hi there
I am going to print this image on a poster 36 inches wide and 8 feet tall. (4 times)
It is going to sit in full sunlight ( in Australia!)
I use a Mac G5

I am looking at buying an old Epson 9000.
I have read that the Epson Inks fade REAL fast

any suggestions?
vinyl? laminating? 3rd party inks?

other printers on eBay are a ENCAD Novajet
and a HP Designjet 750c plus
would either of these printers be better?

any old pros out there who can advise what I need to get those strong colours?

I'd talk to a sign-making outfit. They deal with this problem all the time.

Try to find a printing service that uses Océ Display Graphics equipment:

http://www.oceusa.com/odgs/odgs_applicatio...D=1138740636437

See also http://www.oce.com/au/default.htm

Herman

Jom,
The solutions you mention may not be appropriate. I work on similar projects in similar conditions and would not recommend any dyes for any long term display, with the possible exception of latter day HP with their special media. Old printers are cheap . This is for a reason. They have been replaced by better equipment with superior media.. Digital printing is still relatively new ,and evolving rapidly.
This means older printers are , in general incapable of using the new generation pigmented inks and are also too slow to be economically viable.
You have not mentioned how long you expect the prints to be on display. For short term you may get away with laminated prints using recent vintage dyes. For periods exceeding a few weeks I would suggest
a/Acid free substrate
b/Pigmented wide gamut inks, in 6 to 12 colours
c/UV filtering or absorbing coatings
d/ Lamination
If you would like to discuss commercial options you are welcome to contact me off list
HTH
Brian
brian@pharoseditions.com.au
www.pharoseditions.com.au