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Author Topic: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?  (Read 7222 times)

koonyue

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How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« on: March 15, 2016, 03:17:45 am »

Hi,

I have the Epson sc p800 and just started printing A2 size fine art paper, which is Ilford Gold Fiber Silk.

From the manual, I first open the front manual paper feed tray, and open the rear paper support, then slide the paper into the manual feed tray.

Problem is, for A2 paper, when the paper has slide in about half of it, it will reach the back of the printer and cannot slide any deeper, which cannot align the bottom right hand side corner of the front manuel feed tray.

Anyway, I just press the load button and of course, the paper got jam and wasted.

Anyone have experience on loading A2 size thick fine art paper on this printer?

Ps. A4 and smaller size load great.

Thanks
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Jager

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2016, 07:21:00 am »

You are first extending the manual feed tray (you press on it, whereupon it unlatches and drops down a couple inches)?  Assuming so...

As you describe, when loading longer sheets in the front feed on the P800 you'll hit a point where the paper hits resistance in the rear of the printer.  What you have to do is continue to press gently but firmly.  The paper will bend upwards as it hits the rear paper support and as you continue pushing, will extend out of the printer in the rear. 

At that point you can align the front and right edges, hit 'load' on the LCD display, return the manual feed tray, extend the front paper support tray, and go back to your computer and print.

Mark D Segal

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #2 on: March 15, 2016, 09:30:38 am »

Hi,

I have the Epson sc p800 and just started printing A2 size fine art paper, which is Ilford Gold Fiber Silk.

......................

Anyone have experience on loading A2 size thick fine art paper on this printer?


Thanks

Yes. there is a design issue here, but nothing fatal, because once you master the technique it's easy and the paper loads well. After experimenting with various ways of trying to get a reliable one-shot loading operation using this FFA feeder, I came up with this: hold the paper to the extreme right side of the FFA feed tray so that the right long edge of the paper sits ABOVE the right side load guide on the feed tray. Then feed the paper inward at a slight upward angle so it isn't dragging on the feed tray itself. It should go in easily till it reaches the very back where it needs to mount the back black pull-up retention tray. If it isn't a smooth process up to this point, don't force. Remove it and try again. Soon enough you will master exactly at what upward angle you need to pitch the paper for getting a smooth feed. Once the paper hits the back retention tray, if you get resistance, just push the retention tray backward a bit and continue pushing the paper through. It will work easily as long as the paper is really at the back. As you do this, slide the right edge of the paper under the right guide of the FFA feeder (gray tray) and make sure the whole sheet is snug to the right side and to the front border of the FFA gray tray so you don't get a "skew" error. Then press "LOAD". To avoid mangling paper, do not try to load in any way that causes more than very minimal resistance that doesn't give way once you've done what I suggest here.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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cortlander

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #3 on: March 15, 2016, 03:47:51 pm »

Hi,

I have the Epson sc p800 and just started printing A2 size fine art paper, which is Ilford Gold Fiber Silk.

From the manual, I first open the front manual paper feed tray, and open the rear paper support, then slide the paper into the manual feed tray.

Problem is, for A2 paper, when the paper has slide in about half of it, it will reach the back of the printer and cannot slide any deeper, which cannot align the bottom right hand side corner of the front manuel feed tray.

Anyway, I just press the load button and of course, the paper got jam and wasted.

Anyone have experience on loading A2 size thick fine art paper on this printer?

Ps. A4 and smaller size load great.

Thanks

I actually sent back my first P800 after spending a couple of hours with Epson support with this issue. The second one was a bit better. I find it helpful to have a corner of the paper hit the back tray first, away from the right edge - seems to go in more easily then trying to jam the entire edge up the back tray. Once it starts to go up, I position it along the right edge and finally line it up with the front edge. Yes, feeding it in standing up so that the paper goes in at a bit of an angle helps.


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cortlander

BobShaw

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #4 on: March 15, 2016, 05:58:59 pm »

Well being a user of the 3880 I would not describe Ilford Gold Fibre Silk as thick fine art paper. Then I read the P800 user guide ( https://files.support.epson.com/docid/cpd4/cpd43251.pdf ) and the Front Feed is for paper of thickness 0.3 to 0.7 mm. This is less than half of the thickness on the feed for the 3880 at 1.2 to 1.5mm. So the problems you have with that are probably worse.

That problem is that the paper sags and hits the back of the printer. The solution on the 3880 is to feed a piece of cardboard through, then slide the paper in on top, and then pull the cardboard out. This assumes that the cardboard will fit if it only takes thinner paper.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2016, 06:10:16 pm »

.......................

That problem is that the paper sags and hits the back of the printer. The solution on the 3880 is to feed a piece of cardboard through, then slide the paper in on top, and then pull the cardboard out. This assumes that the cardboard will fit if it only takes thinner paper.

