Help Diagnosing Issue with P800/Canson Baryta

[abarnard]

Hi,

I'm a long time lurker on the forum, but this is my first post. I'm new to inkjet printing, so please be patient.

I recently purchased an Epson P800 and I'm having some trouble with printing on 13x19 Canson Baryta Photographique. Near the middle of the sheet, I'm getting what appear to be horizontal scratch marks in an area approximately .5" wide by 1" tall. For print media I'm choosing "Ultra Premiun Photo Paper Luster", and I've set the paper thickness to "4", and the platen gap to "wide". I've attached a photo that shows the marks. I'm not sure what other information might be needed to diagnose the issue.

Thanks in advance for your assistance!

Alan

[Mark D Segal]

That looks very much like a head strike. I recommend widening the platen gap to "Wider" or "Widest" and see whether it happens again. Also make sure the paper is flat (i.e. not buckling in the middle) before feeding it.

[Rand47]

If the paper is flat (all the Baryta Photographique I've purchased is very flat) and properly fed to the printer, with the platen gap set to wide - something must be amiss somewhere with the printer, I'm guessing.  Have you tried other papers of similar mil and GSM?  Same problem? 

Rand

[howardm]

why are you using Lustre as the base media type?  the instructions from Canson indicate Semi-Gloss.  Perhaps you're overloading the paper (in the really dark areas) causing some buckling.  I always use SG, 4 thickness and I *think* 'Wider' but I'd have to doublecheck.

[abarnard]

Hi,

The P800 driver only provides the option for "standard" or "wide" platen gap; I'm running the "wide" setting.

The paper is flat out of the box, but it's coming out of the printer slightly buckled.

Howard, on the Canson ICC profile download page (http://www.canson-infinity.com/en/icc-profiles) for the P800, I'm seeing "Premium Luster" listed as the media type for Baryta Photographique. Is there another location where I should be looking? It does seem like a lot of ink, but I don't have the experience to know.

Thanks!

[Rand47]

why are you using Lustre as the base media type?  the instructions from Canson indicate Semi-Gloss.  Perhaps you're overloading the paper (in the really dark areas) causing some buckling.  I always use SG, 4 thickness and I *think* 'Wider' but I'd have to doublecheck.

Howard,

This is incorrect.  The OP has the correct media setting for the P800.  For the new P800 and P600 Canson indicates "Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster" as the media type for Baryta Photographique.

Premium Semigloss was/is the media setting for the R3000 and my 4880, and I suspect most of the earlier Epson printers.

See here:  http://www.canson-infinity.com/en/icc-profiles

Rand

[howardm]

ah, thanks for the correction.  Yes, I'm using a 3880.

perhaps bump up the drying time per pass?

I'm surprised that they removed the other width choices.

[abarnard]

I'll try increasing the drying time. Also, I've been printing at 2880. Might that be a possible cause? My understanding is that the ink volume is slightly heavier (~10%) at the higher resolution (please correct me if I'm wrong)?

Thanks!

[Jager]

Printing at 2800dpi shouldn't cause head strikes.

Are you using the front manual feed?

[abarnard]

Hi,

Jeff, yes, I'm using the front load manual feed for fine art paper.

OK, so I left the platen gap set to "wide", but increased the paper thickness setting to "5", and I've managed 3 prints in a row without the head strike. I may increase the drying time as Howard suggested and go back to a paper thickness of "4", otherwise the prints are looking really, really nice.

Thanks so much for your help! This forum is a tremendous resource for a newbie like myself.

Best,
Alan

[Mark D Segal]

Alan, glad that's working for you. It is a head strike showing in your sample, and if a 5 paper setting setting avoids it, I'd just leave it like that. I did think the P800 had wider platen gap settings, but perhaps not - I could be confusing with my 4900. I had to give the P800 they loaned me back to Epson after the testing/review write-up. But the two kinds of settings can achieve the same outcome.

[abarnard]

Excellent, will do. Thanks again for all the help!

Regards,
Alan

[howardm]

bumping up the drying time can slow down the printing (obviously) so weigh that against possible slight decrease in sharpness by using a high thickness setting.  Will you notice it?  Probably not or maybe   If you care, get a resolution chart and print it out w/ different thicknesses but that's more academic than anything else.

On my digital caliper, Canson Baryta measures 0.31mm so '4' 'should' have been sufficient (and I think that's what my 3880 preset is set to).

It's a lot of black magic

[abarnard]

Howard,

Now that I understand what's happening, and it appears I'm in the ballpark, I'll definitely follow your suggestion and play around with drying times (but only after I get this show printed).

Thanks again!

[John Caldwell]

The prints marks you show don't appear parallel to the direction of head travel, so unless you have cropped and rotated your attached image, they marks do not depict head strike.

[abarnard]

Hi John,

The marks are running horizontally across the page, parallel to the path of the print head. That may not be clear in the photo.

Thanks,
Alan

[Rand47]

Glad to hear you got it sorted out! 

Rand