Large Format Digital Printing

Large Format printing is loosely divided into two technologies; Thermal and Piezo.

Thermal is the more established of the two, and is the same process as found on a million desktop printers worldwide. Here a droplet of ink within a cartridge is heated by a small metal plate until it gases; at which point it is squeezed through a nozzle to create the droplet that lands on the paper.

Piezo is still a well established process, and acts just like a loudspeaker where a small crystal has an electronic charge passed through it at a given frequency, this makes the crystal oscillate and acts as a small pump, forcing the ink through the nozzle. There is more control over this process as the rate at which the crystal vibrates can be altered by the frequency and this can change the rate at which the ink comes out.

The printers available in this market have increased dramatically; originally the default standards were 4 colours and 300dpi. This has increased to 6 or 8 colours running at anything up to 1440 dpi. There is always a trade off between speed and ultimate quality although again the standards increase throughout the range as the technology both improves and becomes more reliable.

The sizes available are also as varied, with desktop A2 versions at the small end right up to 4m ‘super-wide’ printers at the other extreme. The substrates too are becoming more and more varied, although the majority still utilise a paper based solution, there is a vast range of papers, fabrics, foils and meshes available.