A printer tells the app how fast you print and what printing costs, so estimates and imposition jobs can add a Printing line with a time and a price. The app models wide-format inkjet printers here. Sheetfed offset and digital presses have their own page: Presses: sheetfed offset and digital.
Printer types#
| Type | What changes |
|---|---|
| Roll-to-roll printer | Prints continuously from the roll. No per-sheet handling time and no print length. |
| Flatbed printer | Prints boards. Time per sheet is added for every board. |
| Hybrid (roll and rigid) | Prints roll and rigid media. Time per sheet is added for every board. |
Print modes#
Every printer has at least one print mode (up to 40). A mode has a name, a speed in m²/h and, optionally, a number of passes. Enter the speed the manufacturer publishes for that mode at full print width; the table also shows it in ft²/h. The mode you select with the radio button is the Default mode, used whenever an estimate or job doesn't pick one. Mode names must be unique.
Note: Passes are head passes
The passes of an inkjet mode are passes of the print head over the same area (more passes: slower, better quality). They are not press passes, and they don't change the estimate: the mode's speed already accounts for them. The number is kept for your reference.
Estimates and jobs choose a mode per material group or per job. If a printer no longer offers the chosen mode, its default mode is used.
Settings#
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Name, Manufacturer, Model | How the printer is listed. |
| Type | Roll-to-roll, flatbed or hybrid (above). |
| Ink | The ink, as free text (for example "latex" or "UV-LED"). Presets use it to suggest a dry time. |
| Notes | Anything your team should know. |
| Max print width (mm) | The widest printable area. For reference only: it doesn't limit nesting, but the test print warns when a piece is larger than the print area. |
| Max print length (mm) | Flatbed and hybrid only: the print area along the second axis. Cleared on roll printers. |
| Print modes | The table of modes and speeds (above). |
| Default mode | The mode used when nothing else is chosen. |
| Job setup (s) | Added once per job: media load, head check, RIP hand-off. |
| Time per sheet (s) | Flatbed and hybrid only: load, register and unload one board. Ignored on roll printers. |
| Dry time before lamination (min) | How long prints wait before laminating. Shown on quotes; never charged as printer time. |
| Hourly cost | What an hour of this printer costs you (operator, wear, power). |
| Hourly rate | What you charge per printer hour. |
| Minimum charge | The smallest printing charge on a quote. |
| Ink cost per m² | What the ink for one printed m² costs you. Your RIP's ink report is a good source. |
| Ink price per m² | What you charge for the ink of one printed m². |
| Efficiency factor | Multiplies printing time; 1 means the published speed. Between 0.2 and 5. See Calibrating. |
How print time and price are estimated#
For a printed area in a mode:
- Printing = area ÷ the mode's speed × the efficiency factor.
- Setup = the job setup time, once.
- Handling = time per sheet × boards, on flatbed and hybrid printers only.
- Total = setup + printing + handling. The dry time is shown next to it, not added.
- Cost = hours × hourly cost + m² × ink cost.
- Price = the larger of the minimum charge and hours × hourly rate + m² × ink price.
Nothing to print costs nothing and takes no time. The printed area is the material used, not the ink coverage: in an estimate it is the roll a nested group uses, or its area including waste when it isn't nested; in imposition it is every sheet, or the roll width times the length used.
Test print and calibrating#
Test print in the side panel estimates a job with the saved settings. Enter a width, height and quantity, or a total area in ft² or m², pick a mode and, on flatbed and hybrid printers, the number of boards. It shows the printing time, the price and your cost, a breakdown of setup, printing and handling, and the dry time.
Published speeds assume full-width printing. RIP time, narrower jobs and head servicing make real jobs slower, so:
- Print a real job and time it from start to finish.
- Enter the same job in Test print.
- Raise the Efficiency factor until the estimate matches your time (1.25 means 25 % slower than published), then save.
Starting from a preset#
Presets fill in the published print width and every mode that has a published speed, and pick a production mode as the default: a mode named "Production", else "Standard", else "Quality", else the middle speed. Headline speeds are usually draft modes; sellable modes often run much slower. Setup starts at 10 minutes (5 on flatbeds), boards at 1 minute each on flatbeds and hybrids, and the dry time at 24 hours for solvent and eco-solvent inks (0 for latex, UV and resin inks). These starting values are marked estimated. Rates and ink prices start at zero. See The presets library.