Centering Prints on Epson 9890

[chaddro]

I've not had this problem with either my 4000 or 7800, so I'm hoping someone might have some insight as to what I may be doing wrong.

New Epson 9890 with 44" luster media loaded. Printing from Photoshop CS5 on mac OS 10.6.8

Did a test print. Image size 10x44. Created custom paper size of 10x44 in driver. Chose border-less print with no expansion. This should have printed centered on the paper (left/right) but printed some 3/8" to the left (as you face the printer) leaving unprinted area on the right.

Second print: 42 x 28 image with custom paper size 44 x 30 (to get a 1 inch border).

Chose border-less print with no expansion (old habits, perhaps should not have not selected borderless). This time the printer was off by 1/8" but to the RIGHT (!?!?) ... Left side was 1-1/8, Right side was 7/8" ...

I have OS 10.5 with CS3 on another boot image that I can give a go too. Would be nice to not have to change boot disks every time I wanted to print ...

Would appreciate any input.

Thanks!

[Pete Berry]

Printers do strange, seemingly unpredictable things in borderless mode, and if you want margins, particularly even ones, why in the world would you select borderless for a bordered image? Simply regular mode, image centered for even margins, provided your image size to page size is calculated correctly.

In borderless mode, for a full borderless print, you either have to accept some image expansion with a little printer cropping, or add a bit of canvas equal to the amount of image displacement (to the left side of the image in your orientation, for image height of 44 3/8) if you choose not to expand it - and this takes some trial and error to establish precisely.

I usually choose just to print in regular mode with minimal 3mm (1/8") borders and the image sized 1/4" smaller than page size, then trim to image if I want an uncropped, borderless image.

Pete

[NickCroken]

Have you tried using Qimage?  I use it with my 9880 to do print layouts and it hasn't led me astray at all.  I prefer the interface in Qimage over the photoshop one.

[chaddro]

Hey Pete. Well, this has worked fine for me with my other printers. But I'd typically print with CS3 under 10.5, not CS5 under 10.6.
I was thinking perhaps it had to do with custom paper sizes, and some sort of enforced margins.

Would like to stick with mac without having to resort to a PC when I want to print. Too bad Qimage doesn't have a mac version,
but I'll take a look at it.

Perhaps someone else has direct experience?

[Hollow4]

I am going through the same thing with my 9890. I shot Epson an email asking what the minimum print margins were and the responded with .12 of an inch on left, right, and top, and .56 of an inch on the bottom for normal printing and .56 top and and bottom for borderless. They also stated on that borders could not be set within the Epson driver on a PC. I found when I reduced my height on my custom paper (trying to get a 10x14 print with an 8x12 image) that it came out pretty close. I had to pull off 1.12 inches off the hight, giving me a paper height of 12.88. Its not perfect yet, but I was really tired last night. I did find that I had to do some serious testing on the 12x13 sheet of Moab Entrada to get my 6x9 images to print perfectly in the center. I just created a photoshop template to plug the images into.

Also you may need to change your cutting options. If you look through the manual there are three ways to set it up. The double cut should cut at the end of the print and then cut again at the next print. This trims the white part in between. I would give you page numbers but I am at work at the moment.

Shoot them an email. I had a response in just a few hours.

The major problem I have been having is with Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta. When sheet feeding there isnt enough suction at the leading edge to properly get the print through the print and it ends up curling in the printer where the carriage annihilates the print. FUN.

Good luck. And holy crap its a huge printer.

[chaddro]

Hi Hollow4!

I am definitely still a bit miffed about the centering on this machine! I do not have these issues on the 4000 or 7800, so having them on a newly updated machine is very frustrating!
I haven't tried sheets yet, so you have my sympathies there!

However, here is something new that is definitely wrong: I setup a custom paper size 16x11 with 0" margins. Image is sized 16.5 x 11" ... I print using Roll Paper - Borderless (Auto Expand) using the Double-Cut method (which I've done hundreds of time on my 4000 flawlessly) and get this >>>>> it MISS CUTS the paper by 1/8" ... meaning it cuts off 1/8" of the image on the first cut, and then again cuts leaving an 1/8" of white paper on the second cut ... but the size is exactly 11". (by the way, I understand why my 4000 had to waste 3" of paper using this method - paper suction, but the roll cutter on the 9890 is in a different location, and should waste MUCH less paper.)

Mind you, this is on Mac OSX 10.6.7 and through Photoshop CS5. I'm going to dig out my trusty 10.5 install (with CS3) and see how that behaves.

Second scenario: Crop image to 16 x 11 and then size to 15 x 10. Object: to get a 1/2" border around image. Same paper setup 16x11 roll paper.  Print this time with "Roll Paper" and Normal Cut (only one available). This time my left-right centering is perfect. But Normal Cut leave me with extra paper to trim. Now I could have sworn my 4000 would let me double cut that paper to 11", but I was probably using "Roll Paper - Borderless (Retain Size) <-- that has been my preferred method since it allows me best control over image placement and how I want it trimmed.

With the 9890 it just will not allow me to center a print and print borderless with "Roll Paper Borderless (Retain Size). It always pushes the image an 1/8" to the left, even when the image is more than suitable size to cover the paper.

My 3800 also centers without any problems.

