A3 Printing

puifon

puifon

New Member
Does anyone know where I could print A3 or larger? I am a graphic design student and at my uni it costs a pound to print on to single a3 colour but its just standard paper. We also have another printing area except it doesn't open everyday. I would like to print some work in future onto heavyweight paper or card for upcoming presentations, can anyone recommend me a good place, not too expensive.
 
Do what I did, invest in an A3 printer. It's useful for university, but you'll never get the same colours as a laser printer.

I brought a Canon IX4000 for about £200(?) online? The cartridges are like £3 each as compatibles and are hardly different to the originals.
 
When I was at uni I brought a A3 printer but I would say whatever you buy make sure its a top loader printer as this involves less bending and this in turns means the printer will be much more adaptable to printing diffrent papers and can cope with more heavy weight papers.
I bought an a4 canon top loader and its amazing! it will print anything, cloth stuck on paper cardboard stripped apart etc etc... all sorts of weird stuff. I also bouht a bottom loading a3 brother printer (meaning the paper has to double back on its self through the printer) and it only prints on light wieght paper and wont do nearly as much a my canon.
I think toploaders maybe more expensive but if you want heavy weight printing this maybe your only option, try secondhand maybe.
Otherwise find a good local printers as the printer alone will cost a couple of hundred and I personnally still don't feel I got my moneys worth.
:)
 
University printers are generally awful anyway. At the university I went to, we had A4's A3's and a large format printer. None of them were any good. None of the colours matched on any of them, they were always low on ink/paper due to the use of half of the university, lots of time wasted waiting for refills on various things, nightmare. I had to use Staples a few times, and the quality was better, that's saying something.

Like everyone else I'd suggest investing in your own A3 printer, you'll always need it after uni anyway.
 
I did mention the one above, each printer has its own capability but remember that the cheaper the printer, the more likely you'll be faced with expensive cartridges. I always preferred paying a lot less for a cartridge that a bulk all in one go. It helped over the months of doing uni work where I didn't have to worry about suddenly spending £30 on two cartridges.
 
puifon said:
Does anyone know where I could print A3 or larger? I am a graphic design student and at my uni it costs a pound to print on to single a3 colour but its just standard paper. We also have another printing area except it doesn't open everyday. I would like to print some work in future onto heavyweight paper or card for upcoming presentations, can anyone recommend me a good place, not too expensive.
Click to expand...

Hi,

If you're just going to be printing on standard "bond" paper, just the stuff you get from Staples or whatever, then invest in a decent A3 printer. The Canon Pixma range is very good but usually upwards of £200 depending on model. As an entry level printer you can't go too wrong with the Epson Stylus Photo 1400, but remember it is what I'd class as an entry level A3 printer.

If you're looking in the future to produce high quality prints on heavyweight board then it's unlikely many printers will handle heavyweight board. They're just not built for it. You're probably better sourcing a digital print firm to do that for you, plus the quality will be superior (providing you choose the right printer!) meaning your graphic creations will look that much better!

Cheers.
 
There's a Which-recommended Brother machine that takes A3 for under £100.

I'm sure I saw it at PC World or try Amazon. It should be fine as long as you don't need professional
photo quality prints. It probably won't take card, but maybe it will be better to mount your prints on some board anyway.
 
Wardy said:
There's a Which-recommended Brother machine that takes A3 for under £100.

I'm sure I saw it at PC World or try Amazon. It should be fine as long as you don't need professional
photo quality prints. It probably won't take card, but maybe it will be better to mount your prints on some board anyway.
Click to expand...

:icon_thumbup: Good advice, we just bought one for the office just for rough proofs / handouts. Suprisingly good standard.
 
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