Epson Stylus Pro 3880 or SC-P800 length limit for Multi-sheet feeder?

[W. Fisher]

The 3880 can print up to about 37 inches in length if you set it up in Custom Sizes in the Epson driver. I did one panorama a while back and it was about 36" in length, but I seem to recall it also affecting the width a bit with a larger white border on the sides (?).

Anyway, my normal print size (From cut and special ordered paper is 17x25.5 inches (Or 2:3 ratio for the 24x36mm format.). No problem other than you will have about a 1/4" white border (It won't do borderless). I use the pull up tray on the back and flip down the guide and put a clothespin on the left side to act as a guide on the longer ones. You might have to shim the small flip down one a bit to push the paper to the left a bit or it skews on longer feed (Crooked). I just wrapped a thing flatten piece of brass tubing with electrical tape. Someone on dpreview.com showed it.

The OP looks okay and could use the flat front feed as it only accepts about 16" width if his folded stock is too thick.

I tired to make a monkey-bar holder for roll paper on the 3880 but it had too many issues with me cutting the paper and side curl and head strikes so I gave that idea up.

I am waiting to see how the P800 will handle longer sizes, although I think I may dump Epson and go to the new Canon series to hopefully lessen the 3880 clogs (Yes it clogs!) and provide me a means to swap heads out easily. Maybe a better transport (No pizza wheel marks!) and larger gamut too.

W. Fisher

 

[Smile]

If only EPSON would be wise enough to make easily removable print heads like canon does? Why make it so hard to remove and clean?

 

[Trevorm7]

Thanks guys.

Also is there a cheaper printer that will do what I want to do? A $1200 pro photo printer with 12 colors is kind of overkill as I only need to print a bit of text in certain spots on charts. Unfortunately its the only thing I can find that's suitable.

I looked at wide format dotmatrix but I doubt those are very precise or have multi-sheet feeders or will do image files.

 

[Smile]

Have you looked at HP T120? 4 inks CMYK colors, RGB mode driven printer that can also print from roll paper. But keep in mind that the cartridges install into the printhead itself like on all cheap toss away single use printers. The ink carts are no longer installed like on Pro printers like HP500PS etc.

 

[Trevorm7]

Haven't seen that one. I'd prefer 17" width though and I can't find any data on if the tray holds multiple sheets. I'd need it to be able to hold and feed through atleast 14 sheets in a go.

Also print speed. Are these printers smart enough to skip past blank spots or do they go at a constant pace depending on setting?

 

[The Hat]

I reckon your pissing up a rope, your not going to find a printer that would be suitable for your throughput without paying big bucks, end of story.

To take a 14” wide sheet you’ll have to use an A2 printer and if you want a length of 25 feet you’ll also have to have an Epson with some sort of rip app., the alternative is to use a large LQ matrix mono printer..

 

[Trevorm7]

Oh no. I want 25 inch length not feet. 14inches x 25inches.

In that case is it not crazy to expect to be able to print 14 sheets with a small amount of scattered text(painted on a blank image file) in 3-5 minutes?

 

[The Hat]

Oh no. I want 25 inch length not feet. 14inches x 25inches.
In that case is it not crazy to expect to be able to print 14 sheets with a small amount of scattered text(painted on a blank image file) in 3-5 minutes?

Sorry for my mistake, I’m use to Metres not inches, most A3+ printers have a printable area up to 23 ½” and will take a 25” sheet no problems but that still leaves you short on the width because they only do 13” sheet width, so it’s back to looking at the A2 printers I am afraid..

 

[Smile]

If you going to be printing text then the multi color printers are overkill IMO, get the HP T120 or T111 or look in CAD printers. AFAIK T120 is the only 24in/A1 printer for cheap at that width that is.

 

[Trevorm7]

I think I'm gonna try getting a used older model like the Epson 3800 from eBay. The T120 is a foot wider which limits where i can fit it.

Worried about speed though, can't find any data on how fast it would be. Maybe someone here can test this: Try printing an image that is all white and see if it runs much faster than a full photo. Also how much faster is it when you set it to the lowest resolution draft setting and set the color to black only.