As promised, here is the overview of my installation of the W8400. First thing's first: you will need someone else to assemble this item, but only for about 5 minutes. The only time you need another person (preferrably more than one other person) is when you lift the printer from the box onto the stand. You will be wise to
The Canon imagePROGRAF W8400 ships on a pallet, covered in super-thick cardboard. The specs put the package in at around 315 lbs, and if felt every pound of it. If you have kids and can spare the room, the cardboard bok makes a great playhouse (click on all thumbnails to view a large image):
The first thing you need to do is assemble the stand. The W8400's stand is only four parts, so it should take less than five minutes to assemble. The box contains all the tools you need to assemble the stand, including a large hex key. Attach the cardboard templates to the sides using the self-adhesive. These templates will guid you when placing the printer on the stand, although they didn't do much for me.
After assembling the stand, remove the plastic bag from the top of the W8400, which is in the lower part of the box:
Using your extra person (people), grip the printer underneath where you feel handles. The W8400 is quite backheavy, so be prepared to support the back (not to mention your own). The handles are on the sides and the front, so you won't naturally be ready for this. We ended up breaking off the styrofoam from the corners so it would be easier to lift.
Now is the scariest/most dangerous/costly part of the operation: lifiting the W8400 on the stand. The only helper I had was my 100lb wife, who admirable got her side up. The W8400 wobbled and scared the crap out of me, but we made it. Doing it over again, I would have waited for another person, just to be safe. But I'm impatient.
When the W8400 is on correctly, it should seat firmly without any movement. The main thing holding the printer on the stand is gravity. I believe there are some screws holding the printer on from the bottom, but I don't have any pictures of that.
The next step is to mount the arms and the back clamps for the print job receptacle. Screw the left and right arms on using the small hex screws:
Snap the back clips in:
Loop the fabric around them as shown:
Place the front arms in the receptacles:
Next, remove all the pieces of orange tape from the W8400:
Lift the lever and open the top cover:
Unscrew the orange plastic piece from the print area. Do not throw this piece away: you will need it when you move the printer.
Snap all the u-shaped wire pieces to the bottom of the W8400. These prevent the roll media from curling back around after they've gone through the printer. If you don't put these on correctly, your roll media will print and then try to refeed itself through the printer. That is bad.
Next, attach the handy-dandy accessory tray to the back of the printer (the left side if you're facing the printer). I appreciate Canon sticking this on there.
We're ready to plug it in and turn it on:
The W8400 will "initialize" on its own:
Open the upper cover when it says to. We will install the printhead, which is very delicate and very expensive.
Flip open the blue lever:
-> 
Open the printhead box. VERY CAREFULLY remove the orange clip.
Install the printhead with the label facing up. DO not touch any areas of the printhead.
Lower the two blue pieces (top one first):
Close the top cover and follow the instructions to open the RightCover. This cover contains ink:
Starting with the color inks (leave black for last), open one bag and rock the ink from side to side to ensure that it is mixed. Lift the latch for that color, and put the ink in, nozzle-side down. Relatch the cover:
Do this for all color inks, then read the manual about choosing matte black or gloss black. There is a fairly heavy cost to switching these tanks, as the printer must flush all the ink that's in the black line, so choose carefully. I chose gloss black based on the type of printing I'll mainly do. I won't drop the matte in unless I have a job that needs it, and I can build that into their price. Maybe we should start an ink exchange? I'd trade my matte black if anyone's interested.
When finished, close the back cover and move to the front and press OK. The ink will begin the filling process, which should take 10-15 minutes:
Loading Media. Canon made this part is much easier than I anticipated. Place a roll of paper onto the spindle. Follow the directions as to which direction to mount the paper. Take care to avoid handing your rolls as much as possible. Even if it does no damage, there's no upside.
With the Lever raised, the cover raised, and the tray raised, load the spindle onto the printer. Roll the paper up through the paper path (there should be little to no resistance). Keep feeding the paper until it reaches the orange line, and ensure it aligns> When it is aligned, push the lever down and close the lid.
That's it! You're ready to print. I started off with a 42" roll, so my first image was a borderless kitch for a client who makes kitchens. I used a Photoshop RAW file (16 bit) with the Photoshop print driver. It can send data to the printer in 10 bit mode, which gives each color channel 1024 values rather than 256.
Viola! A gorgeous 42"x70" pring from an 8 megapixel raw image.