Wide-format Device Guide: an Essential Tool
The following article was originally published by Wide-format Impressions. To read more of their content, subscribe to their newsletter, Wide-Format Impressions.
Variety is a great thing … up to a point. Then it gets confusing.
Anybody who has the chance to dig into the range of wide-format inkjet devices on offer at, for instance, the annual PRINTING United Expo, will quickly realize a couple of things. First, the range of machines – and the iterations of those machines – on the market today is truly vast. Second, the differences between those machines, which can have a profound effect of what they can do and, hence, the wide-format products they can produce, are profoundly important.
Download. Use. Enjoy!
Guide to Wide-format Printers
Luckily, the team at Wide-format Impressions has published its 2024 Guide to Wide-format Printers. The guide is divided into sections listing flatbed, hybrid, and roll-to-roll printers, and features useful specifications including print width or size, standard and expanded color options, maximum print thickness, and the type of drying or curing technology utilized. This information – essential for finding the right machine – is provided for roughly 500 commercially-available models.
The Guide’s wealth of information puts the power of comparison into the hands of companies seeking to purchase their first, or next, wide-format printing device. Further, it allows them to drill down into the information to create a list of key devices to investigate, whether online or at an industry trade show, and move closer to a purchase decision.
Using the Guide
While the Guide can’t make your equipment decision for you, it can move you along the path to your decision. But first, it is advised that you ask yourself some key questions, which will help you refine your choices. They include:
• What is the maximum print width I seek?
• Based on the durability of the products I will produce, what ink systems should I consider?
• Will it be important for my company to print directly onto rigid substrates?
• Do I need white ink capability, or spot varnish?
• Will a CMYK color set allow me to reach my quality goals, or do I need an expanded color set?
• What is the maximum print resolution I seek?
Answer these questions. Come up with your own, based on facility-specific needs. Take careful notes. The result – when using the Guide – will be to create a shopping list of the machines that will meet the needs of your company. From there, contact OEMs or dealers, discuss, make your decision.
Why So Many Printers?
All totaled, the Guide provides information on nearly 100 flatbed units, more than 50 hybrid printers, and more than 300 roll-to-roll machines. But why so many choices?
The wide range of choices among wide-format devices speaks to the wide, and expanding, range of applications produced with them. For instance, the needs a of a company that will focus solely on vehicle wraps will be vastly different from others focusing on high-volume retail signage. Similarly, the needs of a sign shop will be different from, for instance, companies producing high-quality, high-ticket fine art prints.
Using the Guide also helps you expand your knowledge because it includes equipment manufacturers you may know well, and other manufacturers who may not yet be in your lexicon.
Get the Guide at Wide-format Impressions
The guide is free on wideformatimpressions.com, and includes equipment announced as recently as April 2024.
While variety can be confusing, the Guide is the remedy. Download and enjoy!
Dan Marx, Content Director for Wide-Format Impressions, holds extensive knowledge of the graphic communications industry, resulting from his more than three decades working closely with business owners, equipment and materials developers, and thought leaders.
