Printers

[mags]

..hope u dont mind me posting this topic but would appreciate u guys' advice.

have presently got an epson photo 750 printer (A4), am considering buying an a3 (probably photo 1290), with one of the main reasons being that i can print edge to edge on A4 however am receiving conflicting advice about this. some say its not worth the hassle trying to set it up for edge to edge a4 and would waste plenty paper in doing so, others say it would work ok - and ican't get a concrete answer from epson.

what do u think?

[mags]

..hope u dont mind me posting this topic but would appreciate u guys' advice.

have presently got an epson photo 750 printer (A4), am considering buying an a3 (probably photo 1290), with one of the main reasons being that i can print edge to edge on A4 however am receiving conflicting advice about this. some say its not worth the hassle trying to set it up for edge to edge a4 and would waste plenty paper in doing so, others say it would work ok - and ican't get a concrete answer from epson.

what do u think?

[gwpriester]

Why do you need to print edge to edge?

If there is a good reason for it, then go for it. But if not, save yourself the bucks and take your spouse, significant other, neighbor, conference moderator, [ ] other, out for a fabulous dinner with an excellent bottle of Bordeaux :-)

Gary

Gary Priester

Moderator Person

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Be it ever so humble...</a>

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[tad]

Greetings,

After YEARS of bad-mouthing inkjet printers, I must now eat my words. I found one that actually works.

The Epson 2000P.

I am astounded. The images look great and haven't faded after three months in a sunny window.

HOWEVER, other inksets DO fade, regardless of claims. So do your own testing.

Rgds,,,,,,,Tad....
ps. We should ALL take Gary & Mary to dinner. But they DO have to show up.......t.

[mags]

thanks gary and tad for your responses.

in answer to gary's question, i don't intend printing completely edge to edge in a4, it is for letterheads etc when i want, say for example, blocks of colour, graphics, to be printed completely to the edge, unlike my current printer which leaves a little margin. (and ideally i would like an a3 printer, using an a3 layout with a4 guides and use a4 paper)

but hey, if you are ever over in bonnie scotland i'll resist the urge to buy the printer and treat you to some tasty haggis instead [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

mags

[Clements]

Tad, turning a new leaf ...eh? [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img] What brought you around to the 2000 model?

Mags, as posted earlier, I've have a Epson 3000. I could not find a printer that prints to the paper's edge (printers need an edge for their feed mechanism to grab the paper) but I needed something that could print "full bleed" (rangeing from 8.5 x 11 to 11 x 17) and the only solution was to find a printer that handles oversize paper. The artwork will then need to have crop marks to mark the desired edges (margins) on the oversize paper. Manually trimming the output is the last step. This method works but is time consuming so not too good for large volumes. If you decide to go this route then also invest in a good, precision paper cutter (one with a blade mounted on a guide rail).

I have produced some very nice looking covers for reports which I then have laminated or use as inserts for the sleeves of 3-ring binders.

Regards.

[tad]

Why the 2000P? Years of testing, John, years of testing.

First printer I found that didn't fade was an 18dpi robot airbrush in New Hampshire. Shot acrylic paint. Next was an electrostatic Xerox in Irvine, California; about 150dpi. Used pigmented inks, something "new" at the time. Then the $100,000 (plus) laser printers; 400dpi. Finally the Lambdas & Lightjets. Photo quality on photo paper. A bit pricey - around $200,000, I think.

Prints from all of these could take 3 months of direct sun with NO VISIBLE CHANGE. (my modest standard)

Watched Epson suffer many embarrassments (1270 comes to mind); but they kept trying, and now the 2000P meets my fade test minimums. Admittedly, the color gamut is restricted; and you can't use it as a proof printer because of metamerism; but, hey, it's less than $1000, and it works.

Now to save up for the Epson 10000, which prints on canvas as big as a door.
(Sure do wish Xara would implement LARGE imaging)
----(leaf detail attached) ----
Regards ,,,,,,,, Tad . [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[jclements]

Tad, I just looked at the spec sheet on the 2000 and I still have a few questions if you don't mind.

Is it truely "borderless". If so, how does the feeding work without smearing the ink?

Paper thickness spec was not given. There must be limits? Could "card" stock be used?

Ink cartidges. Are they similar in size/capacity to the 8xx, 15xx, series printers or are they larger (I hope).

Ink cartridges, what do you pay for them?

Feeding and Alignment: Does the paper make U-turn or does it feed on a more or less straight path? My Epson 3000 can have problems in "grabbing" paper and not feeding properly (paper can get at a slight angle).

If mulitple prints are made at one time, does the image print of each page at the same place (in otherwords, can the image shift slightly left or right from page to page as each page is being feed due to the feeding process)?

Thanks for any info you can share, John.

[Doug-O]

A friend recently purchased an Epson Stylus Photo 890 printer. I've seen some output and it is truly amazing! Epson makes several models in this line. The 780, 785EPX and 890 can print boarderfree for full bleed printing up to 8.5x11. The 1280 can print up to 13x19. These printers use 6 colors. There are several types of paper available, one (I believe it's called archival paper) is supposed to be good for up to 200 years. I think another of the great features for these printers is that the mechanism that actually "shoots" the droplets of ink is part of the printer, not part of the ink cartridges.

My friend brought in several printouts of pictures he had taken with his digital camera and they were awesome. He also printed an image that was digitally scanned from film on a drum scanner and the detail was astonding. Man, wish I could afford one!

Doug

[rheaton]

I actually have the opposite opinion about this. I had a Cannon that had the print head as part of the printer mechanisim. This printer saw heavy use and after 7-8 months the print head failed. $175 USD for just the printhead replacement on a $500 (at the time) printer.

I like the HP method. Put in a new cartridge and you are putting in a new printhead. If you need large format, look at the HP2500. I have not done any one-to-one quality comparisons, but if the 2500 is even close to the HP1215/18's quality, you have no worries.