Screen Printing with Wide format Printer.

If you are now doing screen printing you can use wide format inkjet printers for two reasons: first, to make your screen printing masters with a wide format printer, or second, to add wide format digital printing to your services in order to keep your clients from going off to the competition. Also consider upgrading to wide format digital printing to escape the potential cancer rate from breathing the venomous fumes from screen printing. I can still remember my first day attending the SGIA or ISA trade shows, the headache from the screen printing fumes. Of course the fumes from giant solvent ink printers are even more an assault on the environment but skip solvent ink printers and use water based inkjet printers.

If you are currently seeing your clients wander off to competition who have inkjet printers, then you need to enter the world of digital imaging. Any graduate of a local community college can train your staff on how to use Adobe Photoshop and all the digital software (though you may already know the basics). You can learn to use the RIP software in a few days. After all, if your competition learned it surely you and your crew can also.

Just don't let any inkjet printer sales rep talk you into considering inkjet printers as a total replacement. Coated inkjet media and inks are still overpriced. Any printer using Epson piezo printheads will be slow, too slow for mass production of more than a few copies. Any printer using Xaar or any other piezo printheads will be fast enough but will have banding and other noticeable defects if you view them closely. At present the fastest inkjet printer that simultaneously offers top quality would be the with thermal printheads such as ColorSpan, then the Hewlett-Packard DesignJet 5000. If you don't need true photo-realism then the Encad 850 is okay, though has slightly grainy ink dot structure in the highlights and areas of solid light color.

To make your screen masters you need a really black black. Some printers simply don't produce good blacks, probably because some RIP software creates black from CMY not from K, so avoid those RIPs. Surely somewhere else in your city will be another screen printer who is already using masters from an inkjet printer, so you can ask them, or ask your trade association. Trade magazines can sometimes help though tend primarily to reproduce manufacturer's advertising claims, which is precisely what you seek to avoid.

FLAAR is establishing a new facility at a state university. There we will be able to devote more staff to questions related to the orderly transition from screen printing to inkjet printing.

Your needs
 Which FLAAR Report is pertinent. Inside these reports are the names, addresses, fax, phone, and e-mail of vendors and sources of additional help. Titles are informal, to give general concept of contents of report.
Midrange inkjet printers, 36"-44" for signs, posters, banners, Point of Purchase and lots more. Several different reports are available, depending on what you need the printer to do? Just let us know what you want to print, and our staff will send you the appropriate report.
Where to buy large format printers, 54" to 72" for everything from signs to trade show displays.
Large format electrostatic (e-stat) printers for signage or for subsequent heat transfer via dye sublimation? You can select either the FLAAR Report on outdoor signage or the FLAAR Report on dye sublimation heat transfer for textiles.
What large format printer can do screen printing masters? FLAAR Fast Facts on Using a Large Format Inkjet Printer to produce Screen Printing Masters
How to get started in large format printing if you do primarily screen printing today and wish to expand into digital large format printing before your competition takes all your clients away. Several different reports are available, depending on what you need the printer to do? Just let us know what you want to print, and our staff will send you the appropriate reports.
If you have a vinyl cutter and wish to expand into using a large format printer for capturing more of the sign market today and into the future. Several different reports are available, depending on what you need the printer to do? Just let us know what you want to print, and our staff will send you the appropriate reports.
Where to buy layout software for large signs up to the size of billboards? Solvent Ink Printers for Outdoor Signage
Which grand format superwide printer? Solvent Ink Printers for Outdoor Signage
What inkjet printers can handle thick and rigid material over an inch thick, in some cases up to 3 inches thick? Flatbed Inkjet Printers for Thick and/or Rigid Materials
What to use: vinyl and other substrates for use with solvent ink printers? Media and Inks for Printing Signs with Large Format Printers
What is a RIP? Do I really need a RIP software? If so, which RIP is best for my needs? RIP + Help, a special report for first-time buyers of large format printers or intermediate level who already have a printer but need a better RIP solution.

Most recently updated August 02, 2001.