Canon - imagePROGRAF PRO-4600

Epson P9000 was released in 2015, its best days are likely behind it and I wouldn’t want to pay for service when a new printer is $5,000. Canon PRO-4600 is a great printer, comes with a set of ink to get started. Print quality and substrates being used would be equal to the Epson and what I like about Canon is their printhead is a consumable and can be replaced for $700. Good luck! I’ve found LexJet to be a great company to work with and offer competitive prices.

I do a fair bit of canvass printing. Less so nowadays because the profit margins have sunk and I just don't want to, but I still do. I actually sold my Porgraf, though, because I want to focus on latex ink. I have to ask, is this for your own prints that you are already selling? Or are you trying to get people to come to you? I ask because online you can have a canvas printed, mounted, and finished for less than the cost of the wood to build a frame. It's pretty much impossible to be in that space. To answer your questions - 1. I don't know what you mean by frame. You mean the stand? The printer is 250 pounds already, the 30 pound stand doesn't really make a difference. 2. I got mine from B&H. I had no issues. 3. Yes, you need special canvas to print using pigment inks. To print on untreated canvas you need a different printer, something that uses ecosolvent, UV, or latex inks. You can get the canvas rolls in many places, like B&H, Grimco, Sign Warehouse, USCutter, etc. 4. The largest canvas I ever made was 4ft by 6ft. The Prograf 4600 has a maximum width of 44", so it could not have done that since you also need 2+ inches margin for the wrap. I rarely did anything more than 3ft by 4ft on the Canon. Most of the time it's more like 2ft by 3ft. I always made my own frames. The cost to get pre-built or snap together stretchers is really high compared to buying a bunch of wood. I own a planer, a shaper, a table saw, and a chop saw, so making my own stretchers was pretty easy for me. That being said, if you can order in bulk or work with a local carpenter, you can still get a lot of value. Learning to stretch the canvas is the hardest part and the easiest part to screw up. There's no fixing a destroyed corner - if you destroy a corner, you will be re-printing the piece. It's not hard - it just takes practice. Watch youtube vids, that's how I learned.