I wanted to print some panorama’s with my new Epson 3800. It won’t take roll papers, but I don’t see why that should stop me. Since I use ImagePrint instead of the Epson driver, the length limit is very theoretical, but even the Epson drivers 38 inch (I’ve heard) limit would have served me well in most cases.

So, I invested in a 17inch roll of Harman Gloss, and got started. I have only done a moderate pano so far, size 41cm (16 inch) by 72cm (28 inch). I cut a length approximately 90cm long, and uncurled it. Since the surface is rather delicate, I put sheets of silk paper on it before I rolled it the opposite way of the curl. Worked like a charm.

The initial feeding through the rear manual slot was a bit tricky. The printer is quite picky when it comes to paper skew, so I had to try a couple of times before it accepted the paper. Once this was done, everything work fine. I have my printer back up against a wall, and this served as paper support.

Until now I have not had any issues with head strikes, but the slight curl of the paper forced me to increase the platten gap. I used the widest settings, but it may well be that a narrower setting works as well.

Once all this was settled, the printer swooshed happily back and forth for 25 minutes, and then I was the lucky owner of a magnificent pano print. Since I had uncurled it before printing, it was quite easy to get flat. I only laid it on a table for an hour or so, and it settled quite nice.

I guess I could handle prints up to around 1.5meters (60 inch) this way, but if I should do any longer I would have to build some sort of roll paper holder. That shouldn’t bee too difficult, after all the holder itself isn’t really rocket science. Just have a look at your bathroom toilet paper holder if you need inspiration. You only need to make sure it is rolling freely so it won’t pull on the paper feeding through the printer, or you’ll get horizontal banding.

The only two issues I foresee compared to the Epson 4880 (or equals), is the lack of vacuum system, but if the widest gap setting does the job, then it’s of academic interest. Also I lack a integrated cutter, but that can be handled without too many difficulties.