Luminous Landscape Forum

Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: jmagyar on June 10, 2011, 12:28:36 am

Title: 3880 Maximum Print Length
Post by: jmagyar on June 10, 2011, 12:28:36 am
I'm trying to find out if I can print panoramas up to 17x60 using flattened sheets cut from a roll. Contacting Epson was no help, but I saw a posting on this site stating that the Epson drivers limit the length to about 34 inches. Certainly ther is no physical reason it couldn't print longer. Even my R2880 will print up to 10' using cut sheets or rolls.

Can someone please clarify this. Do I have to get a 4880 to do this?
Title: Re: 3880 Maximum Print Length
Post by: howardm on June 10, 2011, 12:32:50 am
max length is around 37.5"

you could try using Qimage's tiling mechanism or get a RIP (or RIP-esque software like TurboPrint) or get a 4[89]xx printer if you just gotta have 60" length but the Epson driver is hardcoded to stop at 37.5"
Title: Re: 3880 Maximum Print Length
Post by: loonsailor on June 12, 2011, 11:41:10 am
the Epson driver is hardcoded to stop at 37.5"

Is that true both on PC and Mac?  I thought that the Mac driver allowed larger, though I've never tried it.
Title: Re: 3880 Maximum Print Length
Post by: mfryd on June 12, 2011, 07:26:29 pm
I believe Epson's Mac Driver is also limited to about 37".

Many "RIPs" bypass Epson's driver and are not subject to this limitation.  I have done longer prints on my Mac using the ColorBurst RIP that's bundled with the Graphic Arts edition.

Beware: the 3880 isn't designed to handle very long sheets of paper.  The built in guides just aren't designed for sheets over 3 feet long.   Personally, I worry about paper skew.  When you double the paper length, you double the impact of any paper skew.

When cutting your own sheets from a roll, you need to be careful to get a straight cut, and to get the curl out of the paper.

If you routinely print longer than 37", the 3880 may not be your best choice.
Title: Re: 3880 Maximum Print Length
Post by: JohnHeerema on June 12, 2011, 08:09:51 pm
Yes, the Mac driver is also limited to about 37 inches.