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Author Topic: Epson P800 Faint Roller Mark (not pizza wheel marks)  (Read 27183 times)

JeanMarc

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    • Jean-Marc Turmes
Re: Epson P800 Faint Roller Mark (not pizza wheel marks)
« Reply #60 on: January 16, 2017, 08:10:55 am »

It's Foto Sauter in Munich, they are indeed very nice people to work with and were always on my side with this issue. I'm going to try to make the exchange happen today and will report back with a short comment when the PRO-1000 is printing ;) My feedback in this thread is kind of finished once I returned the P800, so I don't wanna stretch it too much ;)
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mattandersonphotography

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    • Matt Anderson Photography
Re: Epson P800 Faint Roller Mark (not pizza wheel marks)
« Reply #61 on: February 06, 2017, 11:42:00 am »

EXAMPLE IMAGE ATTACHED!

The pizza wheel marks are real and do exist. I'm a fine art printing professional of 20+ years. In my shop ( high end premedia - prepress - digital content production) currently I have 2 epson P90000's 2 epson 9900's and a P800. I've been through dozens of epsons over the years.



The P800 will leave sprocket feed marks on most robust glossy or semi glossy smooth stocks. I'll attach a picture where you can see. They are spaced around an inch apart along the entire paper feed path. It doesn't matter if you use the sheet feeder, front feed, or thick feed paths. Platen width, ink drying slowed down per pass, etc etc... The marks are there. Also, I picked this P800 up late in the game, so IMO it's not an initial design flaw that was corrected early in production. I think a bean counter said we're sticking with what we got, 90% of users won't see it. My gut says select epson ambassadors, reviewers, and industry notables probably got a machine that was "tweaked" or within a tight tolerance spec so it wouldn't show this overlooked design error. As others have mentioned, it shows it's ugly head most notably in solid heavy ink areas. Areas of mixed detail such as branches, rocks, and other areas that have a wide variation of ink density and texture mask the small sprocket perforations that are occurring on the papers texture. I've worked with Epson tech support with no positive outcome. My review of the printer is #1 on the BH site. I've spent hundreds on ink and high end fine art papers trying to mitigate this problem. Epson, if your reading, please let me return this printer for a P5000 plus change. I love your printers, my 9900's have served me well. Unfortunately, the P800 is fatally flawed.

Stocks I prefer to use, and all have the same issue with the pizza wheel sprocket marks.

Ultra Premium Photo Paper Gloss
Epson Metallic Photo Glossy
Epson Exhibition Fiber Soft Gloss
Moab Slickrock Metallic Silver
Moab Juniper Baryta Rag 305
Hahnemuehle Fine Art Baryta
Ilford Gold Fiber Silk

Best,

Matt Anderson
www.mattandersonphotography.com
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jerphotography

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Re: Epson P800 Faint Roller Mark (not pizza wheel marks)
« Reply #62 on: March 01, 2017, 04:22:41 pm »

I am having the same problem that Matt Anderson describes, but with a P600 which I bought in January of '16.  Just before it was out of warranty, the photo black print head died and they sent me a replacement printer.  The replacement had a feed problem -- just wouldn't take anything via the front freed tray.  So they sent me a second replacement and this one shows these pinwheel marks.  With the other two P600s I never noticed if there were pinwheel marks.  I've been using Canson Platine Fibre Rag mostly but have also tried Canson Photogloss Premium RC.  The dots seem less noticeable on the Photogloss and changing settings to 5 for drying time and 6 for paper thickness may have eased the problem a bit, but it's hard to tell given the weird angles one has to use to see this problem.  Epson is now sending me some Epson paper to test.

Epson's support people have been very helpful but this is getting beyond annoying. 

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davidkachel

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Re: Epson P800 Faint Roller Mark (not pizza wheel marks)
« Reply #63 on: March 09, 2017, 04:02:07 pm »

I have been dealing with a roller mark issue and the Epson 3880 for some time. It involves an exotic material that is not relevant to this discussion and I was searching the internet for the "roller mark" topic to see if I could dig up any additional indicators, when I found this thread.
It was in reading this thread that I learned there was a more or less universal roller mark problem with less exotic materials and occurring across printer brands, as referenced by several persons, here. Until now, I thought a roller mark issue with HP brand printers that I solved several years ago was unique to that brand and that what I was experiencing with the 3880 and the aforementioned exotic material, was a one-off thing of no interest to anyone but me.
I have the answer, at least for one printer brand and it is most likely an indicator for the other two. First, a little history.
I had an HP B9180 (and its eight replacements under warranty in less than three years) that was producing roller marks on prints made on a variety of matte, inkjet coated papers, primarily in the heaviest blacks. It was not occasional and quite ruinous. (And BTW, some here mentioned they thought the problem was not common. Yes, it is. The problem is that most people don't examine prints very closely and miss the roller marks. I have said "yes it does" while at the same moment pointing roller marks out to people on their very own HP prints, before they actually saw them.)
With HP printers these marks tend to show in the darkest areas where ink deposit is heaviest. HP knows about the problem, but they won't admit it exists. They count instead on the the lack of observation on the part of most of their users. They of course said the problem must be with the brands of paper that were not their own. (Sound familiar?)
With HP printers, the roller marks are the result of heavy ink deposits having insufficient time to dry before being run over by rollers in the machine. After I realized this, the solution was simple and is 100% effective:
During the entire printing process, stand in front of the stupid printer with a handheld hair dryer and blow warm air into the printing path, moving the hair dryer back and forth, across the printer. No roller marks, ever again. Of course, the printer I had did not offer a more reasonable solution: increase the drying time between passes. If your printer has that option, try it first.
Now the Canon printers. I have never owned a Canon printer and have no clue. Try the two options above first, before moving on to the Epson options.
EPSON OPTIONS
Roller marks with Epson printers ARE NOT the result of rollers marching through still-wet ink as they are with HP. At least not with the material that has been driving me nuts and therefore, probably not with your materials, either. AND, Epson printers are designed differently. There aren't any rollers to pass through after ink has been deposited. At least not in the 3800/3880/P600 series.
I ran tests with only two thin lines of black ink down the edges of the print area, parallel to the paper path and at the outside edges of the image area. Roller marks occurred on the material, in between the lines, where no image at all was printed. So, if you are going to get roller marks on the material you are using, it will happen even if you print no image at all. However, ink deposit does of course make the marks far more noticeable.
With the Epson printers, try the hair dryer trick and try increasing the drying time between passes, if your printer has that option. Someone mentioned somewhere in this thread that increasing drying time did have a positive effect.
Recent communication with another researcher using the same exotic material I mentioned originally suggests strongly that this problem, at least with Epson brand printers, is related to relative humidity. I live in dry Arizona, he lives in the NorthWest where he practically needs SCUBA gear 24/7. His roller marks are infinitely worse than mine.
Put a dehumidifier in your work area if you can, AND take a hair drier to your paper BEFORE you print on it. And brush it off first, too. Paper debris doesn't help this problem.
As I understand it now, all three printer manufacturers have this problem and all three refuse to acknowledge it, so the only thing that will get them off the dime is a lot of complaining. Most people using these printers do not see the roller marks on their prints. Point them out to them.
« Last Edit: March 09, 2017, 04:31:09 pm by davidkachel »
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