Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Key factors to consider when buying a wide format printer – Part 2

Ease of Use

Here is a question for you. Who taught you how to get money out of the ATM at the bank?

The answer for most everybody is “No one”, you just figured it out. The interface & directions on the screen led you to make the right logical choices for your particular transaction.

Well, that is the direction that a number of wide format printers have gone recently.  While it was KIP who led the way about 5 years ago, since then other companies have followed suit, (Xerox, Ricoh). By putting an intuative touchscreen interface onto their multifunction printer,copier scanners, manufacturers have removed the need for specialist or key operators. Allowing anyone with a need to easily make a wide format scan or copy

In addition to the touchscreen functionality, most wide format printer manufacturers have been adding the ability to print directly from a USB drive or device at the printers touchscreen.

This accommodates walk-up printing at the printer,however,  the ability to preview the files before printing, and build a collated set of prints for multiple sets, or printed in set order, it is still limited to only a couple of manufacturers at the time of this posting.

Software/Utilities

All manufactures offer a range productivity tools, with a broad range of features. If you need specific functionality make sure that you understand what, if any, additional cost those features will add to the purchase of the equipment. The price for some features or functions can be quite substantial, especially if that feature/function comes with a recurring monthly maintenance cost.

The next generation of convenience printing to wide format printers is the addition of Cloud Printing and Scanning.

Most require registration with a 3rd party website, which then allows you to “print ” to the website from selected  web connected devices ,and or applications, the website then provides a file processing service, converting your file into a print ready file, before passing the file to your printer for output.

Currently these Cloud print service websites are been offered free. This type service is useful for those who do not have any concerns about document security or privacy

The newest cloud print functionality is one that enables the printer itself to receive print jobs from any web-connected device directly. Eliminating the need to register with 3rd party websites, leaving the security of the printing infrastructure to the owner of the printer, and the processing of the file to the printers controller, which is optimized to process the complex data that often makes up wide format print files.

Friday, March 4, 2011

Key factors to consider when buying a wide format technical printer – Part 1

Printer types
Monochrome wide format printers generally come in one of three configurations: printer only, printer copier, or multi-function.

Printer only configurations are just that, they print digital files submitted from a user’s desktop, or in the case of Web enabled printers, from a Web connected device, (Smartphone, Tablet etc), or they can print from the printer’s interface. This can include, (not all manufacturers support this), browsing to network folders, USB, or FTP locations to build a job directly on the printers interface.

Some printers also have scanners built into them, (Printer/Copier), allowing you to print from the network, make copies, but not scan to file.

Speeds
Evaluating a printer just by the numbers, (feeds & speeds), is potentially decieving. Most printers in the same class will have almost identical speed specifications; however, their productivity may vary substantially.

What affects this most often is the ability of the print controller to process the file data, quickly, and accurately.

Most wide format printers only process one (1) file ahead, (processing 1 file , while printing another), this means there could be a delay while the controller processes large amounts of data, slowing the output of the printer, or creating an “Intercopy Gap”.

More advanced wide format printers use a process called pull ahead processing, this allows the controller to keep processing files until there are no more to convert. Pull ahead processing minimizes the intercopy gap, allowing the print engine to maintain rated print speed, and to complete the print job quicker.

 Most wide format monochrome printers are rated to print a designated number of D-sized drawings (24" x 36") per minute (ppm).

 Black & white printers will range from 3 ppm in the low-volume segment, 6–9 ppm in the mid-volume segment and 13–22 ppm in the high-volume segment. These speeds represent the physical output speed of the engine.



 Imaging Technology
 All major monochrome wide format printers on the market today use LED as its primary imaging technology. LED technology uses a light-emitting diode array as a light source in the printhead.  

The toner image is fixed to the paper using either a heat and pressure mechanism (Hot Roll Fuser) or a radiant fusing technology (Oven Fuser) to melt the toner particles onto the paper being printed on.

It has been suggested by some wide format manufacturers that there are energy benefits to be gained by using one fusing method over another. However, all printers regardless of technology use about the same amount of power when printing, and all manufacturers employ comprehensive energy management tools, to the extent that the real difference is negligble. (pennies a month, not dollars).

The standard for energy management is the Energy Star rating, which all machines you consider should be Energy Star qualified. (More on this in a later post)