P800 - Big problem with headstrikes

[number8]

Hi forum!

I have big problems with headstrikes with especially Canson Baryta Photographique on the Epson P800. I have tried these settings but none seem to work:
Platen Gap: Wide (Wider and Widest not available in the OSX driver)
Paper thickness: 4-6 mm
Drying time: uo to 2 seconds

I also tried both the front feed and the auto sheet feeder. No matter what I try I get these headstrikes (which is very prominent).
It's my second P800 after Epson exchanged one last week because of the same problem.

Any clues? How are you that owns the P800 doing?

[Kevin Raber]

I have a P800 and have been printing on the same paper with no issues.  We are doing reviews on the Canon Pro 1000 and P800 as well as some serious discussions about printing this week.  I do have an Epson person in house late this afternoon and I'll mention your post to him.  A couple of quick questions, size of paper, what driver are you printing with and what are the setting on the printer and on your computer.

[ThirstyDursty]

Using sheet...I have had no issues. I get head strikes on rolls of Canson Baryta with the P800, but only first 4 inches of a run....but without fail.

So I now print a small header that prints two small images to the sides of centre/headstrike area prior to a run and try to make my runs long...5+m at a time

Check your advanced media settings and enlarge thickness of paper 1 or 2 mm

Maybe try another similar paper (Ilford Gold Fiber Silk etc) or another batch/box of Canson

Where are the head strikes? When do they occur in the print...maybe try a different sized sheet

[Kiwi Paul]

I use Epson premium glossy A2 sheets and Epson premium Luster 16.5" roll papers and have no issues at all.

Paul

[Mark D Segal]

If there is noticeable paper curl with thick paper (such as the paper type you mention) and you do not have the paper thickness set high enough in the printer driver this can happen. The setting goes all the way up to 15. Try pumping it up to 8 and see what happens.

[number8]

I have a P800 and have been printing on the same paper with no issues.  We are doing reviews on the Canon Pro 1000 and P800 as well as some serious discussions about printing this week.  I do have an Epson person in house late this afternoon and I'll mention your post to him.  A couple of quick questions, size of paper, what driver are you printing with and what are the setting on the printer and on your computer.

Hi Kevin,

I'm printing through Lightroom and with the Epson Driver (latest version) on OSX El Capitan.

There are my settings;
Papersize: A2
Profile: Cansons for the printer/paper combo
Resolution: 2880
Paper type: Ultra Premium Luster
High-Speed: Off
Platen Gap: Wide
Paper thickness: 5

I have mostly tried the front feeding.

[number8]

If there is noticeable paper curl with thick paper (such as the paper type you mention) and you do not have the paper thickness set high enough in the printer driver this can happen. The setting goes all the way up to 15. Try pumping it up to 8 and see what happens.

Thanks Mark,

I will try that as well. Maybe I need to set this higher to get the same effect as a wider platen gap which is missing in the driver.

[number8]

Here's an image of the ugly scuffing. Note that there is also one more of these lines running in the background.

[howardm]

A 5 setting is, IMO, only 1 up from the absolute minimum as I think the paper actually measures 0.37

I can get away w/ a 4 setting w/ cut sheet of that paper on a 3880.  If it's a fairly dark, heavily inked print, I may bump to 5.  I've never needed >5 but as they say, YMMV

[Mark D Segal]

Definitely head strike. Set the paper thickness to 8 or 10 and try again. If the paper is curled, reverse-curl it before putting it into the printer. Let us know what happens.

[number8]

A 5 setting is, IMO, only 1 up from the absolute minimum as I think the paper actually measures 0.37

I can get away w/ a 4 setting w/ cut sheet of that paper on a 3880.  If it's a fairly dark, heavily inked print, I may bump to 5.  I've never needed >5 but as they say, YMMV

Thanks for the input. Which Platen Gap option do you have?

[howardm]

Either Wide or Wider, I can check when home tonight

[Mark D Segal]

The options on the P-800 are "Standard" and "Wide". Use wide and set the paper thickness as I suggested above - let us know what happens.

[abarnard]

I had the same issue with the same printer/paper combination. See here: http://forum.luminous-landscape.com/index.php?topic=106054.0

With the platen gap set at "Wide" and the paper thickness at 5, I'm able to output clean prints as long as I carefully de-curl the paper. If I don't make sure the paper is perfectly flat, I do occasionally get a head strike with those settings. I'm mostly printing on 13x19 cut sheets through the front loader.

[number8]

The options on the P-800 are "Standard" and "Wide". Use wide and set the paper thickness as I suggested above - let us know what happens.

I will try that. I've tried Harman FB Gloss AL as well and got headstrikes on that paper too.

I've read somewhere that the Windows driver for the P800 does have Wider and Widest as options for the Platen Gap? Does any one run it on Windows and can confirm?

[number8]

Update: Just printed on the Canson Baryta with platen gap set to Wide and paper thickness set to 10 mm and I still get headstrikes. There is something really wrong here I think.

[howardm]

Can you set Wider/Widest gap from the front panel?  And definitely try reverse-curl moments before paper insertion.

[number8]

Can you set Wider/Widest gap from the front panel?  And definitely try reverse-curl moments before paper insertion.

I have searched for that setting but I can't find it in the printer. There is a setting called "Thick Paper" which I tried, but it didn't solve the problem.

[Mark D Segal]

I don't run this printer on Windows so I can't see what it provides for platen gap settings, but you should be able to find that by opening the appropriate dropdown in the driver menu on your computer to see. Set it to the widest it allows from the computer and see what happens. This paper should work fine in that printer - but as Howard says, if there is curl, try to de-curl it first.

[dgberg]

Are these boxed sheets or cut off a roll?