When the Epson 9900 came out, its largest platen gap setting was widER. At some point, Epson released a firmware update which gave the panel a further setting of widEST. Most recent 9900 US driver (v6.73) still doesn't have widEST, which isn't a big problem because if the panel is set to widEST, that overrides what is sent in the driver.
Does the Epson 11880 also have a widEST setting, perhaps only accessible through the panel (perhaps needing a somewhat recent firmware?) Or, is it limited to widER?