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Author Topic: Ink spots on new Epson 3880.  (Read 4593 times)

Onslow

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Ink spots on new Epson 3880.
« on: November 25, 2012, 09:30:19 am »

Evening All,
Two weeks ago I took delivery of my brand new Epson 3880. I bought a complete set of spare cartridges, A4 and A2 of Museo Portfolio Rag and Canson Infinity Platine paper as well as a couple of other things for it. I have had custom profiles made for the printer / paper combination. I've printed around 8 A2s and 5 A4s in the time I've had it. The prints up to now have been flawless.

Tonight, I used the Museo A4 paper and printed 4 images on 4 sheets. The first three were the usual quality. The last was the same, except for two approx 2mm puddles of ink in the middle of the print area. The maintenance cartridge is reading 53%. These A4s (due to the paper) were being fed from the rear manual feed one at a time. These did dry but it is obvious in the print as there is a difference in the areas where they occurred. This image will need to be re-printed.

I have had a search on how to remedy this and stop it recurring but not much has been found specifically. Anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks
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Onslow

Mark D Segal

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Re: Ink spots on new Epson 3880.
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2012, 09:40:58 am »

Anyone got any suggestions?

Thanks

Yes, as a new professional-line machine it is under warranty and you are entitled to service and advice from Epson Prographics. Give them a call or use their email support service (on the Epson website), both of which are usually responsive and helpful.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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Onslow

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Re: Ink spots on new Epson 3880.
« Reply #2 on: November 25, 2012, 09:59:40 am »

Thanks for that. :)

I'm in Australia and its the middle of the night right now. I want to see if I have covered all bases before I end up in the support system in the morning. Hopefully it's something I've neglected to do as if there is a new machine involved, that's new profiles at my cost again. I have read a few stories of these machines being swapped with no argument from Epson, It just makes the custom profiles useless though doesn't it? :)
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StuNY

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Re: Ink spots on new Epson 3880.
« Reply #3 on: November 25, 2012, 10:45:10 am »

Did you try a print with the manufacturer supplied profile for your paper? Try it on some Epson paper with supplied profile? The only time I have seen puddling on my 3880 in 2 years was once when I mistakenly picked the wrong profile. Maybe your profile or paper type selected is causing too much ink to be laid down?
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Mark D Segal

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Re: Ink spots on new Epson 3880.
« Reply #4 on: November 25, 2012, 11:42:21 am »

This is a real possibility. I wouldn't worry about your custom profiles for now, just in case they need to change the printer. These professional printers are made to a high standard of uniformity, so a profile that works well for one printer of the same model should be largely OK for another. If between you and Epson it is determined that they should swap the printer, try using a manufacturer standard profile first to make sure the printer works properly with Epson paper and Epson profiles. If it does, then try your custom profile and see whether it remains workable before ordering anything else. If the custom profile causes puddling on another printer, you'll know the problem is the profile. Epson will most likely want you to test the problem with your current printer on their paper and profiles before doing anything remedial, just to determine whether the problem is the printer or user-error.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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hugowolf

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Re: Ink spots on new Epson 3880.
« Reply #5 on: November 25, 2012, 03:18:36 pm »

I'm with everyone else on this one. The most likely culprit is the profile, so try printing with the Portfolio Rag profile for the 3880 from the Museo site. It isn't a rare paper, I haven't come accross any other reports of puddling with it, and you don't seem to be having any trouble with other papers/profiles.

I don't have a sample with me (it is the weekend) and can't remember how differnt the two sides are, but you are sure you are not printing on the wrong side of the paper?

Brian A
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Onslow

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Re: Ink spots on new Epson 3880.
« Reply #6 on: November 25, 2012, 05:33:46 pm »

Since I can't multi-quote I'll attempt to answer these replies all here.

StuNY. For the first couple of prints, maybe 4 in A4 and A3 I used Ilford Galleria Smooth Pearl with Ilford profiles with no problems at all.

Mark D Segal. I have no Epson paper... I bought the Canson and Museo papers as I much preferred them over the Epson papers. I may have to try and source some...

hugowolf. When my papers first turned up, I installed the paper manufacturers profiles for the paper and my machine. I had no problems at all. I have followed the instructions carefully in setting up the print driver settings so I can now select the correct settings for the profile I had created. Forgive me if I use the wrong terminology here. In the print driver, on the main tab at the top is a 'Select Setting' dropdown box. I created a custom version for each paper size and paper type and the setting are all identical (within the paper type I mean, not amongst the different papers). I now use this to change between papers and sizes so that I (hopefully) can't make a mistake.
A possibility is the paper being on the wrong side. These four sheets were removed from the box. In the box is information that says the printable side is the side facing up up when the box is open. Perhaps I flipped the last one although I do not believe I did that.

I would like to thank you all for your responses.