I'm going to give my 10.5/CS3 install a go and see how that prints.

Per your sheet issues. I would not let epson off the hook. If you print a 16x20 on a 17x22 sheet is should be perfectly centered no questions asked. I don't want to risk my Baryta papers yet, but I'll try with a sheet of Hanemuhle 308 photo rag (will get matted, so doesn't have to be perfectly centered) and let you know how that centered.

Did you update the firmware on your printer? I did. Now I'm wondering if I shouldn't have!

Yes, HUGE printer. I had much 'fun' carrying up two flights of stairs with 3 of my buddies. Glad I don't live on the 3rd floor. Don't think we would have had the gas to go another floor!

All gripes aside, I'm loving the output of the printer. Very glad the printer doesn't auto switch blacks (unless you tell it too).

-cj

[chaddro]

Follow up: Printing under 10.5 with CS3 was no better.

Called Epson and spoke with level 1 tech (sigh) she had little to suggest (?). She did have me use the service mode (hold pause button while powering on) and then do a "Reset Printer to Defaults" ... she said that this sometimes fixes "odd" issues.

Epson phone support has sure changed. When I bought my 4000 (with extended support contract), I spoke with an Engineer with personal experience servicing and maintaining the printer. Perhaps the extended service contract gets you to level 2 with more TLC?

She also suggest uninstalling the driver from the CD and downloading the latest from the website. Epson UK actually has a new driver v8.65 (form Max OSX) that was posted 8-17-2011, but the US site has not been updated. She said to then install the Common Updated v9.0 after installing the new driver.

We'll see. Downloading now and with tough back later.

Oh, discovered another issue: The Roll cutter is giving me wobbly cuts! I mean visibly not straight! Anyone else see that?

[chaddro]

About the epson rotary cutter: Epson calls this their "High Performance Rotary Cutting System" ... Note: Performance <> Precision.
So I'm a bit spoiled by the 4000/9800 where the cutting is part of the print head (much more precise). Double cuts always gave me perfect cuts.

The new rotary cutter is belt driven in a channel. There is a lot of "play" in this channel. Also, rotary cutter blades are spring loaded, to there is possibly more play introduced here.

For me this pretty much means that I wont be using the double cut method for borderless prints. The cuts are just too sloppy for my liking.
Of course, for matted prints, and canvas this isn't a big deal. I do a lot of canvas, and hope the cutter lives up to it's rep for being able to cut it.

 

[Hollow4]

So i just printed out a bunch of 8x10. Besides the top and bottom border, i am not having any issues with the image being shifted left or right by 1/8 of an inch. I am thinking you are checking something in the driver that is causing this. Do some screen shots of your settings and of the photos for us to look at.

[chaddro]

Hi Hollow,

I'm only having centering issues when printer borderless. Under "second scenario" above, I did a test with normal borders and it centered just fine.

From my testing so far, it seems the "Roll Paper - Borderless (Retain Size)" is where the issue is. It just is not working correctly.
Even when my image wide enough to properly cover, it still forces the 1/8" on the left (OS 10.6). This is the same no matter what
width I give the image.

Roll Paper - Borderless (Auto Expand) does print borderless, but I haven't checked to see how well centered it's putting the images.

I haven't tried it with the PC yet, but will at some point.

[stefano]

Chaddro,

I have been having similar issues with my 4900, when attempting to print borderless canvas with retain size (no expansion). The image is sized 0.5" wider than the canvas, yet I get a narrow (~1/8") white strip on the left edge. Very frustrating. Printing from OS 10.6.8, CS5, latest driver. I need retain size as I am doing mirror edge canvas wraps and do not want the image size to be altered in any way. The white edge ends up being wrapped, so I can live with it, but it is annoying! I have a 9900 on order, will definitely try it on the larger printer to see if the behavior is the same, but given that you are seeing it on a 9890 I am afraid it is endemic... At least this points to the driver chain... AAARGHHH!

[chaddro]

Stefano!

Thanks for the confirmation! This is exactly what I'm talking about! I'm not nutz afterall 
I'm going to setup a grid and do some more testing. For me, it did not make a difference when I changed paper width.
I agree at this point that it's a driver issue (at least on Mac OsX 10.6.7).
I also do gallery wraps, and buying the 44" was so I could go much larger than I have been with my 7800.

[chaddro]

Testing Follow-up: (with latest Epson Drivers)

1) Borderless - AutoExpand (min) perfectly centers the image and adds 1/8" of expansion. Works as expected.

2) Borderless - Retain Size:

On Mac OsX 10.6.7 (and apparently 10.6.8 and 10.5) the image is shifted to the right 1/8". If the image is wider than the paper (say, 16.5 on 16" roll paper), the image is still shifted to the right 1/8" and is cropped to the specified paper width (16" in this case)-meaning you still get that 1/8" of paper on the left!

However! On a PC with WinXp sp3, and Photoshop CS3, the image IS centered EXACTLY and properly printed edge to edge.

Conclusion: There is an error in the Mac Print Driver when using the "Borderless - Retain Size" paper setting.

[stefano]

Chaddro,

thanks for your reply and confirmation of what I am seeing on my 4900 also - same behavior as you describe. I wonder if there is a way to submit a problem report to Epson on this - will try to contact their tech support when I get back home tomorrow.

Stefano