3880 & Exhib.Fiber - lines/streaks

[FrankG]

3880 & Exhibition Fiber

I'm printing a series of black & White images that have very large areas of pure black in them.
Firstly dust is a problem & I've started 'blowing' the prints with an air puffer as they exit the printer to try & minimize specks getting embedded in the print while the ink is drying.
Anyone have a better tip?

The bigger problem though is that there are 'streaks' or 'line marks' in the plain/pure black areas. Which can only be seen angling the print to the light & are not evident in the detail or textured areas.
I don't know what it is or how to rectify it. Rollers, wheels, .... They run in the same direction as the paper feeds

The platen gap is set to Wide. And the paper thickness to 4.

Any tips on how to get a totally 'clean' print?

[David Good]

That's the infamous "star wheel" marks from the paper feed system, on some papers that eventually disappears as per paper regains it's shape. I have not tried that paper, but to help with the drying on exit you can increase the "Drying Time per Head Pass" in the Paper Configuration menu. Experiment with different (increasing) settings, it will take longer to print however.

[FrankG]

The Drying Time per head pass setting slider goes from 0 - 50.
What would you suggest I try  - 10 ?
I don't mind waiting for a more perfect output.

Not to contradict, but I don't think it's wheels because I don't see actual 'sprocket' or ''dotted' marks.

[howardm]

you may want to set the paper to wider or widest and bump the thickness to 5.

[FrankG]

Is there any compromise on sharpness, or anything else for that matter, by increasing the supposed thickness of the paper (going from 4 up to 5 or more ?) and increasing the Platen gap  from Wide to Wider ?

[Wayne Fox]

What paper path are you using?  I'd try the front loading manual feed path which keeps the paper pretty flat.

The paper is 13 mil which is 0.33mm thick, so setting it to 4 should be enough. But all the suggestions are worth experimenting with, paper thickness to 5, platen to widest and adding some drying time.  Most of these recent PK ink art papers seem to be pretty delicate.  the bigger printers use vacuum to keep the paper under control so they tend to handle these papers a little better.

Moving the head from 4 to 5mm would increase the distance the ink travels so theoretically it could affect sharpness, but I would be surprised if you could see it even with a loupe.  Platen gap helps keep the paper flat and could easily be causing the small scratches.  With sheet paper I don't think the platen gap would have any affect on sharpness.

All ideas worth trying. 

[FrankG]

I've been using the 'standard' Auto Feeder, but only loading one sheet at a time

[Wayne Fox]

Are you choosing efp as the media type?  I thought it didn't even allow using that paper path.

Efp should be loaded in the rear manual feed slot or the front manual feed, but really shouldn't be loaded in the standard sheet feeder. Just too much curve to the paper path.

[FrankG]

Ultra Premium Photo paper Luster.
This is what I read to do as there is no Exhibition Fiber selection

[Schewe]

Update your driver...current drivers in the US have EFP as a media type.

[howardm]

true.  the v8.64 (Mac) driver (for my 3800) had that and the new hot/cold press papers too.

[FrankG]

i just downloaded & installed the driver. I assume it overwrites any earlier versions.
Looking at the driver version I see it's 6.6 (Looking under User>Library>Printers> & launching the 3880 app and looking under Info).

I guess this because I am on OSX 10.5.8.
Perhaps the newer epson drivers only work with newer OS

[Schewe]

The most recent update for Mac including 10.5.8 is version 8.64 from the US Epson site.

[FrankG]

I went to the US site and d/l 'd  version 8.64 & the install reported as being successful.
But to verify, I restarted and going to the user>printers>epson 3880 and launching the app and looking under Info button  it still shows the old driver version 6.60
This is very confusing.
This is the installation path-correct?
Should I first trash the 3880.app and then re-install?

[FrankG]

OK I now have v 8.64
But, FYI (if anyone else needs this), I first had to take the following steps to remove all epson drivers
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&infoType=FAQ&oid=141552&prodoid=63085147&foid=156398&cat=53470&subcat=53476