Big Prints, Big Profits

HP's printers also detect if a nozzle is out and direct the drop to a different nozzle.

When it comes to media, today's wide-format ink-jet printers print on everything but the kitchen sink. One of Agfa's wide-format offerings prints on vinyl without having to use solvent-based ink.

"We came out with a technology called the VinylJet 36, which is an aqueous ink that prints direct to vinyl," says Agfa's Hutcheson. "The printer heats its nose, which opens up the pores of the vinyl, then it goes in front of an IR heater, which fuses the ink to the vinyl."