Only Getting accurate print size in one direction!

[autox007]

I've had my 7900 for almost a year and have overcome most of the problems. The one that nags me most is my inability to get accurate print sizes. I really need an 8x10 to be 8x10 and so on. The problem is that it prints the accurate size in an east/west direction but comes up short in the north/south dimension. So much so that it is short a full 1/4 of an inch for every 10 inches. The prints won't fit the frames. When printing straight from photoshop I could sometimes overcome this by using autoexpand. I'm now getting up to speed with the Imageprint rip, but I no longer have the same adjustments available. Why is it so hard to just get exactly what you ask for! I'm starting to miss my old Kodak ML500. I always got what I needed.

Bruce

[Farmer]

I've had my 7900 for almost a year and have overcome most of the problems. The one that nags me most is my inability to get accurate print sizes. I really need an 8x10 to be 8x10 and so on. The problem is that it prints the accurate size in an east/west direction but comes up short in the north/south dimension. So much so that it is short a full 1/4 of an inch for every 10 inches. The prints won't fit the frames. When printing straight from photoshop I could sometimes overcome this by using autoexpand. I'm now getting up to speed with the Imageprint rip, but I no longer have the same adjustments available. Why is it so hard to just get exactly what you ask for! I'm starting to miss my old Kodak ML500. I always got what I needed.

Bruce

What paper are you using and what driver settings?  If it's a genuine paper and it's that far out, you should contact Epson - there is an adjustment that can be done to calibrate print length.  If it's a 3rd party paper, then it may not match the driver setting.

[Ken]

What size paper are you printing on for your 8x10" image?
Does it happen with roll as well as sheet paper?
Is it consistently off for all image sizes?
Is it off on only the long side, short side or both?

[autox007]

What size paper are you printing on for your 8x10" image?
Does it happen with roll as well as sheet paper?
Is it consistently off for all image sizes?
Is it off on only the long side, short side or both?

As far as paper I've used everything from Sunset canvas, Epson Lustre and at this moment Epson Semigloss(It's a roll that came with the printer purchase).

As far as driver settings with the Epson papers,  I use the settings for those papers. With Lexjets canvas I use the nearest apparent match to an Epson Canvas.

When printing 8x10's I have used both 24" and 10" wide rolls, and as long as I don't use the autoexpand in the print driver the results seem to stay consistent. Although I haven't measured those prints (autoexpand), I believe I would find out that the dimension that was correct to start with(East/West), became oversize, but printed bleed to the edge of the paper.  

To make the problem clearer- it's not the long or sort side of the print that is off, some prints may print vertically, while others of the same size end up being printed horizontally. It seems to be coming up short in the direction in which the paper is fed (north/south), but not in the direction in which the print heads travel.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I was hoping I  had just missed something obvious,  or find that this was one of those quirks that everyone else knew about.

Bruce

[dgberg]

As far as paper I've used everything from Sunset canvas, Epson Lustre and at this moment Epson Semigloss(It's a roll that came with the printer purchase).

As far as driver settings with the Epson papers,  I use the settings for those papers. With Lexjets canvas I use the nearest apparent match to an Epson Canvas.

When printing 8x10's I have used both 24" and 10" wide rolls, and as long as I don't use the autoexpand in the print driver the results seem to stay consistent. Although I haven't measured those prints (autoexpand), I believe I would find out that the dimension that was correct to start with(East/West), became oversize, but printed bleed to the edge of the paper.  

To make the problem clearer- it's not the long or sort side of the print that is off, some prints may print vertically, while others of the same size end up being printed horizontally. It seems to be coming up short in the direction in which the paper is fed (north/south), but not in the direction in which the print heads travel.

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I was hoping I  had just missed something obvious,  or find that this was one of those quirks that everyone else knew about.

Bruce

My 7900 does not take 10" rolls, the carriage cannot go that far to the right hand side. Just curious if you are some how using 10" what are you doing to make it work?

[Ken]

I was hoping I  had just missed something obvious

Bruce

Bruce... I've been printing digitally since dye-sub days of the mid-1980s, but with the 7900 for only two months. I find operating the 7900 to be far from "intuitive" and there's very little that I would call "obvious".  

I think you could discount the type of medium as a size-regulating factor. Apparently, that setting relates only to how the printer physically handles the medium as it moves through the machine.  

As you mentioned, verifying that borderless printing is not selected would be the first thing to do in troubleshooting. Check that "Auto Rotate" is not selected too (page 134 in the manual). Make sure that your settings in the computer software are the same as on the printer control board. (Seems like the software should incorporate a mismatch alert.) Verify that you have not selected "Fit to Page" or "Fit to Roll Paper Width" on the Page Layout tab (page 137).

