image is printed in each pass of the carriage 22 then the sheet 16 is advanced by a step of appropriate length in a direction indicated by an arrow a so that the next swath can be printed a discharge mechanism 26 discharges the sheet onto a tray 28 which in the example shown accommodates already a printed sheet 30 the sheet support plate 20 is temperature controlled in order to control the cooling rate and the solidification of the hot melt ink that has been deposited on the paper the paper magazine 12 includes a set of six reels 32 each providing a supply of printing paper in the form of an endless web 34 the reels 32 are arranged in three levels and the web 34 from each reel is drawn off by means of a respectively associated pair of transport rollers 36 an arrangement of guide plates 38 defines a branched system of narrow feed paths 40 which merge into a common feed path 42 on the top side of the paper magazine the pairs of transport rollers 36 are selectively driven to feed the web 34 from a selected one of the reels 32 to the common feed path 42 it will be understood that the reels 32 may contain paper of different qualities and possibly also non paper recording media such as plastic films or the like further the webs on the reels 32 may differ in width so that printed sheets may be produced in different formats ranging for example from a4 portrait to a0 landscape from the common feed path 42 the selected web is guided past a cutting mechanism 44 for cutting the web to the desired sheet length and then the cut sheet 16 is guided.