need advice on a 34"x15" image size printer

[AndrzejBialuski]

Hello.

Besides being an amateur photographer, I am a lamp designer.

Have an opportunity to bid on a job for an advertising agency which will involve printing 1000 panels of 34x15 on a backlit material.
The panels must be lightfast and not fade with a lightbulb behind it.

I could go to an outside source for the printing, but I could also do it in-house by buying a printer.
The questions are:

Which printer would take the size of: 34x15 image size.
It must handle archival inks.
It must be relatively fast.
It must print on transparency of the said size.

Cost is of "no issue". Need ideas, fast.

Thanks

Andrzej


--
Andrzej
http://www.artboxproject.com

[Chuck_Kimmerle]

The Epson 4000 should be able to print what you need. But don't expect these transparencies to be impervious to fading with a continuous light behind it. There is no such animal. All will eventually fade. In my experience, most transperent signage medias will start to show slight fading in the blacks after a max of 12 months. After a couple of years the blacks will be noticeably greenish in color.

These images really do take a beating by the lights.

Chuck

[CBFountain]

What is the duration that the prints will be on display? Since they are marketing materials, it may be short enough to not realize any significant fading.

Is it 1000 prints of the same thing? If so, I'm thinking you could get a killer rate from a printer and get the job out in short order. Any idea how long 1000 prints will take to bang out on a 4000? Then trimming, packaging, etc...

You might look into HP5000 or Epson 10600. Wide carriage should allow more prints per hour. I don't know what your restrictions are...

Money is no object? Check out a Lightjet 5000. Some info here: http://www.cymbolic.com/LJ5000.html