3800 and Long Prints

[photographist]

Good morning…

This question has two facets.   My issue is that I’m drawn to the Epson 3800 for price, weight and 17” carriage, but approx 5-10% of my prints are non-standard and/or very long (1:10) prints.    I know that the 3800 will not have a roll print holder, but I’m wondering if I can still use very long sheets with this printer.  I know using Image Print (IM) I can use many lengths and that ColorByte plans to come out with a version of IM for the 3800.  However, in the mean time I have the following questions:

1.   Is there a restriction in either the driver or the physical hardware that would prevent me from manually cutting and  feeding a 17x40” sheet through the printer successfully?
2.   Is there a restriction in the hardware or driver that would prevent me from creating a paper holder for the roll (glorified TP holder   ) and feeding the uncut paper through the printer, completing the print and manually trimming the print from the roll?

As you can tell, I don’t have much experience in this area and have up to know, been precutting the sheets and printing up to 66” successfully via my 2200 and IM.   Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Jeffrey V

[JeffKohn]

1.   Is there a restriction in either the driver or the physical hardware that would prevent me from manually cutting and  feeding a 17x40” sheet through the printer successfully?

Pre-cut sheets should work , it's just a matter of finding out what lengths the printer can handle. Early word is that there's a 38" limit, but I think the definitive answer will have to wait until it starts shipping (or at least review samples start shipping). It could be that the the 38" length is what's officially supported, but the print driver may accomodate longer lengths if you're using a custom page size.

2.   Is there a restriction in the hardware or driver that would prevent me from creating a paper holder for the roll (glorified TP holder   ) and feeding the uncut paper through the printer, completing the print and manually trimming the print from the roll?

I doubt this will work, because a printer has to handle paper feeding differently when using roll-paper. It has to know not to try to feed the paper completely through or it will end up feeding the entire roll onto your floor.

If it is possible to use roll paper in this way, then it would be essentially the same as the way the 2400 works (no built-in cutter, but the driver can handle rolls). But I have a feeling Epson isn't going to allow this functionality because they still want people to buy the more expensive 4800.

[Jerry]

I have written Epson America concerning the max print length possible with the new 3800 printer.  the response was- "According to the spec from the engineers and our own in-house testing you will be able to print a page length up to 37 inches when using the rear manual or standard sheet feed setting. For the front manual setting though we can only go up to 24 inches".  This information appears to be firm enough to base a purchase decision on if a print length of greater than 22 inches is a critical point.