But your price of $7500 is a used price, with $20,000 closer to the norm (just for the printer) for new. But whether it's still tough enough for what you want you'd have to investigate. The newer Eco Solvent printers are an attempt at a compromise between the strength (and toxicity) of a regular solvent printer and the less toxic "Eco" solvent used. And, of course, when you get into solvent printing the cost doesn't stop with the printer but also requires an exhaust system as well as whatever local environmental permits are required to put toxic solvent into the air. So if you're wanting a canvas that both doesn't need to be coated and also has a high resistance to both mechanical and chemical damage then you're needing a solvent printer.
But to a professional customer, if you advertise durability then you need to deliver that. To a uncritical nonprofessional customer then you might be able to get away using the "new improved" glossy/satin canvases since they probably will just be putting it up in their homes and may not even want it to last very long. I've experimented with a few and they're still not as tough as a good acrylic latex overcoat like Eco Print Shield.īut a lot depends on who you're selling it to. Many of the newer glossy/satin canvases do claim not to need coating, but "need" is a matter of definition and they're referring more to increased resistance to mechanical damage than to chemical.
This is because the open pores in the microporous coating that receive the ink still remain open after printing and need to be sealed. There is no water based canvas that doesn't require sealing in order to protect it from environmental contaminants. I've been doing a lot of canvas investigation and experimentation over the last year and this is what I've found out: Take a good color reference image file* and have it printed on the various products you are considering, examine them all after output for a start. I can only provide my experience working with a huge company who’s sole output is inkjet to canvas. They had literarily hundreds of Epson large format printers for this output in the one location I was working.ĭoes that mean an Epson is the best printer for canvas? I can’t say. What I can tell you is this: I did color management work for a company called Canvas On Demand ( ) You’ll get a lot of opinions, a few, based on factual experience. I really appreciate anyone taking the time to help out. width of 54", I'm impartial and am open to suggestions on what is and is not important. With regards to other features, aside from min. In terms of budget, I was looking around $7500 (or less) to purchase or roughly $650/ month lease (I don't want to rule out $20K+ Printers, but I would have to lease one if possible).Īnother really valuable feature for my application, if it exists, is a printer that has a cutter capable of cutting through canvas (up to roughly 20 mil).
Some preliminary research has led to believe that any solvent or latex printer will address this need, and possibly an inkjet printer with a pre-treated canvas ( Can anyone confirm this?) One of the most important factors is the ability eliminate the need to laminate the canvas after printing / before stretching. I'm looking for advice on purchasing or leasing a large format printer that will be used almost exclusively for canvas prints. I'll start with a disclaimer: I'm pretty new to the world of large format printing, so I apologize in advance for my ignorance and possibly silly question that result from that ignorance.