If none of that solves the problem, try printing with a User Defined paper size (page 136).

[ghaynes754]

I had the same types of problems with canvas but not with other media.  Answer I have gotten from both Epson and other seasoned users is that the weave in canvas when printed allows shrinkage in the one direction (length) but not in the width.  I had this problem consistently printing out of CS4.  I switched to using the ColorByte Imageprint 8 RIP.  Haven't had any further problems.  Length is exactly what was requested.  Imageprint bypasses the Epson drivers so they must be doing something better.  And even though I was making my own profiles with ColorMunki the profiles from Imageprint are better and I could see the results in multiple test prints so for me it was worth the expense.

Here's the answer I got from Epson:

With our driver, you have the option for about 15 different stocks (don't check, I never actually counted them). These 15 stocks will then expand into multiple media settings.

Example:
You select "WaterColor Radiant White" when printing on Canvas.

When you select a media type it picks up the following:
        Ink levels to be used
        Platen gap adjustment
        Vacuum settings
        Sheet / Roll Settings (Can it be cut)
        Media Feed (each media because of its thickness and drag coefficient will feed at a different rate)

Once you select the media type and it picks up the settings mentioned, you apply the icc profile to adjust the color correctly.

As you know with media feed, it also depends on environmental conditions such as humidity and temperature.

With the variances in media & conditions, we give the end user the option to feed the media faster or slower using a +70/-70 slider adjustment. (+ stretches the job, - shrinks it)
These settings will adjust the feed length by a small amount, as long as horizontal banding don't show up, it is safe to do.

It is possible that the master feed is off, but you would notice it on ALL media's. If this is the case, it is covered under warranty.
If a tech comes on site, they use a special marking media to adjust the master table.

Example:
The marking media is adjusted to 100
Media #1 has a feed adjustment of -3, media #2 might be +1, etc.
The printer is re-zero'd out, and then the feed tables should be accurate again.

Again, if it is just a few media's that are off, you are best to adjust the +/-70 adjustment.

[autox007]

Thanks to everyone for their replies!

It seems the more I learn the less I know. As far as using the media adjustment, I've done it with only small success. Usually less than 1/16". What I didn't realize was that the paper choices in the printer menu were affecting the printer paper advancement. That will be looked into further. I wish there was a chart which showed exactly how each paper choice changes those settings. I don't want to unnecessarily change a platen setting just to improve the paper advancement. I will probably be trying the "user defined paper size" next, although
In double checking that I was in fact printing on 10" paper for some of these prints, I found a chart on page 88 of the printer guide listing common roll sizes for the 7900. 10" roll is definitely listed. Dan, I've printed both from photoshop through the MAC printer driver and through the imageprint driver onto 10" rolls. If your spindle won't travel far enough to the right to hold the roll, I would get it looked at. Are you sure it's not just catching on the edge of the carrier? Wish I could tell you more but I've had good success with printing 8x10's and smaller this way. I only wish there wasn't a curl problem. I reverse wrap the print roll for 24 hours and pray I don't scuff up the prints in doing so.

Okay, I may have just had an epiphany. In looking at the above mention chart I realized that if you need an accurate sized print for whatever reason, you need to fudge the original print size. Regardless of using autoexpand or retain size, a print  needs to be adjusted larger or smaller to achieve the precise size I thought I had to begin with. The chart was concerned more with paper width than paper advance, but I have to assume that the same problems exist with that also. I'm now thinking that I need to find a workaround if I am to continue using this for this purpose,  At least the chart is impling that to acheive a 10 width, a slightly smaller or larger image is required. It seems I need to spend more time reviewing the manual.

Bruce

[Farmer]

Okay, I may have just had an epiphany. In looking at the above mention chart I realized that if you need an accurate sized print for whatever reason, you need to fudge the original print size. Regardless of using autoexpand or retain size, a print  needs to be adjusted larger or smaller to achieve the precise size I thought I had to begin with. The chart was concerned more with paper width than paper advance, but I have to assume that the same problems exist with that also. I'm now thinking that I need to find a workaround if I am to continue using this for this purpose,  At least the chart is impling that to acheive a 10 width, a slightly smaller or larger image is required. It seems I need to spend more time reviewing the manual.

Autoexpand or retain size should only apply if you are attempting to print borderless.  If you are, then the size will change.  If you're not, then these controls shouldn't enter into consideration.