Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: NancyP on May 14, 2012, 11:28:14 am
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Complete newbie needs help troubleshooting.
I uncrated and set up the printer with original ink cartridges a week ago, printed, got some test material and some test prints the day after, with good results. I turned it off, and came back to it to print this weekend (6 day gap in use). The prints (on Epson premium glossy 4 x 6) had inappropriate thin lines perpendicular to the paper travel axis (ie, parallel to short side of paper). There was a distinct dark line ~ 1" from one end, a distinct light line ~3/4" from the other end. I tried just printing a few 4x6s to see if the behavior would continue, which it did. Then I did the nozzle check pattern, which was perfect. A subsequent print still had the lines, so I cleaned the nozzle and produced another nozzle check pattern, again perfect. Lines still there on subsequent print. Then I did the head alignment routine, got values of 5,5, and 6, changed the third value to 5. Subsequent print still has the lines problem. Furthermore, I noticed that there was a tendency to show ? head width (~ 3/4") very subtle intensity bands that were noticeable only in sky at first (before head alignment) but became obvious at ordinary viewing distance in all situations after the head alignment). I had been printing relatively low-res scans in jpg format, with minimal adjustments other than cropping. I tried printing high-res scan and original high-quality jpg, thinking that there might be an issue with resizing a low-res scan, but the high-quality jpg and high-res scan had similar line and band problems.
I don't know what the humidity was, but it wasn't less than 20% or greater than 80%. Temperature 75 d F.
Could the thin lines be due to dust? If so, how do I dislodge the dust particle?
The wide banding seems to be intensified by my minor change in head alignment but that isn't the whole story.
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New printer, call Epson.
Rich
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my d'oh! problem apparently solved.
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my d'oh! problem apparently solved.
I occasionally have the same problem, but only occasionally, with, when it occurs, none of the steps you took also not apparently solving the matter. What did you finally do?
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I hadn't known where to find the speed vs. quality adjustment, and where to find the paper type adjustment. A screenshot from the Epson troubleshooting website gave me a hint where to find these adjustments. I found the two items and changed them - default had been "fastest", I changed to "slowest" (not all that slow, really), and "plain paper", I changed to "premium glossy". The lines went away, and the color improved greatly, with test print including blue sky along long edge (ideal for detection of the lines). I suspect that the speed had a lot to do with the problem.
As I said, I am a rank newbie. I don't know how to diagnose specific appearances of printer malfunction in actual prints.
On one of the other recent "where printer head failures come from" threads, there was an example of a "cleaning file", basically an artificial image of banded colors and gradients designed to give all the nozzles a workout. The commenter prints an 8 x 10 of the cleaning file once a week if the printer is not in daily use. Apparently there is even an utility that will print the file on a schedule, so the printer is given a workout even while you are on vacation. There were a number of comments about humidity and temperature.
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Nancy: Thanks. Something(s) for me to think about. Jim