Large format printer

[The Crofter]

For several months I have been deliberating whether to purchase an Epson 7880 or a Canon IPF6100. There are pro's and con's for each machine so if anyone uses one could I have some real world feedback please.

[WelshFramer]

I have an Epson 4800 so can't help directly. However...

The problem with Epson printers is that the jets clog and a lot of ink can be used clearing them. Having said that, I've had the 4800 for about 2 years and have never done a power clean. Most days I do a quick auto nozzle check which doesn't use very much ink and that seems to keep it going.

Ink costs on the wide format printers are cheap relative to Epson's cheaper printers. The software will provide a report of how much ink is used for each job (which helped me with my initial costings). Epson provide a cost calculator at: http://www.epson.co.uk/RunningCostCalculator/index.html.

The inks seems to be very fade resistant. I printed an image onto some acid free card, covered half of the image with a piece of mountboard, and left it on the windowsill in the conservatory for a year. When I removed the mountboard I couldn't see any signs of fading. Presumably performance would be even better on proper Epson stock.

[CanvasChris]

Hi pat

My story.... I had all good intentions of purchasing an Epson 9800 at the Focus on Imaging exhibition 2 February's ago and arrived at the stand cash in hand. What greeted me was a printer that was badly banding and showed signs of gloss differential and bronzing. Chin firmly scrapping the ground I retired to the bar to gather my thoughts and thinking if Epson displayed their printers at a show like this what would be in for?? Looking through the show brochure I saw Canon had a new model out with 12 inks!!! and was advertised as Fine Art quality. Off I went to the Canon stand.... 1st stand as you walk in, guess I had my blinkers on.. and was completely blown away with the quality and speed of the printer. Talking to the Canon reps they had nothing but praise for the Epsons and couldn't understand why they looked so bad. Off again to to Epson stand and got someone who wouldn't listen to my comments on their prints and slated Canon.

The moral of my story...
I have had a Canon iPF8000 since then and it is a superb machine in every way. I couldn't praise Canon more highly for the whole customer experience and especially print quality. The major gripe against Epsons is their tendency to clog, which I never get with the Canon. Which ever way you go they do have a high running cost and you'll think where does all the ink go... even when you are not printing. I never switch my printer off and leave it to fall into sleep mode and every 24hrs it wakes up and agitates the ink reservoirs and thats it. In my opinion you won't go wrong with a Canon.

You'll find a brilliant resource for Canon Wide Format here.... http://canonipf.wikispaces.com/

CanvasChris

[The Crofter]

Thanks for the replies, I knew the epson was a bit expensive to keep ticking over but did not realise the canon was the same. Can you quantify the amount of ink wasted each month ?. My usage will be infrequent but I am keen to expand my range by getting into canvas prints and the 2400 (13") is way too small. I do like the 6100 auto paper sensing and bar coding to mark the roll length etc. Also the sheer waste of ink when changing form colour to b&w on the epson is ridiculous !.

[CanvasChris]

As an average, when I print canvas using an 8bit 8pass setting it uses approx 9mils of ink per sq/m. On a 16bit 16pass it uses approx 13mils per sq/m.

The reason the printer is left on is so it only does a nozzle check first before a print and only then a cleaning cycle if need be, which isn't very often.

All the Canons barcode the roll, but to be honest it then has to cut that part off so wasting an awefull lot of media if you print a lot of 1 offs. I personally have never used that function.

Ink costs for a 330ml tank are £90 +vat and £170+ Vat for the 700mils, and there are 12 of them.

If your customers are going to be photographers... picky lot when it comes to colour matchng ... you will need to profile your media. You can get custom profiles made or you can invest in a EyeOne Photo and do them yourself. This is what I did so I have the flexibility to try new media and get it right the first time.

If you are printing canvas are you going to seal the print? They do scratch and this will protect them from fingers and moisture.

If you are printing infrequent maybe it would be better to outsource?

CanvasChris

[The Crofter]

Thanks for the info, I did look at outsourcing but if all goes well the printer would pay for itself in a year or so and would be offset against tax as well. My collegue in the gallery also produces building drawings on a regular basis and would use me to print plans. Not exactly fine art but it would cover the running costs assuming £1 per day. The ink usage of 9mils/sq m, is this per tank or across all tanks ?.

I have a printer profiling system but it is tedious as the patches have to be manually input. Can't afford an automatic device so purchasing profiles would be a better option. Doubt I will be usng more than say 4 different media.

[CanvasChris]

Hi Pat

I also print posters and the odd plan... keeps the old girl ticking over during the 'quiet' times.

9mil is an overall figure for the area and media setting. The print log will give you some indication of usage. I printed 2 42" x 72" posters yesterday coverage was about 40% and they were around the 8.5mil mark each. That was on a 300ppi and (1200 x 1200) 4pass onto matt paper.

When working your running costs out don't forget to factor in the print heads. Canon reckon you'll get about 7000 A1's out of a print head and @ about £400 EACH!!! .... there's 2!!... it can work out expensive. The meter registers 1 click per A4 so an A1 will click 8 times. Waste tanks are about £40 too.

PM me your email and I'll send you some PDF's on running costs and head life and Willheim(sp) results.

CanvasChris

[The Crofter]

Thanks Chris, email icon enabled.

[Spit]

Waste tanks are about £40 too.

Maybe Moglets advice on that might save a few bucks, if you can find the appropriate eeprom resetter
http://theframersforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2349

[summer-data]

If you've already got one by now, sorry this is late i haven't been around much. I have a canon w6200 it's quite old and very tempramental!! i've been looking into it and you can hire instead of buy, might be an option before you commit to buy one, this would allow you to see if the printer is suitable and how much work it will bring in...just a thought

[The Crofter]

Thanks, unfortunately trade is not good enough to justify the outlay this year. Actually it is the smaller items that are selling well !