Epson R3000 Woes

[Kevin Sholder]

All,

I purchased an Epson R3000 earlier this year and have two issues that I am unable to resolve, in fact I'm on my second R3000 as the first was shipped back under warranty and I still have the same problem.  I've talked with tech support to no resolution, so I'm hoping someone can give me some ideas on how to fix this.

For this problem I have used Epson Exhibition Fiber, Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308, Ilford Gold Mono Silk and all exhibit the same issue.  The Ilford Gold not as frequently.

I am using the following settings for each paper type:

EEF:

Front Load:  Fine Art
Media Type:  Exhibition Fiber Paper
Print Quality Level:  LEVEL 5 (Max Quality)
Print Quality:  SuperPhoto - 5760x1440dpi
High Speed:  On  (I have tried High Speed Off, no difference)

Drying Time per Print Head Pass:  0  (I have adjusted this in the past with no change)
Paper Thickness:  3  (I have not adjusted this)
Platen Gap:  Standard (I have tried wide, no difference)

Everything is the same for the HPR 308
Except for:

Media Type:  Ultra Premium Presentation Matte
Paper Thickness:  2  (I have not adjusted this)

Then for the Ilford Gold Mono Silk, same settings except for:

Media Type:  Premium Photo Paper Semi-Gloss

I've attached some images of what I am seeing.

It appears that the emulsion does not stick on the paper and flakes off after printing, this has happened on both 8.5x11 and 13x19 stock for Exhibition Fiber and I've not purchased the Hahnemuhle or Ilford in 13x19, but have the same issue on 8.5x11 size.  See first two attachments.

The third attachment is different issue where the paper at the end doesn't feed through properly.  This only happens on 8.5x11.

Any help in finding a solution for these issue would be greatly appreciated.

I love the prints this can produce, but I find my success rate is about 66% in making prints, not good for the cost of ink and paper.

I typically print once a week for a couple of hours, so I've not a heavy user of the equipment and would not think this should be happening.

Thanks for all your help and / or suggestions on how I might solve this problem, because tech support is of no help at this point especially since I am seeing this on a second copy of the printer as well as my original printer.

Kevin

[schrodingerscat]

Hava had an R3000 for about a year now and have had nothing like this crop up. For color I use a custom generated profile for Red River Satin papers and use Epson's ABW for B&W printing. I'm also using an inkrepublic CIS.

Very happy with results so far. Possible paper storage problem? I let prints sit overnight before handling, but don't take extra care after that for test prints.

[dsmphoto]

When using the front load path, its easy to get paper under/over and bend two sets of fingers above and below the correct paper path. Once this happens, You either can't get paper to load (my case) or you may get weird head strikes. A trip to my local Epson printer repair contractor and some discussion resulted in him bending everything back in place without parts.
He said "nobody but you uses this path-----". Also, I always use wide platen for any paper needing the front load path.

If you pop out the gray guide and look in with a flash light, you may be able to see whether anything is out of place. There are gray paddles which should be aligned with the tray ( not sticking up). The roller supports should also be in a line. Once things got bent, I was getting the strikes that you show on the paper edge on your 03 att. The paper was not in the correct location. This was before it refused to load at all.

Epson wanted me to ship the printer back but I had a deadline and prevailed for local repair. Best choice since it may not require parts.

Good Luck,

Scott 

[hanzo]

For paper flaking issues, I'd say is 99% paper issue, not the printer. I find the Gold Fibre Silk excellent. Usually its due to baryta coating process and bad QC. For #3, its because the paper is curled.

[Kevin Sholder]

Thank you all for the replies, sorry it's been a while since I've been on, but I appreciate the replies!!

dsmphoto - I've already had this replaced once and made sure when the second one showed up that nothing was bent.  I'm also very careful when loading since I already had issues with the first printer.  I may change to the wide setting for all my front load profiles for a while to see how it works.  Do you know what the typical thickness that wide setting is supposed to be used for?  I looked for a local repair shop and the closest one that I found was in Columbus, OH, not the most practical for me currently.  I'll have to do some more research and see if I can dig something else up closer to home.

hanzo - It looks like flaking to me as well, so thank you for your input.  I tried the Gold Fibre Silk, just doesn't fit my personal taste, but may look at it again.  I'm currently doing some testing with Moab Somerset Museum Rag 300 and Museo Silver Rag.  As for the paper curl, I would agree with that as well, as the paper does seem curled more than I would expect, especially coming from true darkroom paper and how flat it typically is.  Do you have any suggestions on how to prevent paper curl?  Or is it purely a storage / age issue?

Thanks,
Kevin

[hanzo]

Well, I currently use IGFS at the moment, along with Harman by Hahnemuhle for 13x19. The Harman have some flaking issues, so I returned a box for a replacement, which is better, but still have minor flaking issues. The other paper with lots of positive review is Canson Baryta, which I have yet to try.

For curling, I only have issues with large (A3) papers which often curled at both ends. Its funny that you experience it with A4 papers. You can try to counter it with bending it to the opposite direction, but personally I don't bother because I think it add some character to the print, and when it is framed, you can't see the edges. I would think its storage and manufacturing technique, if the paper were cut from a roll, it will definitely have a curl.