A4 Printers with Roll Capability

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hamisht

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

#193807 24-Mar-2016 19:42

Hiya!

Would anyone have any recommendations for a A4 printer, that has a function where you can print from a Paper Roll? Mum is interested in printing some panoramic photos, but seeing as the print shops charge quite a large fee for it, she has thought of investing in her own home printer instead...

Thanks!

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davidcole

4887 posts

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#1519287 24-Mar-2016 20:37

How big a roll? We use a roll printer st work....but it designed for 700ppm full colour. And takes about half a km of paper to spool up.

I'm not aware of any home ones. How long are you after? Maybe you'll have to print a3 or a2 and cut. Probably somewhere like warehouse stationery....or Harvey Normans etc (on sale) might be the most cost effective.

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timmmay

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#1519303 24-Mar-2016 21:00

Having someone else print for you is generally cheaper. By the time you buy the printer, the ink, the paper, print three copies to get it right, home printing costs way more. I have access to trade prices for printing, which are a fair bit lower than general public prices, but no doubt someone is offering decent prints at reasonable prices.

hamisht

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1519308 24-Mar-2016 21:05

davidcole: How big a roll? We use a roll printer st work....but it designed for 700ppm full colour. And takes about half a km of paper to spool up.

I'm not aware of any home ones. How long are you after? Maybe you'll have to print a3 or a2 and cut. Probably somewhere like warehouse stationery....or Harvey Normans etc (on sale) might be the most cost effective.

I was thinking maybe A4 width, but long? Is it possible to just add your own paper size to a printer setting and do it that way? like trick the printer into just pulling through one long piece of paper?

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davidcole

4887 posts

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#1519311 24-Mar-2016 21:15

hamisht:
davidcole: How big a roll? We use a roll printer st work....but it designed for 700ppm full colour. And takes about half a km of paper to spool up.

I'm not aware of any home ones. How long are you after? Maybe you'll have to print a3 or a2 and cut. Probably somewhere like warehouse stationery....or Harvey Normans etc (on sale) might be the most cost effective.

I was thinking maybe A4 width, but long? Is it possible to just add your own paper size to a printer setting and do it that way? like trick the printer into just pulling through one long piece of paper?

Yeah you might be able to do that. Give it a custom paper size, I think an a3 is 420x297 (a4 is 210x297). So if you cut the a3 in half it'd be 420x148.5. Possibly depends on printer. Again orbs it easier to just print a3 and fit the picture to the width...then manually cut the Height.

mattwnz

16359 posts

Uber Geek

#1519365 24-Mar-2016 22:34

Some a3 printers may do it, if they allow custom paper settings. I will check my brother, as it can do a3. I thought some brands allowed you to do long banners, using a banner kit

RileyB

247 posts

Master Geek

#1525044 3-Apr-2016 09:28

Printers that can take rolls of paper are pretty expensive, the cheapest one I know of from Canon is $2000. As already stated, unless your doing a tonne of printing, and have a compelling reason to have your own printer (printing sensitive material, or need complete start to finish control over the product) then printing yourself makes no $ sense. Buying the paper alone often costs more then printing at Harvey Norman etc.

From memory, and 12x36 print from Harvey Norman is about $20-25 for retail if you are an member, and ~30% more if you are not (I get the same for around $10-12). Lets say you could print your self for half that (Unlikely, it will probably cost you at-least that amount to print yourself), then you would have to do 166 prints to break even on the cost of the printer, and that doesn't include maintance or wasted prints from errors etc.

hamisht

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1525045 3-Apr-2016 09:30

I ended up buying an HP DesignJet 500 off TradeMe for $93. Bit of cost involved in Ink, but was worth it. Did a test print of a poster and it came out great.

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RileyB

247 posts

Master Geek

#1525106 3-Apr-2016 10:11

Didn't think of second hand, what did the ink cost for that, couple hundred?

hamisht

389 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1525128 3-Apr-2016 10:17

RileyB:

Didn't think of second hand, what did the ink cost for that, couple hundred?

It needed a new Black Print-head, which was $69, and new black ink which was close to $85. When it comes to the other inks (about half fill according to the level indicator), i'm going to shop around of course.

Considering Ink for my HP Deskjet 3070 costs $149 for the pack, and it's just your average A4 printer, it's not too bad.

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rayonline

1662 posts

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#1526702 6-Apr-2016 09:13

Epson R800 appears on Trademe. Home printing not cheap. The min you need to print is A4 size or 8 inch width rolls. If you print 6x4 at home the paper alone would be around 50c and that's not including ink.

plod

266 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1526704 6-Apr-2016 09:20

You are after a printer that does banner printing.

Fred99

10337 posts

Uber Geek

#1530442 12-Apr-2016 08:58

I had an Epson R1800 which printed roll paper up to 13". My god it was a pita...

You had to set up the roll holders on the rear paper feeder - which was a mission unless the printer was on a desk with clear space (ie not a wall) behind.. The leading edge of the paper had to be cut absolutely square, or it would come up with a paper load error. The instructions were a little confusing, it was very easy to press the wrong button and the damned thing would feed the entire roll onto the floor. Once that started, the only way to stop it seemed to be by pulling the power plug out from the wall socket. You had to be very careful with dust (as you do with sheet paper - but at least you're not handling it as much and can check each sheet) or you'll end up with white spots on your print - that especially after you'd inadvertently fed 10 metres of paper onto the floor. In theory you could swap out a cartridge mid way through a print job - in practice it always left a line of visible gloss differential - so you needed to be 100% certain that it wouldn't run out of ink half way through. Then the paper is curled, and I couldn't uncurl it. This a problem not just for how to handle the finished print, but for cutting it square with a rotary cutter, manhandling the paper to get it to sit flat is a problem. That adding to the problem with dust and/or marring the paper surface. Maybe with a lightweight paper, but not with premium photo paper.

For large format printers with integral paper cutters and where you'd be using the same paper stock, sure. For the smaller format printer it was a very unpleasant experience for me. I think I still have most of a 10m roll of Epson 13" premium semi-gloss photo paper sitting in a cupboard here, with the vague thought I could cut it into sheets to use it (I think my present printer handles up to 40 inch length sheet), but really I can't be bothered with trying.