Loading thick roll paper in Epson P800

[Benny Profane]

Man, this is frustrating. Never again do I order 310 weight roll paper for this thing. I made a few prints a month ago, and that was difficult getting the roll started, and now I can't get it into the load position again, no matter what I do, and the first foot or more of the roll is now damaged beyond use after trying. Was this a mistake, using 310 Rag Photographique on a roll? Any tricks getting it in there? sheesh.

[Mark D Segal]

Man, this is frustrating. Never again do I order 310 weight roll paper for this thing. I made a few prints a month ago, and that was difficult getting the roll started, and now I can't get it into the load position again, no matter what I do, and the first foot or more of the roll is now damaged beyond use after trying. Was this a mistake, using 310 Rag Photographique on a roll? Any tricks getting it in there? sheesh.

Hi Benny, this is the first complaint I've seen about this, and the paper should be fine. Epson Legacy Baryta 17" roll is specified at 314 gsm and 12 mil thickness; it is meant to be used in a P800. I routinely load this paper (sheets though) through the back roll feed rather than the Front Fine Art feed, because it uses the same path more easily and never had a problem with it. All this leads me to believe there is either something wrong with what you're doing, or something wrong with YOUR printer. If you could say more about the detailed steps you've deployed for loading it and how it fails to load it may be possible to say something more helpful.

[Benny Profane]

Well, basically, it isn't flexible enough to make the first bend into the loading position. It encounters those little plastic guides that just get in the way. and, since its roll paper, it naturally "curves" in the opposite direction I want to load it. I........just......have....to get it.....beyond a certain point, and it resists big time. Pain in the neck.

[Mark D Segal]

OK, I have an end of a roll of Ilford GFS - similar specs. When I have a chance I'll strip it off the 4900 and try loading it into my P800. I'll revert here when done.

[BradSmith]

.....I routinely load this paper (sheets though) through the back roll feed rather than the Front Fine Art feed, because it uses the same path more easily and never had a problem with it. ......

Mark,
Interesting way of dealing with this printer's short comings.  I'll try this.

I purchased this printer a month ago after my 3800 died.  Purchased a roll of 17" Simply Elegant Gold Fiber 310 (12 or 13 mil) but don't have the roll feed mechanism.  I planned on cutting lengths of it into sheets for the sizing flexibility that rolls offers.  After cutting sheets and laying them flat overnight with books on top to help flatten them, they still had some curl.  So I reverse rolled a couple.   I've had a tough time even feeding the sheets into the front fine art feed tray as they sometimes hit something inside.   Then after getting it in and hitting "load", the printer wanted to tell me that I had no paper in the printer!  Or, when it did advance the paper into the printer, then I had paper skews.  When I finally got a couple attempts to print using front fine art paper feed, I got bad head strikes and smudging in the first inch of the print (used thickness 6 and Wide platen gap).  Oh, and even when they work, there are many more steps to take to load a sheet using the front fine art tray.   UGH!

I haven't had these problems with sheets of these same papers, just the roll stock.  My conclusion so far....paper handling far worse in this new printer than the 3800.

And on a brighter note, thank you Mark for being there to offer your ideas, experience and encouragement.  I and many others really appreciate it.   
 Brad Smith 

[Ferp]

When I finally got a couple attempts to print using front fine art paper feed, I got bad head strikes and smudging in the first inch of the print (used thickness 6 and Wide platen gap).

I think this is a problem in any printer when using using sheets cut from roll paper if the printer thinks it's a sheet and not a roll.  This is a problem in the 3880 using roll paper, and I assume also in the P800 if you set the P800 for a sheet of a certain length rather than a roll, which you must have since you were using the front feed. 

In a printer with a roll paper option, the printer will advance the paper a couple of inches so that the paper is held flat by the exit rollers.  If you start the print closer to the edge of the sheet than this then the paper curls up and you get the problem you experienced up to the point where the paper starts passing under the exit rollers.  The solution is to have a leading margin of 2" to mimic what the driver does if roll paper is specified. 

Note also that the same issue will probably occur at the end of the print unless you also have a 2" trailing margin.  Again, if you were printing from a roll, then the trailing part of the paper is held flat by the entry rollers, and so you need enough of a trailing edge on a cut sheet to mimic this effect. 

Can't help with the rest of your difficulties, my 3880 rear feed works fairly readily with sheets cut from rolls.

[Mark D Segal]

Mark,
Interesting way of dealing with this printer's short comings.  I'll try this.

I purchased this printer a month ago after my 3800 died.  Purchased a roll of 17" Simply Elegant Gold Fiber 310 (12 or 13 mil) but don't have the roll feed mechanism.  I planned on cutting lengths of it into sheets for the sizing flexibility that rolls offers.  After cutting sheets and laying them flat overnight with books on top to help flatten them, they still had some curl.  So I reverse rolled a couple.   I've had a tough time even feeding the sheets into the front fine art feed tray as they sometimes hit something inside.   Then after getting it in and hitting "load", the printer wanted to tell me that I had no paper in the printer!  Or, when it did advance the paper into the printer, then I had paper skews.  When I finally got a couple attempts to print using front fine art paper feed, I got bad head strikes and smudging in the first inch of the print (used thickness 6 and Wide platen gap).  Oh, and even when they work, there are many more steps to take to load a sheet using the front fine art tray.   UGH!

I haven't had these problems with sheets of these same papers, just the roll stock.  My conclusion so far....paper handling far worse in this new printer than the 3800.

And on a brighter note, thank you Mark for being there to offer your ideas, experience and encouragement.  I and I know many others really appreciate it.   
 Brad Smith

Hi Brad, Many thanks - much appreciated. I also learn a lot from this Forum.

I would suggest not to use roll paper for the purpose of cutting it into sheets. Better just to buy the sheets. When you work it all out, the unit price difference per useful square foot of paper is *usually pretty close*, and all the more so when you take into account the value of your time futzing around with it.