Wide-format printers are the heavyweights of the printer world, reaching up to 1,000 pounds, although some are meant to sit on a desk. Many include a stand and a tray to catch the prints. Then there are the workhorse printers that can easily measure 7 x 5 feet, which are built around a huge cabinet and often set up in their own room.
Most of the newer models have a touchscreen for interacting with the printer. Some flagship models include a powerful processor such as an Intel Core i7, as much as 64GB of RAM, and large hard drives or flash storage for images.
Performance
Speed is of the essence with wide-format printing. There’s nothing worse than waiting for a print, and nothing better than a printer finishing a job quickly (and correctly) and moving on to its next task. The more you use a wide printer, the cheaper (and more valuable to the company) it can become.
Wide-format printers not only supersize prints but create beautifully detailed output for a variety of purposes, from event graphics to those oversized checks for lottery winners. On the downside, the more detail the print requires, the slower the printing. Using high-end photo paper or canvas, which require more ink, things slow down even further.
While the current speed demons can pump out roughly 5,000 square feet per hour in draft mode (for checking, proofing or marking up a print), most slow down to under 500 square feet per hour for final prints. That’s still fast enough to pump out dozens of D-sized (24 x 36-inch) prints an hour.
Supported Media
All wide-format printers can work with plain, heavy bond, and photographic paper and automatically adjust how much ink is used to prevent bleed-through and missed spots. Many go a step further with the ability to print on a less common stock, like a film for backlit advertising or vinyl for an outdoor banner or poster. Some devices can even print on textiles for an old-master look or to simulate what a new textile would look like.
Like an office printer with several paper trays, to support this variety of media, the larger printers can hold up to four separate rolls of paper, ready to switch on demand. Most entry-level wide printers have a single roll, though.
Ink Types
Most inks either are water- or solvent-based, with the former generally being more expensive and subject to degradation if left outside. Solvent-based inks are less expensive, waterproof and resist fading, so they’re the better choice for outdoor applications.
The ink’s color comes from either a dye or a pigment, but this constitutes only a small portion of the formula. Dye inks are made from organic compounds and are generally bright, but often transparent in thin layers and degrade in bright sunlight; over time, an orange portion of a banner might end up looking yellowish. Pigment inks are made from opaque minerals that provide better coverage. They look duller but tend to last longer.
The third class of ink includes a curing agent to solidify the liquid ink before it leaves the printer. The way it works is that, after the ink is laid onto the paper, intense ultraviolet lights are aimed at the ink, curing it in less than a second. It is dry to the touch and good for outdoor use.
Consumables
Getting a wide-format printer is only the start as far as costs go. As with every printer, the costs of ink, paper, and waste containers add up when you’re using it every day. Depending on how it’s used and how often, the printheads might need replacing.
The good news is that these wide-body printers use ink tanks as large as 700 milliliters, so they’re cheaper on a per-ounce basis than desktop printers, and the paper rolls actually work out to be fairly inexpensive on a square-foot basis. Regardless of which printer you choose, it’ll be cheaper to print this specialty material in-house than have it done by a local print shop. For instance, a 24 x 36-inch print on plain paper might cost about $2 to print in-house – one-tenth of what a print shop might charge.