Want to print on roll paper without having to trim paper-confused!

[Jglaser757]

I have an epson and want to print 16x24 and 24x36 on Museo Silver Rag. I prefer sheet paper, But Museo does not come in those sizes.  I want to avoid paper trimming. So I am left getting roll paper.
I thought a 24" inch roll would work but I read somewhere that it won't print to the edge. Museo doesn't make a 17x25, but they do make a 24x36. I want to print the image and ship it! No fuss. Less I handle the paper the better. A 24 inch roll could give me a 16x24 and 24x36 but will the printer give a trimmed/ cut photograph with borderless or 1/4 border on all sides or will I have to trim.

Thanks
Jon

[Ken Doo]

You can print borderless on a 24" roll with an Epson printer.  You'll still have to trim about 1" off the leading and trailing edge.

ken

[Ferp]

You'll still have to trim about 1" off the leading and trailing edge.

And as I understand it, that's because you need to have the paper pinned down between the rollers before and after the print head in order not to have the roll paper curl up and be struck by the head.  So the paper needs to be advanced a little before the printing starts and a little paper needs to be left at the end when the printing stops.   I.e.  you need a leading and trailing margin, as Ken said.

[srialto]

I just went through some first time borderless printing issues on a 9800. Here is what I learned
Borderless printing only works with certain roll widths. For example it works with 44" rolls but not 42". To get it to print on the 42" roll I bought especially for this purpose I added an extra 2" on to the edge by carefully, flatly, extending the bottom couple inches of the roll by taping a letter size sheet to the backside. BUT I also disabled the paper monitoring in the printer panel, and I think that may have been enough. All of this is to get the printer to print the entire WIDTH of the roll, so your left and right edges have no white, assuming your image is the same width or bigger than the roll.

To get the printer to trim the TOP and BOTTOM you need to enable borderless printing and then "double cut." You can either have the print driver enlarge the print for you or enlarge it yourself. I am writing all this from memory, if you still get stuck LMK and I will go to my workstation and get the exact workflow.

[BillK]

To get it to print on the 42" roll I bought especially for this purpose I added an extra 2" on to the edge by carefully, flatly, extending the bottom couple inches of the roll by taping a letter size sheet to the backside. BUT I also disabled the paper monitoring in the printer panel, and I think that may have been enough. All of this is to get the printer to print the entire WIDTH of the roll, so your left and right edges have no white, assuming your image is the same width or bigger than the roll.

This may get you into trouble. For the printer to print borderless it has to print slightly past the edge of the paper.  The printer has sponges built into it to absorb the overspray, but they are only at the locations the printer was designed to print borderless at. once you go past the letter size paper extension you describe, ink will be sprayed where there is no sponge to absorb it. Making a mess out of things.

[Wayne Fox]

You can print borderless on a 24" roll with an Epson printer.  You'll still have to trim about 1" off the leading and trailing edge.

ken

you can get a full borderless print from epson on supported paper widths without having to trim the leading and trailing edge by using the double cut mode in the driver, which allows the printer to trim the necessary extra length.  It does use a little more paper than doing it yourself.

[bgphoto]

Wayne,

Thanks for the tip on Double Cut. It's a little late after printing a 14 piece job, but it will save me the next time around.

Ben

[srialto]

This may get you into trouble. For the printer to print borderless it has to print slightly past the edge of the paper.  The printer has sponges built into it to absorb the overspray, but they are only at the locations the printer was designed to print borderless at. once you go past the letter size paper extension you describe, ink will be sprayed where there is no sponge to absorb it. Making a mess out of things.

That makes sense, not a frivolous limitation as I somehow imagined.

[srialto]

One other comment, it can be useful to have the printer trim the top and bottom using double cut, even if the sides need to be manually trimmed. In my case I wasn't bleeding off the sides of the paper and it was a big time saver / waste reducer to avoid making 40" cuts on two sides with a straight edge.