Tuesday, 17 Sep 2024

4 Things to Consider When Buying Grand Format Flatbed Printers

Flatbed printers are popular across various printing niches, including photo shops, graphics, signage, etc. These printers are a crucial component used in fine art printing, silk screening, poster printing, and pretty much any other application that requires a significant amount of graphics to be printed. Therefore, choosing the right flatbed printer is critical to ensure client satisfaction by producing the best possible results. Hence, when it comes to choosing grand format flatbed printers, you would need to look for some obvious physical attributes like resolution, print modes, speed, the range of supported substrates, UV-curable or latex inks, width or format, how many ink colors, etc. Besides this, a buyer of a wide format printer should consider the type and quality of the job and the information the device captures and passes on for production management. That means there is much to consider when making your choice. So, to make your selection process a breeze, here are a few things you need to consider when buying a large-format flatbed printer:

Does It Print on Your Chosen Materials?

When it comes to buying a large-format flatbed printer, the first thing you need to do is decide what material you are going to be printing on. Suppose you are going to print on vinyl or canvas, but the printer is incompetent at printing on these materials; then your investment will be in vain. So it is essential to determine what type of materials you will be using and the thickness of the materials. And most printers available today offer you a range of thicknesses for the materials you can print on.

How Big a Print Bed Do You Need?

The size of a print bed often acts as a deal breaker for the buyers. How big a bed you need will depend on whether you are printing thumb drives or billboards. Or are you planning to expand your production in the near future? And if you are unsure of what future projects you may get into, it would be best to go for printers that offer a great deal of flexibility. Meanwhile, numerous brands are offering large format printers for businesses entering the printing market and later would be scaling up as the business grows.

The Market Will You Be Serving – Indoor or Outdoor?

Aside from print materials and the bed size you need, you must consider whether you would focus on the outdoor or indoor market. Remember, any printer for outdoor products can also be used for indoor markets; however, vice versa is not valid. For example, if you need to print vehicle wraps austin tx, you will need an outdoor printer; an indoor printer will not do the job for you. 

How Much Are You Willing to Spend?

Buying grand format flatbed printers means you must invest significant money. So the next obvious thing to consider when purchasing a flatbed printer is the amount of money you are willing to spend. Nonetheless, some models are expensive and offer many features, while some are comparatively cheaper and provide fewer features. However, it doesn’t mean that higher costs mean better quality prints. You will have to spend time researching the internet to find the best deal for the model you like.

A flatbed printer can be an excellent investment, especially if you are considering starting your own printing business. However, it is vital to make sure that you are ready for it. Asking the questions mentioned above to yourself can help you make the right choice without breaking your bank.