Printer Suggestions

We have a customer who seems to need to print on posterboard. Obviously too thick to print on a deskjet, for the past few years they've been using either an Epson Stylus 1520 or Epson Stylus 3000, depending upon availability when one broke. They refuse to buy new equipment with a warranty, instead they get refurbished equipment. The problem is the paper is too thick and tears up the inside of the printer. Each one will work for about a year and then die. It's getting very costly and I'm trying to find another option for them. I was looking at a few plotters, but they're extremely expensive. Not really worth it just to do a few posters in a month.

BTW -- the posterboard is about 1/8" thick and the dimensions are 14" X 22". Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

I would recommend a plotter, simply because it is designed to handle large sizes and thicknesses of paper.

You might also want to see what the charge would be to "outsource" it, since they only need to do this a few times each month. I think Kinkos or someplace similar will charge about $60-$80 to print something that size. If the do it only a few times a month, it might be easier to expense than buying a new expensive printer every year (and breaking it). In most cases, it is not smart to buy an expensive machine for infrequent uses that destroy it.

I think the Kinkos idea is a good idea.

For the size of the stock you are printing, most Laser Printers simply wont work. And even besides that, a lot of Printers that CAN print on that type of media, require special modifications. Special Trays, loading mechanisms, fuser adjustments.. ect...