Abstract: Disclosed are the following: a wide format thermal printer for printing a multicolor graphic product on a printing sheet; a vacuum workbed for supporting a sheet material for performing work operations, such as cutting, printing or plotting, thereon; a replaceable donor sheet assembly, which includes a memory, for use with a thermal printer; methods and apparatus for improved thermal printing, including methods and apparatus for conserving donor sheet and reducing the amount of time required to print a multicolor graphic product; a thermal printhead including a memory; and methods and apparatus for the alignment of a sheet material for printing or performing other work operations on the sheet material. The wide format thermal printer can include provision for the automatic loading of cassettes of donor sheet from a cassette storage rack.

Abstract: Disclosed are the following: a wide format thermal printer for printing a multicolor graphic product on a printing sheet; a vacuum workbed for supporting a sheet material for performing work operations, such as cutting, printing or plotting, thereon; a replaceable donor sheet assembly, which includes a memory, for use with a thermal printer; methods and apparatus for improved thermal printing, including methods and apparatus for conserving donor sheet and reducing the amount of time required to print a multicolor graphic product; a thermal printhead including a memory; and methods and apparatus for the alignment of a sheet material for printing or performing other work operations on the sheet material. The wide format thermal printer can include provision for the automatic loading of cassettes of donor sheet from a cassette storage rack.

Abstract: Disclosed are the following: a wide format thermal printer for printing a multicolor graphic product on a printing sheet; a vacuum workbed for supporting a sheet material for performing work operations, such as cutting, printing or plotting, thereon; a replaceable donor sheet assembly, which includes a memory, for use with a thermal printer; methods and apparatus for improved thermal printing, including methods and apparatus for conserving donor sheet and reducing the amount of time required to print a multicolor graphic product; a thermal printhead including a memory; and methods and apparatus for the alignment of a sheet material for printing or performing other work operations on the sheet material. The wide format thermal printer can include provision for the automatic loading of cassettes of donor sheet from a cassette storage rack.

Abstract: A laminated web is used for etching characters, symbols or other shapes initially scribed in a layer of stencil sheet material including one of the layers of the web and the scribed stencil sheet is subsequently separated from the remaining web and used in an electrochemical etching process. The web is adapted to be used in an automatic sign maker wherein it is scribed on automatically as a result of instructions issued from a controller and the scribed markings are then used as a negative image in the etching process of an article surface.