P800 is not 3880 and the problem is NOT the paper hitting the back of the printer. Unless fed in a certain way it hits something else on the way to the back of the printer and one cannot see into the slot what it is, so it is necessary to find the sweet spot by trial for getting it through to the back, for example, using the procedure I suggested above. Once you've mastered it once, it is repeatable/reliable. It is fiddly and just takes some getting used to.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Rand47

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #6 on: March 16, 2016, 12:00:19 am »

I know that Mark has cautioned against using the top feed for Ilford GFS & Canson Baryta, but it is the only way I can print these papers in my SC P-800.  If I use the FFA feed I get head strikes on the first inch of the print- even with wide platen gap and the max paper thickness setting.  The top feed works fine and I get zero head strikes with normal platen gap and "5" for paper thickness. 

Rand
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Rand Scott Adams

Mark D Segal

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #7 on: March 16, 2016, 09:07:37 am »

Hi Rand, if your paper is not curled I recommend you contact Epson tech support because it is quite possible that there is a defect in the printer.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Rand47

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #8 on: March 16, 2016, 10:14:29 am »

Hi Rand, if your paper is not curled I recommend you contact Epson tech support because it is quite possible that there is a defect in the printer.

Mark,

Thanks for the nudge, I had considered that.  The paper is very flat, as is usual with those two papers.  What is strange is that I can load a thicker paper like Museo Silver Rag via the FFA with no problem, no head strikes.  I've ordered some Legacy Baryta sheets to test.  If I get the same head strike problem I'll contact Epson.  My 800 has another small problem - it has a 1/32nd inch left bias. I typically print with generous even borders and with this printer I have to fudge the border settings in LR to compensate.  Only printer I've ever had to do this with.  My P 600 doesn't have this, nor has any of the dozen or so Epson printers I've owned since my first 1280 years ago.

Rand
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koonyue

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #9 on: March 17, 2016, 01:58:48 am »

Thanks guys, I will try again to find the right angle in order to feed the paper out of the back of the printer.

Honestly it is not user friendly, I hope Epson will have a better design next time.

Worst thing is there is nothing, I mean nothing in the user manual to describe how to load big paper by using the front feed tray.
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rdonson

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #10 on: March 17, 2016, 11:02:18 am »

Worst thing is there is nothing, I mean nothing in the user manual to describe how to load big paper by using the front feed tray.

Yep, that's why Mark D. Segal's and other experts contributions are so valuable.
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Ron

Mark D Segal

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #11 on: March 17, 2016, 02:45:30 pm »

Thank you Ron. Much appreciated. Being able to share experience that can't be found in manuals is one of the real benefits of this Forum for all of us, as none of us are experts in everything. So we help each other as we can.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Mac Mahon

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #12 on: March 19, 2016, 04:57:32 am »

I know that Mark has cautioned against using the top feed for Ilford GFS & Canson Baryta, but it is the only way I can print these papers in my SC P-800.  If I use the FFA feed I get head strikes on the first inch of the print- even with wide platen gap and the max paper thickness setting.  The top feed works fine and I get zero head strikes with normal platen gap and "5" for paper thickness. 

Rand

FWIW I forgot to read the manual and just did what I always did with the 3880:  i.e. I load GFS A2 in the top feed slot.  Didn't expect problems and got none.  Am I just lucky?

Tim
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GrahamBy

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #13 on: March 19, 2016, 07:41:12 am »

It sounds like the paper handling is a negative for the Epson...

What is the issue with the top slot? Keith Cooper also mentioned it in his review.. He attributed the problem to the paper being pulled in by the RHS... it wasn't clear to me if this meant the RHS was pulled in first (hence the interest of the little flip-out guide on that side), or that when inserting the paper, it was stopped on the RHS by the feed roller, so that the LHS slid in further.

The Canons I've owned have had excellent paper guides and zero feed problems... even without the vacuum system on the prograf-1000. Is there some sort of moveable 2-sided guide in the Epson feed which is not visible on the photos?
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Mark D Segal

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #14 on: March 19, 2016, 08:14:22 am »

FWIW I forgot to read the manual and just did what I always did with the 3880:  i.e. I load GFS A2 in the top feed slot.  Didn't expect problems and got none.  Am I just lucky?

Tim

For now, yes; but I am reliably informed that over time it will prematurely wear the mechanism and there could be damage to the printer. Best to just master the FFA feed. It's a bit of a nuisance at first, but not "rocket science".
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Mark D Segal

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Re: How to load A2 size fine art paper for Epson sc p800?
« Reply #15 on: March 19, 2016, 08:21:04 am »

It sounds like the paper handling is a negative for the Epson...

What is the issue with the top slot? Keith Cooper also mentioned it in his review.. He attributed the problem to the paper being pulled in by the RHS... it wasn't clear to me if this meant the RHS was pulled in first (hence the interest of the little flip-out guide on that side), or that when inserting the paper, it was stopped on the RHS by the feed roller, so that the LHS slid in further.

The Canons I've owned have had excellent paper guides and zero feed problems... even without the vacuum system on the prograf-1000. Is there some sort of moveable 2-sided guide in the Epson feed which is not visible on the photos?

I have encountered no issues with the top feed of my Epson P800, a regular production unit. If I remember correctly (haven't double-checked) Keith mentioned he was testing a pre-production unit so some things could change. 
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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