graphics, vinyl banners, legal graphics, backlit signs and displays, architectural and CAD drawings, vehicle graphics, specialty advertising, building graphics, heat-transfer materials, textiles printing, and so on.

Print shops that already produce color printing might have all the front-end computer hardware, scanners and Photoshop know-how they need to make use of a large-format inkjet printer with minimal effort. However, with a multitude of vendors presenting a jungle of options, it can be difficult to determine the best large-format printer for one shop's specific needs.

Tips from the meticulous world of fine art reproduction

To implement large-format inkjet printing effectively, there's an awful lot to learn. A good place to start is the campus of Bowling Green State University in Ohio, home to the nonprofit FLAAR Digital Imaging Resource Center. FLAAR is an independent source for information about large-format inkjet printers, RIPs, scanners and digital cameras. There are 18 teachers and students who work at FLAAR and consistently update the center's reports. Their primary focus is on reproducing fine-art prints, and they offer more than 80 reports and reviews of machinery from around the world that they have tested. You can access some of their reports online in pdf format at www.large-format-printers.org.

FLAAR recommends that you consider the following criteria before making a purchase:

Reliability and maintenance - Reliability is a key consideration. Inkjet print heads can be quite delicate. Most are susceptible to incidental damage and are very expensive. Find out how long these are supposed to last, treat them like treasures and make the vendor live up to its claims.

FLAAR prefers thermal print head systems to piezo print head systems. The reasons it cites are dependability, longevity, less banding and the ability to handle a greater variety of printing stocks.

Be sure to ask what kind of routine maintenance and calibration is necessary to keep your machine at peak operating performance. If you have to spend an hour or two tweaking the printer every time you run it, it might not be worth it to you. Some inkjet printers have to be used often or else their print heads dry out. If you don't plan to use your large-format printer every day, get a model that needs minimal maintenance.

Banding is a common problem with large-format inkjet printers, and some models avoid it better than others do. The problem, an unsightly band of light discoloration, usually appears after the machine has been running for a couple of hours.

Operating costs - What does the printer cost to operate? Be sure to find out the cost per square foot of media and ink. Does the printer only work with the manufacturer's paper and ink, or will it accept third-party products? You might pay a little for the printer but a lot for supplies.

Another feature you should look for is a RIP that lets you position pages or posters any way you like on the roll material. This feature will save money in material costs.

Large-format inkjet printing can be a lucrative endeavor. Just a few big jobs can pay for the machine, and there's nothing like opening your shop door in the morning and seeing a hundred or more square feet of beautiful print ready to be billed. Some large-format printers can print all night, unattended. If you get $7 per sqare foot, then you're making money in your sleep.

Quality - Don't be misled by the output you see at a demo. All the output will look great, however, this tells you nothing about how the printer functions on a daily basis. A 1,200 x 600-dpi resolution is pretty standard these days, and for dual-purpose use, it should be fine. Investigate the type and cost of ink you'll be using if you would like to produce archival prints. Also, pigmented inks are gaining popularity vs. dye-base inks. Wilhem Imaging Research does studies on ink longevity, and its new Web site might be of interest to you: www.wilhelm-research.com.

Color management - The cacophony of color management still sounds a confused melody, and only big spending on a proprietary system and a color management consultant can calm the tune. With so many options to select for every piece of software and hardware, it's very challenging to strike upon the correct combination, and a closed-loop system might be more than your budget will allow. However, manufacturers (HP, for one) are beginning to offer closed-loop color management based on ICC profiles standard with some models.

If you are already satisfied with the color you get from your press and imagesetter, it will be least expensive to match an inkjet proofer to that standard. The alternatives seem endless, but on the lower end of the price spectrum look for ICC profiles and simplicity. The closer the RIP is to "plug and play," the better. Some RIPs will do double duty on the imagesetter and proofer, but if you're on a budget, you might have to find your own solution and use a separate RIP for both devices. It's not going to be contract color, but if you do your homework and stick with it, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Speed - When selecting a RIP, one term to keep in mind is "RIP on the fly." Most RIPs process all the digital information before it is sent to the printer; consequently, everything takes longer. RIPs that claim to "RIP on the fly" will send information to the printer immediately. Lack of speed is the biggest complaint against inkjet printers. Be sure you know the ouput speed in square feet per hour at the highest quality level, and add to that your RIP speed to determine the equipment's true output speed.

With a printer that boasts speeds of 85 square feet per hour and RIPs on the fly, you actually get 85 square feet per hour. But, an ordinary RIP could churn away on that job's file for hours. Inkjet print speeds in this class range from 16 square feet per hour in the highest photo mode to 192 square feet per hour in draft mode. In contrast, a poster printer like the ColorSpan DisplayMaker Mach 12 boasts photographic speeds greater than 400 square feet per hour. With a price tag of more than $20,000, it's for serious sign makers.

Where to buy?

Of course, buying from a trusted local vendor that has lots of knowledge, free support and super prices would be ideal. Buying an inkjet printer from a catalog, sight unseen, is a risky proposition. They are hard to ship and most are not "plug and play." If you've never owned one before, you'll most likely need some assistance. It's not the type of thing you can easily try for a week or two, decide you don't like it, pack it up and ship it back to the catalog company.

If you consider buying a used inkjet printer, be sure it comes with a RIP, which probably will be outdated, and be sure a third-party RIP vendor will support the printer if you need a new RIP. If it has been well maintained and hasn't been overused, it might be OK to use as a practice device. It also might kill any desire you ever had to own one of these machines. Don't pay cash unless you can see it in operation with one of your files.

Poster production

To produce posters, you will need more than a can of Spray-Mount and a big slab of cardboard. Although many new inks spare you from the requirement to laminate the print, the usual cost to mount and laminate a print sometimes exceeds the cost of making a sign. There are some fabulous sign-mounting systems available, and cloth and vinyl signs are very big in trade show displays because of their portability.

Sign Builder magazine at www.signshop.com is a great resource for sign supplies like cutting rulers and mounting tables, grommets, frames, mounting supplies, etc. Your paper wholesaler also has good deals on mounting boards. You'll be competing with small sign shops in your area, so find out what they do.

Fine art printing

Try your hand at giclee fine art printing. That's the fancy, French way of saying limited edition prints produced on an inkjet printer. Did you know Thomas Kinkade galleries use giclee prints? Often an artist will touch up and highlight the giclee print with paint to, well, fool people into paying thousands of dollars for an inkjet print. A few years ago the standard was to do these prints on an Iris giclee printer that cost about $80,000. Today, similar results can be obtained from an inkjet printer that costs much less than that. The beauty of this method is that one can archive the digital file of the artwork and print it on demand. There are no expensive press runs, and these prints sell from $50 on up.

Also consider the source of the digital image. A few years ago, one needed to spend a fortune on a digital camera that could faithfully capture a large work of art. The standard method for capturing art has been to use a large-format film camera, then scan the 5 x 7-inch transparency on a drum or high-end flatbed scanner. Entering this marketplace used to cost more than $100,000.

Not so today - six-plus megapixels will do a fair job for most artwork, and even lesser large-format print devices are successfully producing pages in this market. There are a growing number of fine art printmakers throughout the world. Artists' canvas for inkjet printers starts at $2 per square foot.

Large-format printing can be a satisfying, creative and lucrative venture, or a costly descent into a graveyard of bad investment and squandered effort. Large-format printers are ungainly looking beasts, but there are some tasks such a device can do better than anythins else.