Horizontal banding - surprising resolution

[NeilPrintArt]

Hello, I don't post here a lot do often read other peoples experiences and find this forum incredibly helpful. I have recently had an interesting experience with horizontal banding (banding that is parallel to head carriage movement).
Noticed banding in a print that had a large area of grey tone graduating from dark to light.
Printing using Mirage software to my 9890 on Hahnemuhle PhotoRag 308gsm using Ultrachome inks
I double and triple checked nozzle tests (100%)
I experimented with Paper Feed Adj in the driver (both in PS and Mirage). Did change the banding but didn't eliminate it.
Tried bi and uni directional modes but no difference
I did CR and PF slant adjustments (using media recommended in service manual)
Did the 1 meter Feed Adj from service mode and indeed did find a small discrepancy. Ah ha I thought, here is problem. Entered new value. Did a test on the test media- no banding. Success I thought
Put the PhotoRag back in - still banding!!
I tried a variety of combinations of media and profiles (both canned and custom) and was completely baffled as to why the PhotoRag was banding but other media not. Eventually I had a brainwave - I had another older roll of PhotoRag lying around. I put the other roll of PhotoRag in - and no banding!!
I finally realized that the problem was a faulty roll of media!! The problem was in the paper emulsion. Not what one expects from a famous brand like Hahnemuhle.
Am attached a pic of some of the tests I did on a variety of media before I twigged = $$$     

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

Hello, I don't post here a lot do often read other peoples experiences and find this forum incredibly helpful. I have recently had an interesting experience with horizontal banding (banding that is parallel to head carriage movement).
Noticed banding in a print that had a large area of grey tone graduating from dark to light.
...
I finally realized that the problem was a faulty roll of media!! The problem was in the paper emulsion. Not what one expects from a famous brand like Hahnemuhle.

Hi Neil,

Thanks for sharing that experience. Wow, that's a hard one to find, so it's useful for others to keep this possibility on their checklist.

Cheers,
Bart

[Peter McLennan]

I had a similar experience with my Epson 9800.  Drove me nuts until I substituted a roll of identical media and the problem went away.

[disneytoy]

9890. Epson Legacy Baryta. Perfect nozzle checks. Had horizontal banding in solid blacks. Ran alignment, etc.

It seems the paper is thick and has s curl. The head was adjusted to a thicker paper thickness and a wider platen gap
 If the head I'd not close enough or the paper is not flat enough, the ink spray does not overlap enough causing banding


My dilemma, is if the head is too close, I get some ink head marks st the edge. Too far and I get tbr banding.

Maybe you are getting the same. Experiment with platen gap and paper thickness. See if that eliminates banding.

Max

[stockjock]

This may not be applicable to an Epson printer but with the Canon large format printers there is something called the Media Configuration Tool.  It will let you add a custom paper to the printer and print driver.  As part of that process there is a step where you can have the printer do an automatic Paper Feed Adjustment.  With a couple of difficult papers I have tried going through that step and it solves horizontal banding even when the paper manufacturer has provided a file with the "correct" media settings or where manually setting the vacuum and head gap haven't helped. 

If Epson printers have something similar you might try treating your "defective" roll of paper as a new custom paper and have the printer automatically figure out the Paper Feed Adjustment that works.  I think the paper tension is the key factor here.  Canon printers also have a manual feed adjustment and an Automatic Banding Adjustment setting that probably does the same thing. 

FWIW

[Farmer]

No adjustment of the printer is going to help if the coating on the substrate has an issue.

[mearussi]

Had the same problem with some Canson canvas. The matte version was fine but the satin version was too stiff for the printer's vacuum to hold it perfectly flat.

[Jglaser757]

This was my nightmare about two and half years ago,,Horizontal banding,,epson out three times to fix it,,Replacement of the print head four times,,replacement of almost all other parts to. Finally , on the fourth try they replaced the feed wheel(not sure of accurate term) and it worked. The automatic feeder on my 9900 was not feeding the roll paper properly and causing the banding

[disneytoy]

That is very interesting. I wonder if you could print a large square and measure to see if it is calibrated or off.

[NeilPrintArt]

The problem was definitely due to a defected roll of paper. The Hahnemuhle agent and I looked at the problem paper under a strong light and could clearly see a difference with the same paper from a different roll (and different batch number) and he replaced the defective roll without any argument.