How do i work with canvas on a small printer like Epson R3000?

[philbaum]

I am about to buy the Epson R3000 for the purpose of printing 8 inch canvas wraps of varying lengths.  Currently i order prints from a commercial company and do the stretching myself.

The reason i find the R3000 appealing:
a. I won't be doing large production runs. 
b. I want equipment that doesn't weigh a lot so i can move it around myself, get it serviced, etc.  I'm retired and won't be getting any younger :-)
c. If i could just print canvas wraps for the 8 inch wraps, I can continue to outsource the few larger canvas sizes i need without difficulty since i don't sell a lot of those.
d. The R3000 has a side guide that apparently helps a lot with preventing sheet skew during printing.  I read a lot of frustration with occasionally skewed prints on canvas with some other printers. 

These are the questions i need help/advice/comments on - if at all possible.  I'm a newbie regarding printing - please help :-)

Issue 1:  If i use single canvas sheets, by the time i add 2" wrap borders all around, i would need 3 sizes: 12" width by 14" long (to make an 8x10" front print), by 16" long (to make an 8x12 front print), and 20" long (to make an 8x16" front print).  Getting the longer single canvas sheets (do they call them panels if they are canvas?) seems to be a problem.

Issue 2: Going to 13" canvas rolls seems appealing to me because then i can cut the size i need and don't need to stock different sizes of single sheets.  So how do i cut rolled canvas to the sheet sizes i need to print?  I suppose to get started, i could just a scissors, especially since the cut edge is rolled behind the stretcher bars.  (excuse me for thinking while i'm writing)  Is there a good quality roll cutter out there?  I bought a relatively cheap one the other day and it doesn't even cut photo paper stock very well - geez :-(  I'd like one that is mounted on a frame to get square cuts.

Issue 3: The roll adapters provided for the R3000 are only 2" core diameter.  The Epson company only sells one single canvas roll selection for the R3000.  There are several other 13" x 20' canvas rolls available on the market, but i'm getting the idea these generall come with 3" core diameters.  Is there a way of adapting the 3" canvas core rolls to the 2" adapters that come with the R3000?  Failing to find a workaround, my only recourse seems to be buying the 3" rolls and just cutting them to single sheets (13" by 14", 16", or 20") when i need them.  Is this practical for small runs?

Any advice on this would be greatly appreciated as i'm new to the printing scene.  Thank you!!!

 

[Atlex.com]

Unfortunately, the R3000 doesn't have the ability to do 3" core rolls due to the limitation of the 13" roll canvas thickness.  There are a few brands that do 13" rolls with the 2" core, but not much of canvas...more of paper.

I understand the weight and size can be an issue for you since you're retired.  The next option would be the Epson Stylus 3880.  It's about 50 lbs, but it doesn't have a roll attachment.  However, you can still print from a roll while having a way to keep the roll in the back and feed from the back feeder.  This way, you won't have to worry about the core size, but it will print a bit easier than the R3000 and has larger inks.  Although it doesn't have a cutter (R3000 doesn't either), there are paper cutters available.  We do carry the printers, papers/canvas and cutters as well as stretcher bars if you're interested in taking a look at the selection.

I hope this helps in a way.
Let us know if we can assist you further with your decision.
sales@atlex.com
800-327-2822

[JeffKohn]

Epson makes 13" rolls of their Exhibition Canvas on 2" cores. I recently bought a 13" roll of the Exhibition Canvas Gloss to try out and it was on 2" roll core, presumably the Matte and Satin versions also come on 2" cores. So you could use that without having to use any adapters.

[philbaum]

Atlex rep:
Your company is the best, thanks for answering all my questions by post and phone - first rate experience!

Phil

[rmyers]

You can cut canvas rolls into sheets.  I do it regularly.   I bought a cutting mat, Olfa razor knives, and a big purple straight edge ruler with a safety handle on top.  Just cut the sheets to desired length on the mat.

I feed them through the rear sheet feeder on my 3880. Sometimes they will feed in no problem.  Sometimes I have to use a sheet of photo paper with double side tape behind the canvas to make a leading edge.  Recently I seem to have the knack of feeding them directly in the feeder without the photo paper leading edge.  I have no experience with the 3000.

[philbaum]

Thank you for the comments - very helpful.  I already had a 12" friskers table cutter, pretty cheaply built, and I tried cutting  a canvas print recently and it was no problem.  I will probably buy one of those large cutting mats as well, since i will need to cut not only width but length as well.  I'm probably going to regret not buying the 3880, but i got nervous reading about the occasional skewed feed problems.  The R3000 has a side guide surface to reduce the skewing problem so apparently Epson is trying to improve it.  However, there can't be that much of a problem with the 3880 considering all the positive reports. 

R3000 arrives on Thursday, i'm sure i'll go thru that first roll of canvas quickly :-)