Ink Smudges on the top left and right corners - Epson 3880 and Hahnemuhle Paper

[Praki]

Hello:

I am printing on Hahnemuhle FineArt Pearl 11x17 paper on a Epson 3880. I am using a Mac. I am using the sheet feeder and I notice ink smudges on the top right and left corners and sometimes near the right edge in the upper middle. The printed area is fine and the print is sharp with no bands etc. but the border has thin smudges and sometimes  looks like very tiny droplets of dark ink. The smudging happens only when there is very little paper left to feed through the printer. The bottom part of the paper (i.e. the part that goes through the printer first) is fine it is only near the top - towards the end of the sheet where this happens. I have searched this discussion forum for any clues but no hits on this yet. The sound of the printer changes slightly with a clicking sound when this smudging happens. This does not happen on 8x10 Epson papers.

Any suggestions and pointers are welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Praki.

[neile]

Sounds like head strikes. My guess is the paper is sagging as it comes out and tipping down towards the end of the print job and the head is hitting the edges of the paper on the way by. Try supporting the front edge of the paper as it gets towards the end of the job and seeing if that helps.

The Hahnemuhle paper is a relatively thick paper, which is why you'd see it on that and not the Epson paper.

Neil

[BarbaraArmstrong]

Also, before you feed the paper, slightly bend back what will be the trailing corners.  --Barbara

[AndyS]

I've had very similar on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag, and it was to do with the paper not being perfectly flat before loading into the printer.

Try laying your sheet on a flat surface beforehand, and if the corners are curling up at all then carefully bend/manipulate them in the opposite direction until the paper lies nice and flat.

Also worth checking the platten gap in the driver - I think I have mine set to 'widest' for photorag, but I believe others have sucess with 'wide' as well.

Doing the above certainly resolved the issues for me, hope it does for you as well!


Regards,
Andrew.

[howardm]

also, set the paper thickness in the printer driver to at least 4 if not higher (I should go upstairs and measure the thickness of that paper w/ a caliper).  According to the paper datasheet on the Hahn website, it's 0.4mm.

[Praki]

Tried the suggestions and they worked!!! Wish the manual was a little clearer on the advanced settings. Thanks to all of you for your help.
Praki.

[Randy Carone]

I'd use the Rear Feed slot for this paper and raise the Platen Gap to Wider and the Paper Thickness to 4 or 5, in addition to the suggestions to support the paper on the exit tray to keep the paper straight and to gently bend the sheet so it is absolutely flat. You do not mention the media type you are using; Hahnemuhle recommends Ultra Premium Photo Paper Luster.

[Jeff Magidson]

I have another tip: If you lay the pack of paper on a table, you will probably notice that one end has more of a curl or lift to it than the other end. When feeding the paper in to the printer, I make sure that I use the more curled end as the leading edge and the flatter end as the trailing edge. Doing this, I  usually don't even need to do the "bend the corners" trick mentioned by others.

~ Jeff

http://artslidesboston.com

[Praki]

Randy:

I used the Ultra Premium Luster as the media type per the Hahnemuhle site (wish I had noticed the .4 mm thickness statement) when I was getting the smudges. The platen gap and paper thickness settings seem to have corrected the issue. All the suggestions given the responses are "tried and true" - so good for me to keep in mind. I have about 110 more sheets of this paper to go! Thanks for the suggestions.

Praki.