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Author Topic: Issues with R3000 (Head strikes and feeding)  (Read 4915 times)

Gianmaria Veronese

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Issues with R3000 (Head strikes and feeding)
« on: August 15, 2013, 02:33:32 pm »

Hi there!

It's my very first post in here, so please be good with me..  ::)

I'm writing this post because, as it's written in the subject, I'm having some issues with my R3000 (I'm new with it to be honest).
First of all I'm having head strikes while printing on A3+ (Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta). I've already tried to set properly the paper thickness (I set 5, the paper is 0.41mm) and the platen gap (wide inspite of standard).
By now I'm feeding the paper from the front using the fine-art support. Should I use the board one?

Secondly, I'm not able to load any already-printed sheet from the front manual feeder. This would be useful for me when making test-prints, in fact I want to use the same sacrifical A3 sheet in order to create test-stripes, but without cutting it. Any idea on how let the R3000 accept the sheet?

Thanks in advance to who'll help me! :)
Gian (www.gianmariaveronese.com)

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Gianmaria Veronese

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Re: Issues with R3000 (Head strikes and feeding)
« Reply #1 on: August 15, 2013, 03:28:34 pm »

Meanwhile I found out this:

Quote
"Hahnemuhle replied that they determined paper thickness setting of 3 works best with all of their papers on the R3000.

They also generally use the Front - Fine Art feed for printing on their papers. However, "a few Epson R3000 models tended to have striping using the front feed. If any problems appear with your R3000 please use the rear [sheet] feed."

With regard to platen gap: "The platen gap might be changed to 'wider' with our Baryta papers because it has a very sensitive surface. All the other pearl and matte papers deliver best results when using the standard setting."

Any comment?
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hanzo

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Re:
« Reply #2 on: August 17, 2013, 12:30:18 pm »

Please describe the head strikes. If you are referring to scratch marks on dark areas, change your speed setting to "Quality" rathen than speed. Its due to swollen paper surface. Slower print speed give the paper more time to dry
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bns

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Re:
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2013, 05:01:22 am »

If you are referring to scratch marks on dark areas, change your speed setting to "Quality" rathen than speed. Its due to swollen paper surface. Slower print speed give the paper more time to dry

+1.
If this is the case, it is not a printer problem, but a property of the paper.
With a different baryta paper (Ilford Gold Fiber Silk, thickness 310 micron) I set in the print driver under 'media - paper configuration' a 'drying time per print head pass' of 20, in combination with a paper thickness setting of 0.4 and platen gap setting 'wide'. It makes for (very) slow but perfect prints.

Boudewijn Swanenburg

Gianmaria Veronese

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Re: Issues with R3000 (Head strikes and feeding)
« Reply #4 on: August 18, 2013, 05:30:41 am »

Please describe the head strikes. If you are referring to scratch marks on dark areas, change your speed setting to "Quality" rathen than speed. Its due to swollen paper surface. Slower print speed give the paper more time to dry
It's like a regular, let me say, cut in the papaer at every head passage.. I link you an image so you can better understand..
You can also hear it very well during the spooling..

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/13492916/20130815_175144.jpg

I still have to try the rear feed solution with wide gap, but before trashing another A3+ I wanted to hear some opinions from you  :)

Thanks!
Gian :)
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mitchjrj

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Re: Issues with R3000 (Head strikes and feeding)
« Reply #5 on: August 19, 2013, 09:37:56 am »

I had this issue with Ilford GFS and the 2880 and was never resolved.  Platen gap, dry time, paper thickness...  Nothing worked.  The only way was manually holding or otherwise supporting the sheet as it came out, elevating the front edge so the surface didn't curve up against the heads.  Didn't always work, though, and as one would expect a real pain. No support from Epson as it was a 3rd party paper, and Ilford provided the same suggestions as above re printer settings.  The same paper worked just fine on the Epson 1900 I had prior, and the 3880 I bought afterwards.  I ended up abandoning the paper.

YMMV but it may not be as simple a solution as some suggest. 
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KSonde

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Re: Issues with R3000 (Head strikes and feeding)
« Reply #6 on: August 19, 2013, 06:55:57 pm »

I had this problem with Ilford GFS. I did three things to solve it.

1. Counter-roll the paper by bending it carefully along the length of the paper so that any curl is in the downward direction (with the printable side facing up).

2. Feed the paper in from the top (like you would plain paper). Do this right right after step one so the reverse curl doesn't have a chance to flatten.

3. Support the paper as it exits the printer. As soon as there is enough of the leading edge coming out of the printer, I set a 100-sheet-size box of letter-size paper under the print so that it doesn't droop down onto the exit tray but remains pretty much flat. Anything that's about 1-inch thick should work.

This worked for me and all head strikes have vanished. I haven't tried it with Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta but it's worth a try.

Kurt

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mitchjrj

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Re: Issues with R3000 (Head strikes and feeding)
« Reply #7 on: August 19, 2013, 09:35:49 pm »

That sounds like a better solution than my young daughter's learning to read books I used at the time. :D  This three step process sounds good, but it's certainly a PITA to have to do it at all.


I had this problem with Ilford GFS. I did three things to solve it.

3. Support the paper as it exits the printer. As soon as there is enough of the leading edge coming out of the printer, I set a 100-sheet-size box of letter-size paper under the print so that it doesn't droop down onto the exit tray but remains pretty much flat. Anything that's about 1-inch thick should work.

This worked for me and all head strikes have vanished. I haven't tried it with Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta but it's worth a try.

Kurt


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Gianmaria Veronese

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Re: Issues with R3000 (Head strikes and feeding)
« Reply #8 on: August 20, 2013, 03:59:40 pm »

I had this problem with Ilford GFS. I did three things to solve it.

1. Counter-roll the paper by bending it carefully along the length of the paper so that any curl is in the downward direction (with the printable side facing up).

2. Feed the paper in from the top (like you would plain paper). Do this right right after step one so the reverse curl doesn't have a chance to flatten.

3. Support the paper as it exits the printer. As soon as there is enough of the leading edge coming out of the printer, I set a 100-sheet-size box of letter-size paper under the print so that it doesn't droop down onto the exit tray but remains pretty much flat. Anything that's about 1-inch thick should work.

This worked for me and all head strikes have vanished. I haven't tried it with Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta but it's worth a try.

Kurt



Thanks for your suggestions! :)

Just to better understand, I attach a scheme.. can you please confirm the procedure?  ::)

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KSonde

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Re: Issues with R3000 (Head strikes and feeding)
« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2013, 06:16:25 pm »

That's a nice diagram! And it looks perfect.

In via the top feed, then the counter-curl of the paper counteracts the upward swelling of the ink on the paper and adding support to the paper in the outfeed also helps prevent the paper from buckling up and striking the printhead.

Let us know if you have any luck with this process. I know it's a bit of a PITA but a very small price to pay if it works.

Kurt
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