Epson P800: Removing or disabling pizza wheels for roll film

[philbond87]

I read a post in a thread here over a year ago in which a member said that they were able to remove the star wheels on their P800. That person did not, however, say how it was done.

Anyone here happen to know how to do that?

I am using the P800 with Pictorico transparency film in order to make digital negatives for alternative process printing.  Running that paper through the front specialty paper path in sheet form can be done to avoid the star wheels but I need to run it on rolls.

Thanks

[howardm]

is this a problem you're actually experiencing or are you just planning on how to fix it if you do see a problem?

From what I've seen of the exploded diagrams and service manual, you may be able to simply grab the wheel w/
something like a good needlenose or chain-nose plier and pull.  the 'shaft' that the wheel rides on is actually a spring.

If I were even going to try that, I'd first experiment on the wheel on left side of the printer.

[philbond87]

is this a problem you're actually experiencing or are you just planning on how to fix it if you do see a problem?

I'm actually seeing the effects of the star wheels – especially in lighter areas of final prints. The tracks are very visible.

If I do go that route I would certainly try one first. The left most ones (as you suggest) seem a logical choice.

I don't mind pursuing a "destructive" solution, as I only intend to use this printer for roll fed negative printing. I just don't want to cause permanent damage that would prevent it from doing what I intend. Particularly I don't want to trip some sensor that makes the printer think there is a problem with the paper path or some such thing.