This one will make some of you laugh no doubt, and others cringe with
frustration, but as I am relatively new to Laser Printers I will ask
anyways.
What is the maximum paper length for a Laser Printer. Any laser
printer. Are they limited to what can fit in the tray or is it possible
to rig a roll feed?
I would like to print something that is, oh say, 2 meters long. More or
less. Doing so on one sheet would be dreamy. Thanks for your input on
my output.
To answer your very reasonable question it is important to understand how Laser
printers work. Once the paper starts to move in a Laser it cannot stop until
the print is complete due to the inertia of the paper handling mechanisms, this
is not true for Inkjet printers. That means that the Laser printer has to have
all required data available before it prints otherwise it will be unable to
complete the task. The way that PC's and Lasers work means that they are unable
to refresh the data whilst the page is being printed so the printer needs to
have enough memory to contain the data for the entire page before it starts to
print. This limits the length of paper that a Laser printer can print at one
go. The complexity of the print is also a factor.
Some Lasers can print a longer page than others, this is a result of three
things. Firstly the memory in the printer, secondly the paper handling
mechanism and thirdly the the way that the electronics and driver are designed.
The most limiting factor is memory size. So providing a roll feed would not be
enough on its own to allow long banners to be printed.
OKI make LED (Laser type printers) that I believe will print a 1.2 metre
banner, there are other makes that also print banners. No manufacturer that I
am aware of make a printer that prints a 2 metre banner but you should do some
research in case that is not correct.
Tony
