Ilford Gold Fiber Silk + Epson 9900 Issue

[StevenSzabo]

Another silly question from the newb with the 9900  I did a few prints recently on Ilford Gold Fiber Silk on my 9900, on close inspection I noticed that the printer appears to be leaving scratches down the prints in their direction of travel through the printer.

They're not terribly deep scratches, and they're not noticable unless you look very closely, but they are certainly not a figment of my imagination as I had initially thought. My initial thoughts are that this is a result of the increased thickness of the Ilford paper, although I could be wrong(and please tell me if I am, I assure you my feelings will not be hurt).

Has anyone else had a similar issue? is it just a matter of adjusting the platten gap? I don't want to mess around with a bunch of settings without knowing for sure.

Thanks
Steve

[StevenSzabo]

well at least I'm not alone   I'll give those settings a shot and see how they come out. I'm sure both of those settings can be achieved somewhere in the menus on the 9900.

[Scott O.]

I had the same sort of problem with my 7600.  I use double sided Moab papers and it turned out the raised guides on the printer were actually making faint marks on the *back* of the side being printed.  So when I printed the front side, the marks were being made on the back side.  When I turned the paper over to print on the other side, the printer would put the marks on the back again, which was now the side I had printed first.  I would wind up with marks on both sides and it took quite a while to figure out.  I solved the problem by using a plain piece of paper as a backing sheet when I printed.  No more marks.  But again, this only showed up when I was printing on double sided paper, so I don't know if it will help you with your problem.  You might try to analyze your marks and see if they correspond with anything inside the printer.

[hilljf]

I use this paper extensively and have not had this problem at all.  I choose the Epson Luster 260 paper type on the printer.

John

[NickOsborne]

Steve

I had a similar problem with GFS. Turned out that the paper was the problem. You could not see the mark until it was printed unless you thoroughly inspected the paper in the correct light.

Hope this helps

Nick

[agavephoto]

Interesting: this sounds a lot like a problem I had with one box of letter size Canson Inf. Baryta Photographique (which looks very similar to GFS). 20/25 sheets in one box had a very thin, very straight line imprinted on the paper. I new inspect each sheet before printing closely under a nice light. It's definitely hard to see if you're not looking for it.

Steve

I had a similar problem with GFS. Turned out that the paper was the problem. You could not see the mark until it was printed unless you thoroughly inspected the paper in the correct light.

Hope this helps

Nick

www.osborneimages.com

[Don Blauvelt]

Steve

I have two Canon Pro 9500s I’ve been printing Ilford Smooth Pearl and Gold Fibre Silk. Both papers on either printer have faint vertical lines about 1/2 inch apart down the entire printed image. The vertical lines seem to have a dot pattern; I’d guess 1/32nd of an inch of separation. It also appears that on an 8 ½ x 11” sheet, the first vertical line reading from left to right is a single dot pattern the next is a double/triple dot pattern, the next single, the next double/triple and so on. As mentioned in this discussion, to see the lines the light source needs to be almost on the same plane as the print. I hold it vertically underneath a solux lamp bulb.  

I am using Ilfords profile for the Pearl paper and its printer setting for the Pro 9500.
Ditto for the Gold Fibre. I have the same problem if I use the 13 X 19” sheets.
If your lines match my description it would seem to be pointing at the paper and/or profiles.

I’m about to buy a new Epson printer this week and would feel a lot better if we knew for sure where the problem is.

Don Blauvelt

[deanwork]

I have had really extensive scratching with this Ilford Gallerie Gold media since the very beginning. I was using it on the Z3100 in both sheet and roll form. My conclusion is that it scratches if you even look at it wrong. I've seen major scratching even before it gets INTO the printer. It is the most vulnerable gloss media I've ever used so I quit using it altogether. I never have this issue with Hahnemuhe Photorag Baryta which is what I use altogether now.

john

[wchafe]

I was getting scratches about 10~20% of the time on my Epson 3880 with Ilford Galerie paper.  Setting the Platen gap from "auto" to "wide" and paper thickness to 0.4mm solved the problem for me.  I haven't had a single scratch since.

[Ernst Dinkla]

Interesting: this sounds a lot like a problem I had with one box of letter size Canson Inf. Baryta Photographique (which looks very similar to GFS). 20/25 sheets in one box had a very thin, very straight line imprinted on the paper. I new inspect each sheet before printing closely under a nice light. It's definitely hard to see if you're not looking for it.

Got a Canson sample book yesterday. The print on the Baryta Photographique showed a horizontal, faint white line. Not visibly extending in the margins. Hard to say whether that is the printer or the paper. There's some printer head banding visible too in the other direction.


met vriendelijke groeten, Ernst Dinkla

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