Accurate printer on to A4/3/ transparent film sheets in only black ink

Infole

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Hello all,

This is my first post here, and I've come packing a big question...

I need to purchase a printer that is capable of handling the production of very accurate drawings onto transparent film. The company prints off reference drawings to ensure the completed product matches the required specifications. The drawings vary between A4 and A3 size, but are only ever printed in black ink.

In terms of price range, I was thinking that a printer of this sort would easily break the thousand mark, which can be handled.

Thanks, I will be active to answer and further questions if anyone needs more details.

Edit: Some clarification that may be required is that currently we use a professional printing company to do these sheets - however as they can charge up to £10 a sheet and we have been known to need 100 in a month, we would like to do it ourselves.
 

cls

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The Artisan 1430 or Stylus Photo 1500W is the "main" carrier here for silkscreen printing application
they use the machine with a "black" ink Rip install 6 refill carts and use high UV blocking dye black ink

there was however a A4 alternative the Artisan 50 / Stylus Photo P50 but it not been produced anymore
 

Infole

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The Artisan 1430 or Stylus Photo 1500W is the "main" carrier here for silkscreen printing application
they use the machine with a "black" ink Rip install 6 refill carts and use high UV blocking dye black ink

there was however a A4 alternative the Artisan 50 / Stylus Photo P50 but it not been produced anymore

Many thanks for the reply, I will be sure to have a look at these printers.
I, stupidly, forgot to mention that it would be handy if the printer had copying capabilities (Plain A4 paper to transparent 'film'). I will look at these two, but if they don't is there another that does?
 

The Hat

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@Infole, Most inkjet printers don’t do really a good job at printing on clear film so you should bear that in mind, the way I used it was to print two sheets of the same image and overlay them on each other to sharpen and blacken the images, laser printer are so much easier to use.

If you are trying to get accrete or precise measurements then you need to use a drawing App. like Illustrator or Cad to be sure that the printed dimensions are correct.

upload_2015-7-31_12-12-29.png


You’d be better to get a printer that is suitable for reproducing on clear film than trying to get one that can print and scan, a stand alone scanner would be more usable..
 

Infole

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This may be totally incorrect, but, would it be wise to concentrate on printers that specialise in photos? I see that the Artisan 1430 (which I can't currently find for sale in UK) and 1500W mentioned by cls are concentrated on printing photos; and it would make sense to do so as photo paper is also glossy - but then again I might just be talking out of my arse now... (It's an early Monday so I'll allow myself to be a little dopey.)

In regards to precision, the drawings are coming from CAD. I mentioned my concern regarding precision as I was worried that, mainly inkjet printers, could leave streaks/runs or larger marks than intended.

Getting a stand alone scanner would be no issue at all, so I can definitely look into that. Thanks for clearing that issue up (and also thanks for the reply overall).
 

The Hat

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@Infole, Glossy photo paper has a totally different surface to that of clear transparent film, also the film is not opaque and therefore an image tends to be much lighter to the same image on opaque surface.

A laser printer would probably give you a darker image to what you could achieve on any inkjet printer, and printing out of CAD will give you precise images from both type of printer without any streaks appearing.

I over came the lightness of an image by simply using two separate pieces of film laid on top of each other, this also helped when the image was A3..
 

palombian

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As The Hat suggests a laser printer has no problems printing on transparent slides (that's what we all did before there were beamers).
Maintainng exact size is IMO a software problem and maybe the most difficult to solve on consumer printers.
Personally I scan/copy architect plans and you can't measure exactly on the copies.
I wonder if there are print drivers where you can set the enlargement in small steps.
 

Infole

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Okay, thanks for all this help, it's really helped me to understand a bit more about my options in this situation.
From the information provided I think that I will look for a laser printer.
Thanks again
 
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