Tips on where to obtain paper and inkjet media for large format inkjet printers

Information on where to find photo gloss paper, photo semi-gloss, luster, photo matte, bond paper, transparent, double-sided media, specialty media, media for banners, signs, posters, even fine art giclee prints (such as canvas).

Facts, index, lists, tips, recommendations for large format printers, media (photo paper of all kinds) and lamination equipment for wide format inkjet printers such as Encad (Oce, Ilford, Kodak), Hewlett-Packard DesignJet 5000, Mutoh (Kodak, Agfa), Roland, ColorSpan, Epson Stylus Pro 7500, Epson 7600, Epson 9500, Epson 9600, Epson 10000.

If you make the right choice of paper, you can avoid what happened to Chris (below). This is an unedited reprint of his lament.

Hi again, In the past you have helped me choose a printer for my business (HP 3800 CP) and everything is going great. I couldn't have purchased a better machine. My question is about doing outdoor without laminating. I tried a paper claimed to be for outdoor called cheep and tacky. It was cheep at only .51 sq/ft, but it didn't work.

I used the HP UV inks and some fading did occur almost right away. HP wouldn't do anything because they only weren't their products. I lost a bunch of money because the clients wouldn't pay for the products and I don't blame them. What I need to know is if there is a solution for doing outdoor with my printer without having to laminate. The signs I am printing are bus shelters and bus kings and queens. Which are placed outside the bus.
Thanks You for all your help,
Chris

You can also get lots of junk, for example media that destroys your printheads. Several people have told us their Roland printheads were damaged by lousy media. It can cost up to $1,000 to replace a full set of Roland (Epson) printheads.

For this reason we have looked around at the trade shows for a reliable sources for media. At DPI tradeshow we met John Lorusso and Dan Hunt of Parrot Digigraphic. Since I went to college (decades ago) near where their office is, I dropped in to visit twice in the last year to look at their facilities and tech support staff.

We noted that Parrot Digigraphic is a good source for canvas and water color media if you are doing fine art giclee printing. For photo-realistic prints Parrot offers photo matte, photo satin, and photo glossy. Contact: e-mail imaging@parrotcolor.com fax (978)670-7744, Tel (978) 670-7766. They specialize in Epson piezo printers and supplies

IJ Technologies (Inkjet Technologies) waterproof inkjet media. This is the media that FLAAR uses for its HP DesignJet printers, liz@ijtechnologies.com, (800) 356-6962

TAL media is also certified by Hewlett-Packard to work on the HP DesignJet 2xxx, 3xxx, and now the 5xxx series. We are using six different kinds of TAL media in our ongoing evaluation of the new UV pigmented inks for the HP 5000ps. We just printed a mural-sized image with TAL polyester media on the HP 5000. Output looked great.

Other sources for inkjet media include 3M, Avery Dennison, Azon, Boise Cascade, Champion together with Rittenhouse, IJ Technologies, Hahnemuehle (Dia-Nielsen), Hunt Digital Imaging, International Paper (Hammermill), Panorama, Rexam, Sihl, Tal. If you wish a full list, just ask for the FLAAR Report on media manufacturers and distributors.

Some inkjet media can be a disaster. It's easy to buy the wrong roll of media. Therefore FLAAR and the two universities are creating an inkjet media testing, evaluation, and certification laboratory. Our goal is to assist end-users learn which media they can trust and to provide media coating companies a reliable capable university setting to have their media evaluated fairly and independently.

Sources for lamination supplies and laminates include Cadillac Plastic, Clearstar, spray-on liquid laminate, Drytac, GBC, Ivex Packaging Corporation, Seal (Hunt), USI, and others. If you need info on laminators, especially entry-level models, consider LEDCO, e-mail ledco@ledcoinc.com.

However before you laminate, better make sure your media can accept the kind of lamination you seek. That's why LEDCO is a good source for information on which kind of lamination is best for each kind of inkjet media

If you really want technical details on inkjet media, and especially if you wish to meet the movers and shakers in this industry, be sure to sign up for the next conference organized by IMI. Contact imi@tdstelme.net

Related Topics

Large-Format-Printers.org > Media > List of media you can print on

Most of our updates for summer 2007 onward are in FLAAR Reports in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. It is more efficient for us to make new information available in PDF format. So if the web page itself is not updated, check out www.wide-format-printers.NET to see if the printer, RIP, or other subject is covered in an update in a PDF download.