In this article we’ll help you understand what’s important in printer choice and which printer to buy.
Firstly this all depends on the type of print media you are going to use. There are three types. Vellum and laser film which require laser printers, and Ink Jet film which requires ink jet printers. You can read more about the different media in our article Which Print Media Should You Use?
You can use either ink jet or laser printers for printing out your artwork for the sandcarving process. Ink Jet does give the best art opacity and will give you the best quality and finest detail developed resists. You may have a laser or ink jet printer in your business now that will work fine with the process. It does not have to be special ink so you may already have the right printer.
Whichever type of printer you choose make sure it can print Legal size paper, as that is what we provide and that is what suits the standard size roll width of SR3000. Also, try to buy a printer that can house legal sized media in a closed tray to make it more convenient and keep the dust off the media.
Once decided on the type of printer, Laser or Ink Jet, follow these guidelines.
Laser Printers.
In more than 20 years of training people in the process of Sandcarving I have only seen Cannon and HP laser printers to work properly for the process at hand. In our own experience we have tried Brother and Xerox laser printers and had no success. Much of development process trouble shooting results comes from a bad printer. We highly recommend that you buy either HP or Cannon.
You don’t need to buy high end laser printers--the typical mid-range printers work fine.
When buying replacement toner cartridges keep in mind that non-genuine printer brand toners may not perform as well as the genuine brand type.
Ink Jet Printers
We have not come across a brand that does not work well for the art positive process. You should choose a mid-range printer and avoid the super-cheap ones. A typical quality general office printer should work just fine. I’m a believer in buying renowned brands as this often is a safer bet. One thing you should check is if the printer will accept ink jet film as IJ film is thicker than paper, so make sure the printer is Ink Jet film friendly.
We recomend the Epson HD XP-1500
Summary:
- You must use the appropriate print media with the print choice
- Buying highly regarded brands is always a good decision.
- For Laser Printers we recommend only Cannon or HP printers
- For either laser or ink jet buy the mid-range type
- Ink Jet will produce the best development results. Blacker Black images
- Make sure the printer can print legal size media
- Make sure ink jet printers can print thicker media