[fightstylez]

So I am at a cross road! I have a 11x19" epson printer now for smaller stuff and some shirts, but I want to make the move to a wide format printer either a 24" or a 44" printer. Realistically a 44".
I have access to a bunch of used printer that will work but they don't have any 44" currently.
The printer costs is not that bad but the ink costs are crazy. I didn't realize how expensive they were for Wide Format Printers. Only because you have to buy so much of it at once.
I can buy a 24" Epson (7700, 7800) right now for a very decent price but the inks for that printer is about $700-$1000.
I was thinking I can buy the 24" and wait for a 44" to come in and then sell my 24" and buy the 44" but with inks that costly I did not want to spend $1000 in inks and only use the printer for 3 months. it would be a waste as I think the person who would buy it from me will want it with regular inks in the machine and not dye subl inks.

So my question is with a 24" printer I know I cannot do all over prints but people who have a 24" do you use it for huge prints on shirts but not all over prints? Do you have a ton of useage for the 24" or do you wish you have a 44"? Do you htink I should start off with the 24"? Can you tell me what I can print with a 24 that my 13x19 can't?

I do realize owning a 44" to do all over prints I have to have a Maxi press or something. (that is a whole another story) I will have to research buying one of those next after I get the 44.

Thanks.

 

[Riderz Ready]

Post is a little confusing especially the part where you state the ink cost are crazy. Ink cost on a wide format is a fraction of the cost for desktop printers.

I may be wrong but I believe 24" printers are only considered wide format by Sawgrass if you are buying Sawgrass ink. This allows 24" users to purchase Sublim ink which is a higher quality ink. To this day never heard one of the Sawgrss Cartel members explain why Sawgrass does not allow desktop users to purchase Sublim. Much better colors and less clogging issues. Seems they want desktop users to enjoy below average colors and clogging.

Wide format makes little sense in most applications unless you have a press to match the size. One exception would be if someone is printing a significant number items that can be done on a small press and wants to save on ink.

Really see little reason to get a 24" printer unless again you are using a significant amount of ink and want to lower your cost.

 

[fightstylez]

Thanks for the information Riderz.
When I say the inks cost a lot, I was just surprised when I inquired about the cost of inks and it would cost me about $750 for one set. I thought it would be a couple hundred. My desktop printer (which I know is totally different) costed me $200 for a set of inks.
If the only benefit is to lower ink costs and maybe get a better set of inks, then I guess that it is not worth the upgrade.
I was actually having issues pressing onto shirts where paper lines is a big issue, so I was thinking if I go 24" the paper would be bigger than the heat press and no paper line will show, but I was hoping that other people will chime in with other benefits.

 

[Riderz Ready]

Regarding the ink - for wide format you should be paying around $150 a liter give or take $25.

 

[Uncle Remus]

Ink may seem high, but your buying it in larger quanities it is actually way cheaper if you compare per/ml costs.
You got sticker shock over ink wait until you price out a large format press, mine is costing right around 20K...lol

 

[rallyeguy]

Pretty sure you need to be in the 36+ inch width to be into the wide format size allowed for bulk ink purchases. Once you figure your ink savings into it, wide format up front costs seem a lot more appealing.