How fast does the FieldPrinter print, how much can it lay out in a day, and how much line does one ink cartridge cover? This article gives the printing speeds, explains what actually sets your production rate on a real jobsite, and lists how far a single ink cartridge goes. If you're planning a print schedule, estimating how many cartridges to keep on hand, or setting expectations for a project, start here.
Print speeds
The FieldPrinter moves at different speeds depending on what it's doing. Printing is slower than driving, and printing text is slower than printing lines.
| Mode | Speed | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Printing a solid line | 2.5 ft/s (0.75 m/s) | Continuous straight line — the fastest print mode. |
| Printing text and points | 1.6 ft/s (0.50 m/s) | Slower to keep characters and points sharp. |
| Driving between print areas | 3.3 ft/s (1.0 m/s) | Autonomous travel with obstacle sensors on. |
| Driving with sensors off | 2.0 ft/s (0.6 m/s) | Reduced speed; sensors re-enable automatically. |
Each print head is 1" wide, so the robot prints every line that falls within a single 1" lane in one pass — not just two nearby lines. This merging happens automatically during printing, so a cluster of lines inside a 1" lane finishes in one pass at normal print speed instead of one line at a time.
What sets your real-world production rate
Print head speed is not the same as how much layout you finish in a day. On an open slab with long, straight runs, the robot spends most of its time printing at full speed. On a tight, obstacle-dense floor, it spends more time driving, turning, and routing around columns and staged material than laying down ink.
The biggest factors that raise or lower daily output:
- Layout density. Long continuous lines print fast. Lots of short segments, text, and points print slower and add travel between them.
- Obstacles and floor congestion. Columns, penetrations, staged materials, and other trades force the robot to slow down, reroute, or wait.
- Number of stations. Larger areas need more control setups (stationing), and each setup takes time before printing resumes.
- Content type. A slab that's mostly wall lines prints faster than one loaded with text callouts, symbols, and QR codes.
Because of this, the useful planning number is your project's own measured output, not the raw print speed. The Dusty Portal reports actual production by day, trade, and layer for every project — use that history to plan future schedules.
For reference only, the solid-line print speed of 2.5 ft/s works out to roughly 150 linear feet of continuous line per minute at the print head. This is a theoretical ceiling with the head printing nonstop — real-world daily totals are lower because of driving, turning, stationing, and obstacles as described above. Do not use the theoretical number to plan a schedule.
Keeping the robot running: battery and hot-swap
Production only stops if the robot stops, so battery handling matters for throughput.
- Each Milwaukee M18 battery gives 2–3 hours of continuous use. Runtime varies with drive intensity, obstacle density, and how much printing you're doing.
- Batteries are hot-swappable: the robot holds power for about 30 seconds during a swap, so you can change batteries without ending the print job.
- Charge time is about 2 hours per battery. Two batteries ship with the kit, so one can charge while the other runs.
Ink cartridge coverage
Ink loads as inkjet cartridges — one per print head. The robot automatically detects the ink type and color when a cartridge is installed.
| Spec | Value |
|---|---|
| Cartridge yield | ~15,000–18,000 linear feet of solid line at 1/16" line width |
| Volume per cartridge | ~41 ml |
At the default 1/16" line width, one cartridge covers roughly 2.8 to 3.4 miles of continuous line. Actual coverage per cartridge drops as line width increases — a wider line uses more ink per foot — and varies with how much text and how many points you print.
To estimate cartridges for a project, compare your total linear footage of layout against the ~15,000–18,000 ft yield, then add margin for wider lines, text, and points, which consume ink faster than thin solid line.