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Author Topic: My Epson SC-P600 prints the first 2 or 3 centimetres with a slightly wrong color  (Read 1188 times)

Manuel64

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Hi,

For some unknown reason my Epson SC-P600 tends to print the beginning of most prints with a slightly wrong colour. It looks like the yellow is a bit weak on the first 2 or 3 centimetres of the print. After running a cleaning cycle, the problem seems to disappear but it comes back again after a while (10 minutes to 1 hour). The nozzle check is perfect all of the time.

I am totally lost. Any ideas of what can be happening? 

Thanks a lot for your help!

Manuel
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I.T. Supplies

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Seems like it may be something internally with the printer if the nozzles fire properly but it start at the beginning.  I would almost say that it's a setting, but this may not be the case.

Probably contact Epson and explain the issue to them and they may have a suggestion or answer for you.  If it was purchased within the year and has an internal problem with it, they can replace the unit at no charge.

562-276-7272

Hope this helps.
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Manuel64

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The settings seem to be fine.

I had another p600 that had exactly the same problem. I got rid of it and bought this new one. Sadly, after a year or so of use, it is starting to behave in the same strange way.

The printer was on a shelve that was tilted downwards. Perhaps for this reason some small air bubles got trapped in the yellow ink tubing and are now causing this problem?

Manuel
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digitaldog

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Never seen (or heard) of such an issue and you report it's happened with two of the same models which is very, very odd. First, test this with a color reference image below and maybe print it in two orientations, then let them dry down and examine the prints side by side.
http://www.digitaldog.net/files/2014PrinterTestFileFlat.tif.zip
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Manuel64

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I have made a simple test: I just printed a neutral grey file (L* = 50, a = 0, b = 0) on a small 10 x15 cm Epson Premium Glossy Photo Paper using absolute colorimetric intent. After letting the print dry for a few hours, I made the following two readings with my  i1Pro2 in spot mode:

1) Reading on a spot located 10mm from the beginning of the print

   L = 50.27, a = 2.63, b = -3.13 

2) Reading on a spot located 10mm before the end of the print

   L = 50.66, a = 2.60, b = -1.59

I have repeated the same test 5 times with similar results. The difference is not very big but it is there and can be seen with the naked eye too.
What do you think?
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digitaldog

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I have repeated the same test 5 times with similar results. The difference is not very big but it is there and can be seen with the naked eye too.
What do you think?
Those lab values calculate to a deltaE of 1.59 which isn't large but just visible. Did you measure after letting the prints dry for 24 hours?
« Last Edit: February 20, 2018, 04:32:14 pm by digitaldog »
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Manuel64

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Some have had a drying time of a couple of hours and others overnight. The tests have not been done very carefully.
Anyway, it looks like that the P600 is not printing very consistently in time (one day compared to another) or in space (beginning of the print compared with the ending)
deltaE is about 1.5 on average going as high as 3.5 sometimes on this simple 50% gray test. Is this normal?
I will repeat all the tests in a more careful way, I would like to get to the bottom of this. Any ideas?

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digitaldog

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Anyway, it looks like that the P600 is not printing very consistently in time (one day compared to another) or in space (beginning of the print compared with the ending)
The colorimetric data I have from many older Epson printers, created to build ICC profiles for Epson* provided a lot of data that Epson's pro printers are very, very consistent in behavior among a group as well among individual printers. 5000 patches measured to build the profiles for all the printers listed below, an average dE of less than 0.5! So something is wrong on your end but it's very difficult to believe you got two printers that are both wrong this way. Call Epson I guess but double check everything because what you report isn't historically close to expectation!


* http://www.pixelgenius.com/epson/
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