BTW, I suspect I have done a few(but not many) more prints than I recall. Is there any way the driver records this somewhere?

My overall impressions of this machine are that it is an awesome piece of machinery. Apart from this small hiccup and the lousy installation disc for setting up a network printer, it has proving itself a delight to use.

I can see there is so much now to learn. I have the machine I can practise on.... Several months ago, I bought the LuLa Camera to Screen to Print series. I am now re-watching these in much greater detail and have picked up some valuable nuggets of information from Jeff. Currently I am trying out the suggestions in the soft-proofing video. Wow, what a difference that is making... BTW, this print with the problem did not have any of the soft proofing manipulation done that Jeff shows in this particular video.
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bill t.

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Re: Ink spots on new Epson 3880.
« Reply #7 on: November 25, 2012, 06:03:30 pm »

Most media will develop a curve when exposed to dry air.  Doesn't take long, depends on how well the box is sealed etc.  Buckling in the print path can cause the paper to swipe the bottom of the printhead carriage assembly, where gunky ink residue from printing and cleaning is in no short supply. Have seen this to some extent on every printer I have ever used.  Papers on thick substrates seem to be the most curly offenders, but I recently had a problem with this on Canon Rag Pho 210.   The reason your maintenance tank is low is probably because of the initial head charging, so a lot of ink has already flowed in and around the nozzle areas.  In the worst cases even max vacuum may be not enough to flatten the paper enough.  Just a thought.
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Onslow

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Re: Ink spots on new Epson 3880.
« Reply #8 on: November 25, 2012, 07:31:14 pm »

Most media will develop a curve when exposed to dry air.  Doesn't take long, depends on how well the box is sealed etc.  Buckling in the print path can cause the paper to swipe the bottom of the printhead carriage assembly, where gunky ink residue from printing and cleaning is in no short supply. Have seen this to some extent on every printer I have ever used.  Papers on thick substrates seem to be the most curly offenders, but I recently had a problem with this on Canon Rag Pho 210.   The reason your maintenance tank is low is probably because of the initial head charging, so a lot of ink has already flowed in and around the nozzle areas.  In the worst cases even max vacuum may be not enough to flatten the paper enough.  Just a thought.

Bill, Thanks for replying. After discussions with the specialist imaging centre I bought the unit from, it was suggested to run a nozzle check. Did that, there's 3 gaps, one in the blue and two in the dark blacks. I am now running the cleaning cycle and will run the nozzle check again. He also suggested setting the platen gap to wide as the paper is thick at 300gsm.

I guess I didn't expect this with the unit being so new. I have now ordered a dust cover for the printer as well in case the lack of one is contributing to the issue.
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hugowolf

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Re: Ink spots on new Epson 3880.
« Reply #9 on: November 25, 2012, 07:45:23 pm »

hugowolf. When my papers first turned up, I installed the paper manufacturers profiles for the paper and my machine. I had no problems at all. I have followed the instructions carefully in setting up the print driver settings so I can now select the correct settings for the profile I had created. Forgive me if I use the wrong terminology here. In the print driver, on the main tab at the top is a 'Select Setting' dropdown box. I created a custom version for each paper size and paper type and the setting are all identical (within the paper type I mean, not amongst the different papers). I now use this to change between papers and sizes so that I (hopefully) can't make a mistake.
I wasn't suggesting a workflow error, although that is entirely possible, I was suggesting the the custom profile isn't right. As for workflow, the custom settings only remain valid if you change nothing, so if you change something like the size of the paper, you often need to check all other settings to make sure they haven't reverted to someting else.
Quote
BTW, I suspect I have done a few(but not many) more prints than I recall. Is there any way the driver records this somewhere?
Yes, if you run the printer monitoring software (Printer Watcher). It either came with the printer or can be downloaded from the Epson site. It will show details for each print, including ink usage to the nearest 0.01 ml for each ink. The data can be exported as a CSV files and openned in a spread sheet application for totalling or further analysis.

Brian A
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Onslow

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Re: Ink spots on new Epson 3880.
« Reply #10 on: November 26, 2012, 04:00:40 am »

I wasn't suggesting a workflow error, although that is entirely possible, I was suggesting the the custom profile isn't right. As for workflow, the custom settings only remain valid if you change nothing, so if you change something like the size of the paper, you often need to check all other settings to make sure they haven't reverted to someting else.Yes, if you run the printer monitoring software (Printer Watcher). It either came with the printer or can be downloaded from the Epson site. It will show details for each print, including ink usage to the nearest 0.01 ml for each ink. The data can be exported as a CSV files and openned in a spread sheet application for totalling or further analysis.

Brian A

Brian, thanks for your response. The print Watcher was installed. I just didn't know. There is a lot that I need to discover in this driver. I have, since cleaning the heads printed several more A2 prints and several A4s. These were fine. I did however change the platen gap to wide as suggested by the retailer and others...

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