Absolutely. In fact, several wide format printers include multiple rolls for various types of media.
Take for example, the HP PageWide XL 4100. This 40-inch printer comes standard with a 2-roll drawer and can be upgraded with an additional 2-roll drawer; 4 rolls total. A CAD department or construction office typically loads 3 rolls of various-size plain bond paper for printing line drawings and construction plans. The 4th roll might contain a speciality media like say, 35lb heavyweight bond, for printing signs, posters, or presentations.
On the other hand, you may have a graphics printer such as the HP Z9+ 44-inch printer. This printer can be ordered as a single roll or double roll configuration. With the single roll printer, you would manually unload and reload the type and size of media depending on the application its needed for. With the 2-roll model, you can switch between rolls of various types and sizes.
So, for example, you might use an 8mil polypropylene media for producing durable signage and switch to a satin photo gloss for printing photo quality images. Occasionally, you may need to replace the specialty media with plain bond for printing CAD designs.
Keep in mind each type of media uses a specific profile in the printer. Wide format printers have a dozen or so media profiles to choose from on the control panel. The media supplier provides a media guide so you know which profile to use with each type of media.
You can also create your own media profiles. Printer manufacturers include software for this or, you can access it directly through the printer driver.
Specialty media can be pricey so I recommend printing just a few inches at first, then cancelling the print. Also, use free printing software like HP Click, Canon Direct Print or Canon Free Layout to view, resize or nest images before printing. This will help save on media costs.
Print away!
