Canvas Suggestions - to replace Epson's Exhibition Canvas Matte

[dgberg]

Lexjet Sunset Select is still by far our most poplular selling canvas. (About 75%)
At around .92 a square foot it is also the best bang for the buck.
The remainder of or sales are BC Lyve. The killer with any of Breathing Colors products is the full 1 week it takes to get anything shipped to the east coast.
We try to keep enough canvas in stock but when we run out we need product a whole lot faster then a week. (Not cost effective to ship air freight.)
Lexjet on the other hand has a Delaware warehouse and if it is in stock we get product in 1 day with shipping costs less then half of BC's.
 Just a no brainer.

[Jim Coda]

I really like the look and feel of Epson's Exhibition Canvas Matte but their quality control seems erratic. I see white spots on about one out of four prints. I suspect the white spots are where bits of loose primer flake off after the ink is applied. Some rolls are much worse than others. The white spots vary in size from about 1-5 mm. This problem is seen as the print comes out of the printer and before I've applied any coating.

Are you sure it's primer flaking off and not just the "dust" that is frequently found on canvas rolls?  I used to get occasional white spots, but haven't had any since I started using a draftsman's brush on the canvas before printing.   

Jim

[Jason DiMichele]

Please suggest some canvas that I should consider to replace Epson's Exhibition Canvas Matte for large fine art prints on an Epson 11880 printer.
I really like the look and feel of Epson's Exhibition Canvas Matte but their quality control seems erratic. I see white spots on about one out of four prints. I suspect the white spots are where bits of loose primer flake off after the ink is applied. Some rolls are much worse than others. The white spots vary in size from about 1-5 mm. This problem is seen as the print comes out of the printer and before I've applied any coating.

Note: I tend to like the brightness of optical brightener additives (OBAs).

Any suggestions you have would be appreciated.

I also found that the Epson Exhibition Matte has regular quality control issues. I saw many a time what you are experiencing. Also,  on more occasions than I cared for, has "runs" in the canvas. I've tried various brands that have been better but ultimately settled on Hahnemuhle Daguerre and have had almost zero manufacturers defects. As I'm using Hahnemuhle canvas and paper, I'm finding the quality control to be second to none. I'm very impressed.

Cheers,
Jay

[bill t.]

I too experienced a lot of white-flake problems when I was printing with my 9880.

Turned out, I had accumulated significant deposits of dust and flakes on the metal surface below the roll, and inside the plastic cover.  When the printer would occasionally drive the media backward towards the roll, or when a roll of springy media would unwind on the spindle, the media surface would contact the crud.

When I started routinely cleaning those locations with a slightly moist towel, my dust problems disappeared.  The 9880 does not have a motorized spindle, so back-driven paper simply expands loosely around the roll.  I used my fingers to take up the media on the roll whenever the printer was driving backwards.

The flakes come off the roll at either end as the paper peels off the roll, then gradually work in towards the center by physics I do not fully understand.