3880 will not pull paper in top feed?

[Some Guy]

Ran a bunch of Awagami paper today and after maybe 10 sheets the 3880 suddenly refused to pull the thin paper into the top auto feed.

It makes all the noises and the feed/alignment tray moves back and forth like it normally does a couple of times during the paper separation for the feed, just the paper will not get grabbed for some reason.  I tried to force it and it is stubborn to accept it.  Doesn't appear to have anything stuck in it or torn paper issues.

I noticed the Awagami bamboo seems to be a smooth powdery surface.  Could this powder possibly coat the rubber take-up wheel maybe?  I see there are two gray rubber wheels about 3/4" wide on the right about two inches in from the right side.  The two rollers look like wrinkled gray skin with white powder in the wrinkles on the rollers.

Alcohol to clean, or maybe something citrus based?  If this is the feed problem.

SG

[Alan Goldhammer]

Sounds like dust on the rollers and they are too slippery to grab the paper.  Don't know what the best solution here is.  You might try to use a slightly moist cloth to clean the rollers.  They used to make cleaning papers for printers that would do the same thing but I'm unsure whether those are manufactured these days.  Alcohol is likely not to be of much use if its dust from the paper coating.

[Rhossydd]

Yes, sounds like dirty rollers.

Feeling brave ? get a nicely flat sheet of paper, lightly spray with spray mount, wait until it's dried enough to still be just slightly tacky, then feed the sheet through the printer. The spray mount garbs the muck off the feed rollers and takes the muck out on the sheet.
I've had to do this a few times over the years now Epson have stopped making their cleaning sheets and it's worked well for me. No guarantees of course and getting it wrong could make a complete mess of the insides of the printer, so be careful.

In future always dust off art papers before feeding into your printer. Dust not only causes feed problems, but will also give head clogs and may leave white spots if it comes off after the print has been made.

[howardm]

As I recall, dpreview's 'jtoolman' (Jose R) did a 'how to clean the 3880' YouTube video and at the end, he tackles
cleaning the feed rollers.  I think all he did spritz the bottom 1/2 of a sheet of copy paper w/ Windex and send it through the printer.

I got a couple of those tacky printer cleaner sheets but it didn't help my dead laser printer.  Dunno how good it would be
on inkjet.  From Staples.

[Some Guy]

Thanks all.

Since Epson no longer sells their cleaning paper, I'm thinking that maybe getting some rough-surface "watercolor paper" from the art shop and use it with Windex.   That paper might be able to soak up the Windex through both sides and not come apart in the printer - maybe.  I think most inkjet papers have a ceramic coating that keeps the ink from soaking through, and maybe the Windex too if sprayed on one side, but don't know.  Wish I knew what surface and texture Epson used for their cleaning paper.

In the meantime, I got some of my normal RC printing paper to begin feeding again so it must be a rubber roller issue.  Bad part was it somehow began slipping midway through the feed and crumpled upwards.  The Awagami must have something slick (Residual powder?) in its manufacture?  Feels sort of like a talc when you rub it between your fingers, and finger feel much the same afterwards without the paper.  No interleaving sheets in the sample pack either.

For fun, I also tried the front feed drawer with the Awagami paper and it crumpled up.  Their paper is not 8.5" wide but maybe 8.25" which seems odd.  I was going to try a taped leader with it taped to normal printing paper and it is sized a bit narrow.  I had it positioned against the right edge of the front feed and it crumpled on exit as it caught on some lip on the exit.

Interesting paper, but sort of finicky in the 3880.  All their ICC profiles seem to be the same download too, so I was doing a sample pack making profiles with a ColorMunki Photo and got into the "printer refuses to accept paper" mess.  All the Moab sample papers went through the profiling earlier in the day without a hitch.

SG

[Rhossydd]

Wish I knew what surface and texture Epson used for their cleaning paper.

It was a bit like a double sided adhesive sheet. probably around 250gsm smooth feel. You needed to peel off a protective layer before passing it through the printer.

[howardm]

if you really want to go down that road, I know that in Europe, Epson has started distributing their own very thin Mulberry/Kozo paper w/ reportedly very good results.  Not avail. in USA yet

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

I have done the Windex-on-paper treatment on my aging 3800 a few times over the years, with good success every time. For me, the problem always occurs after I've been using a double-sided paper to make a bunch of calendars, Either some of the rear coating or ink from the first side printed seems to collect on the rollers enough so they can't grip.

[disneytoy]

Warning Red River Aurora (double sided) killed my r2400 feeder. I can hand feed by pushing the paper down as it starts to take it up. That was after only a few prints. Red River was not willing to take back the crappy paper. I often need to print a stack of 4x6. Now I can only print one at a time.

[rogan]

I have this all the time.
Get some windex and spray it on a paper towel until damp, not wet. On the 3880 there is only one roller so hold it on the roller and press the load button. Hold it as it goes thru the loading process(8 secs?) Put paper in and resume printing. Will have to do ever 20 sheets or so on matte paper. I actually keep windex behind the 3880 now as it is just part of the process with chalky papers.

[Some Guy]

I have this all the time.
Get some windex and spray it on a paper towel until damp, not wet. On the 3880 there is only one roller so hold it on the roller and press the load button. Hold it as it goes thru the loading process(8 secs?) Put paper in and resume printing. Will have to do ever 20 sheets or so on matte paper. I actually keep windex behind the 3880 now as it is just part of the process with chalky papers.

I tried this technique and it seems to be better for feeding.  Got so bad I thought the PF system was busted or out of time.

I bought a pad of watercolor paper at Aaron Brothers for about $6 on sale.  It's about 160 weight so pretty rugged and doesn't tear too easily.  Soaks up the WIndex or alcohol pretty well.  I saw all sorts of stuff - and ink - clinging to it when I ran it through the printer.  A few tests with my cheapo Costco RC glossy seemed to work well again.

However, I still had some issues with feeding the "Awagami Inbe Thin White" though.  It is thin, maybe <90 weight.  No matter the top (Thinnest feed) or rear (Thicker) feed, it wouldn't take it.  I ended up taping a leader off a normal gloss RC paper to the back extending 3/4" to the front and it fed, but it curved up at the sides and threw up some numerical error #1xxx (??) with a "Call Service."  Wadded up pretty well, but it is thin so maybe no damage to the printer carriage.

Got it out and taped it on three sides with double-sided tape and it went through with printer platen set to Wider and paper set to 6.

I'm getting the impression the 3880 works within the range of 100 to 300 weight paper for top or back feeds.  Less <100 weight it might not take, wad up, or slip.  Thicker and you run the risk of a head strike if it curls and break the inner print head carriage slide.  Probably why the "Epson Kozo Thin" has a removable backing too for feed issues.

Now if Epson USA would import and distribute the damn stuff.  Evidently there is another similar brand with the same removable carrier backing carried by Freestyle maybe, but haven't found out which it is.  Maybe the Hiromi person in Santa Monica, CA knows of a workable and removable backing as some of her papers are way down to 7 weight.

SG

[hugowolf]

When you mention ‘weights’, what units? Are you talking: g/m², pounds bond, pounds cover, pounds offset?

Brian A