epson 4800 ink stains

[larkis]

I have a problem with my 4800 epson printer that creates ink stains as the paper is going into the printer. I'm not sure what is causing this but it has never done this before. If there is ink on the back of the print head that is rubbing on the paper as it's coming in i'm not sure what the remedy is. There does not seem to be a way to clean around the print head. Any tips would be great.

EDIT: Here is a picture of the problem. It actually seems to start near the print not the edge of the paper in this case.

[Gene Coggins]

From looking at the image, it would appear that you are printing on roll paper that has an excessive initial curl. Set the roll paper options in the print driver to wider. This should take care of the head strike problem.

You can also clean the bottom of the print heads carriage by placing a cut paper towel that will fit into the carriage pathway. Saturate the paper towel with a little Windex and and warm water. With the machine powered down and the head released, slowly slide the print head back and forth over the wet paper towel a few times. This should clear any excessive ink build-up on the bottom of the print head. Repark the head, remove the dirty paper towel and make sure there are no lint particles or dirt left behind in the carriage pathway.
Gene

[larkis]

I will try that. Unfortunately the problem happens on cut sheets as well. I assume it's not a platen gap issue since it never did this on the same media types the entire time I had the printer.