In my last post I stated that the service call was to address the replacement of the left ink bay and bring the issue of the MK banding to the attention of the service tech. Both problems were addressed and I'll deal with the left ink bay replacement first. That was due to a leaky ink bay connection to the Yellow cart, as was obvious when the original bay was removed. That procedure went well and then I showed the tech some examples of the MK banding issue. He said he had never seen that sort of banding but would take a couple of samples to show to other techs at Decision One here in Canada. The next day I called Epson to introduce the MK banding issue and set up another service call for that as well. During that phone call I eventually spoke to a supervisor and voiced my displeasure concerning the ever growing list of issues with this printer. I was told that nothing more could be done until the next service call had been attended to and then perhaps we could talk about the extended warranty and some sort of compensation.
The latest service call was two days ago(Friday Feb.3) and was relegated to the MK banding problem. The tech ran a variety of test patterns from his laptop and I then gave him one of my "black only" test files to print on Enhanced Matte paper. It looked slightly better than what I had printed the previous day, so he then printed the same file, again from his laptop, on the Breathing Color Matte Canvas. There was no sign of banding, which initiated more questions on my part. I asked to see all of the driver settings to print the test and to my surprise the Platen Gap was set to "Standard". With all of the tests I had printed using a combination of settings, trying to eliminate the MK banding, the one setting that remained constant was the PG setting - "Wider". The information sheet from Breathing Color for this canvas stipulates a setting of "Widest", however, with my driver "Wider" is as wide as it gets. Therefore I was very reluctant to try the "Standard" or "Auto" settings, fearing a head strike and more issues. I wanted to confer with the tech before changing the PG setting, but as it turned out he beat me to the finish line by leaving all of his settings as default before printing the canvas test. It would seem that most, if not all of the MK banding problem had been caused by a PG setting that was simply too wide for this combination of printer and canvas. I was still somewhat reluctant to try this with my setup, but I did so while the tech was present to make sure he could see what was happening in case of another related problem. My tests were perfect with the "Auto" PG setting, so I then proceeded to build that into the canvas preset in the driver. I have since noticed that Dano from Epson has mentioned the "Auto" PG setting for the Epson Exhibition Canvas as well, so perhaps that is quite normal.
Although I haven't yet done any more testing on Fine Art papers it would seem that I can now print with confidence on the Breathing Color Canvas. I will however be keeping a careful eye on the possibility of further banding issues and head strikes. I would also appreciate any replies as to the PG settings used for BC Chomata White canvas by those of you printing on the 9900.
Also, a followup on the left ink bay replacement. Since the new bay was installed I have experienced air bubbles in all but one of the ink lines from that bay, some as long as 5.5". I kept a careful eye on the situation and was able to print as usual until the "bubble" reached the print head. In most cases a "Power Pairs Cleaning" followed by a "Normal Pairs Cleaning" was enough to move the the bubble through the head and replace it with ink. Except for the wasted ink involved with this procedure it has so far been a rather easy fix for the inline air problem. I'll probably be approaching Epson for a couple more ink carts to compensate for that used to purge the air from the lines.
Your replies concerning Platen Gap settings for canvas printing with the 9900 would be greatly appreciated.
Gary
