3800 Printing Fine Lines on Exhibition Fiber

[EdRosch]

Hi,

Up until now I've been using Premium Luster on my 3800 and have been getting very good results.  Feeling the need for a 'fine art' type paper, I recently switched to Epson Exhibition Fiber.  I am using the proper profile and followed what advice I could find here and at Eric Chan's site for setting thickness and platen width.  However, I keep getting very faint fine parallel lines on areas that should be solidly colored.

I might mention that everything else is fine, soft proofing is working, the color and saturation on the prints are fine and match my monitor, and the prints look great except for those %#@$#&@%& lines!!!!

Any ideas and advice as to how to deal with them would be greatly appreciated!  It's making me seriously crazy.

My settings for paper adjustment are:

Referential Media Type:  Premium Luster

Paper Thickness:  5 (x 0.1mm)

Platen Gap:  Wide

All other setting under 'more settings' set to 0

I am feeding from the Rear Feed and that seems to be working well.

Thanks!!

[Paul Sumi]

FWIW, I'm printing this paper on a 3880 (17x22).  I haven't noticed this phenomenon but will check recent prints.

My settings are Premium Photo Glossy paper, paper thickness 3 and platen gap wide.

Paul

[Wayne Fox]

Hi,

Up until now I've been using Premium Luster on my 3800 and have been getting very good results.  Feeling the need for a 'fine art' type paper, I recently switched to Epson Exhibition Fiber.  I am using the proper profile and followed what advice I could find here and at Eric Chan's site for setting thickness and platen width.  However, I keep getting very faint fine parallel lines on areas that should be solidly colored.

I might mention that everything else is fine, soft proofing is working, the color and saturation on the prints are fine and match my monitor, and the prints look great except for those %#@$#&@%& lines!!!!

Any ideas and advice as to how to deal with them would be greatly appreciated!  It's making me seriously crazy.

My settings for paper adjustment are:

Referential Media Type:  Premium Luster

Paper Thickness:  5 (x 0.1mm)

Platen Gap:  Wide

All other setting under 'more settings' set to 0

I am feeding from the Rear Feed and that seems to be working well.

Thanks!!

The lines are parallel with the printhead direction or with the paper path?  Do they appear to be scratches?

Other things to try

Front manual slot
Platen gap to wider
A little higher paper thickenss

[EdRosch]

The lines are parallel with the printhead direction or with the paper path?  Do they appear to be scratches?

Thanks for the reply,

They are parallel with the printhead motion, they are very fine, close together, and fairly faint.  They do not appear to be scratches as when I reflect light off the paper they can not be seen.

Sharon,

Thanks,  I'm also using the pixel genius profile,  I'll try your settings and see if that helps.

[Farmer]

Have you done a nozzle check?  Perhaps a head alignment?

[Wayne Fox]

Have you done a nozzle check?  Perhaps a head alignment?

Agree with those things, and another thought is it may meed a slight tweak in paper feed adjustment.

[AndrewMcD]

Agree with those things, and another thought is it may meed a slight tweak in paper feed adjustment.

I had the same problem when my 3800 was brand new. I had to take it to an Epson service center and there was a tiny bit of packing material stuck in the head.

[Wayne Fox]

I had the same problem when my 3800 was brand new. I had to take it to an Epson service center and there was a tiny bit of packing material stuck in the head.

ouch.  and they certainly seem to get some of that blue tape and foam in some really strange places ... easy to actually completely miss some of it.

Probably not the problem with the OP of this thread, since Luster prints just fine, whereas you probably had troubles with most if not all papers.  Worth checking though.

[EdRosch]

Thanks for the ideas everyone,

I cleaned and aligned the heads,  replaced the maintainance tank, and set set Paper Feed Adjustment Value A to -17.  All my other setting I left alone.  Somewhere along the line, something worked and now my prints look great.

Ed