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Author Topic: Production- machine for art printing  (Read 2907 times)

Sunny Alan

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Production- machine for art printing
« on: April 16, 2014, 08:08:58 am »

Looking for a Printing machine for photo & art-reprinting purpose.

In general people suggest Epson Stylus 9890, 9900, similar Canon or HP.
All these family of aqua- inkjet printers are cheaper but ink and other consumables are very costly. Need coated media, special ink etc.
Agree, output is of quality, but costly.

Is there another grade /family of machines that give ‘almost similar’ quality but able to print on uncoated /diverse kind of media, cheaper inks (aqua or other), and minimum double or more speed.

Any cost-effective alternatives please….
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Scott Martin

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Re: Production- machine for art printing
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2014, 08:58:14 am »

Is there another grade /family of machines that give ‘almost similar’ quality but able to print on uncoated /diverse kind of media, cheaper inks (aqua or other), and minimum double or more speed. Any cost-effective alternatives please….

Solvent printers are a small step forward but UV Curable printing is the method for low cost printing on a variety of media. The inks are several orders of magnitude cheaper and the cost of the machines is several orders of magnitude more expensive. More up front costs but much lower consumable costs making it desirable for very large volume workflows. While the quality used to be inferior, the latest printers and inksets offer amazing quality that's pretty similar to aqueous. While some materials are more desirable you can print on anything, even metal and glass! I've seen people print on sections of fencing on these printers. And there's the potential for vastly higher print speeds since some of these pritners have lots of print heads. Again the up front costs are greater but one of these can outperform dozens of aqueous printers.

I just posted a blog post that has some photos and a video of a top notch UV Curable printer running. http://www.on-sight.com/what-my-days-look-like-as-a-consultant/

Also, Latex is a cost effective method particularly for canvas printing. There aren't many latex printers that aren't roll to roll but I do have a client that prints with latex to bare wood...
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Scott Martin
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Sunny Alan

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Re: Production- machine for art printing
« Reply #2 on: April 16, 2014, 10:53:39 am »

Hi Scott,
Thanks for the advice.

Now going through your 2010 Newsletter, you predicted as below:
"Prediction: A large format printer brand will match the color gamut and fine dither found in Epson's 9900 printer, but at a lower price point."

Is this actually happened, if yes which brand & model printer, please ?

In fact I have shortlisted 9900, but need something with at least double speed at cheaper or even at a marginally higher price.

But the quality side, no compromise....
Because I need to print film positives on the proposed machine for my large format screen printer.

Anything existing ?
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Scott Martin

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Re: Production- machine for art printing
« Reply #3 on: April 16, 2014, 03:49:19 pm »

Wow, it's fun to look back at those predictions and hopes. Canon never came out with that 29+ megapixel camera, darnit... As for the printer, I had a beta Canon x300 and was finding the "Max Number of Passes" mode to have a much better dot placement and the new inks to have a different shaped but similar volume to the 9900. Of course it wasn't till the 9400 that the dither pattern was updated and the speed improved. A 8400/9900 evaluation and comparison might be in order for you. I love em both and each has it's strengths.
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Scott Martin
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Wayne Fox

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Re: Production- machine for art printing
« Reply #4 on: April 19, 2014, 06:07:46 pm »

I just posted a blog post that has some photos and a video of a top notch UV Curable printer running. http://www.on-sight.com/what-my-days-look-like-as-a-consultant/

Some cool stuff.  especially intrigued with the direct to dibond you showed in the video.  Curious as to the finish for a print like that, is it similar to the chromaluxe dye sub aluminum prints as far as smoothness and gloss?
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Scott Martin

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Re: Production- machine for art printing
« Reply #5 on: April 19, 2014, 11:42:55 pm »

Some cool stuff.  especially intrigued with the direct to dibond you showed in the video.  Curious as to the finish for a print like that, is it similar to the chromaluxe dye sub aluminum prints as far as smoothness and gloss?

It's quite different. You can change the settings on the curing laps to make them either matte or semigloss. I always go with semigloss and add a UV liquid lam on top of the colors because it gives it a (low) glossy look with deeper blacks. The big difference is in the surface texture. Chromaluxe prints are perfectly smooth and super high gloss. UV Curable prints have thick ink that leaves an embossed 3D surface that can be really fun to touch, since they are so durable. Feeling the texture in an image can be a fun novelty and people get a kick out of the interactive nature of them. In this image Little Pinky, people really enjoy feeling the different quiting on the trailer.

http://www.on-sight.com/images/LittlePinky.jpg
« Last Edit: April 19, 2014, 11:44:27 pm by Scott Martin »
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Scott Martin
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langier

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Re: Production- machine for art printing
« Reply #6 on: April 20, 2014, 12:33:49 pm »

Do the math on the cost/sf on the Canon and Epson printers. Ink consumption is pretty steady, usually no more than 1-2ccs per square foot at the most. With the 700ml carts on the Epson 9900, that amounts to .36-.72 per square foot. Add your favorite paper or canvas, say some nice Epson Exhibition Fiber paper at perhaps $1.80/sf, your total cost per would run about $2.52 max. Add say 25% for wastage on material, ink, cleaning, you are about $3.15 per sf and I think I'm on the high side when I consider my materials, etc.

Compared to sending out the work or running in a dark room, these costs are pretty low, IMO. I know when I used to run C-prints and Ciba/Ilfochorme, it was much, much higher, especially the time and labor it took to do these processes. Factor in inflation, from 15-20 years ago…

I'd say rather than worry about the material costs here, find a fair price for the quality of the work you are doing and then just do it. If you are looking for lowest price to compete with a bulk lab or wallyworld, don't. It's not worth the aggravation. Spend a little more, be a little bit better and just do it.
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Larry Angier
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yannb

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Re: Production- machine for art printing
« Reply #7 on: May 01, 2014, 04:46:00 pm »

Hello,

The Epson SureColor 70600 (or 70670, depending on your region) is a high-end 64" solvent printer that may fit you purpose. Next to the CMYK inks, it's got light cyan, light magenta, orange and grey. The 10 color version features white and metallic ink as well. Image quality is almost the same as the Stylus Pro 9900.
See http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Pro/SeriesSureColorS70670/Overview.do?BV_UseBVCookie=yes

Regards,
Yann
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Sunny Alan

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Re: Production- machine for art printing
« Reply #8 on: May 01, 2014, 11:16:55 pm »

But I am heard they are priced very high, beyond justification...  >:(

See the price: 5000 for a 9900 and a five times 25000 for nearby Surecolor model !
« Last Edit: May 01, 2014, 11:20:12 pm by Sunny Alan »
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