Epson P10000 - platen gap & paper thickness settings…

[rxchaos]

Would anyone know what platen gaps settings  to use on a P10000 for papers of different thickness.

I get the thickness  information from the specs for the paper and set it accordingly in the printer driver/application (I use Mirage on a Mac),   and have mostly set the PlatenGap to Auto.  I’m not sure if the PlatenGap get gets automatically adjusted depending on the paper thickness that’s set. The manual doesn’t mention anything other than the settings you can set on the the printer i.e. platen gap values of  1.2, 1.6,  2.1. & 2.4.  How do these values relate to the paper thickness settings or the settings on a P7999/P9000 with were Narrow, Standard, Wide, Wider & Widest

I hope someone can provide an explanation

[Larry Kaufman]

Platen Gap does not depend on paper thickness (in the vast majority of cases) it is based on paper type.
Paper thickness controls the dot timing of the printhead in high-speed, bi-direction mode so that both directional passes line up accurately.

A paper type that exhibits more curl or tends to buckle under high ink load should use a higher platen gap than one that lies flat.

Example: Single Weight Matte will use 2.4 (it can buckle), Premium Luster (260) will use 1.2 and Luster is a "thicker paper".

The objective of the Platen Gap setting is a safety margin for the print head, meaning no strikes on the media.

If you are using an Epson media then auto is a good way to go, if you are using a different media the setting will depend on the base Epson media you were told to use by that vendor.
In general 1.6 should be fine for Fine Art and Canvas materials, 1.2 for most photo, glossy and semi-gloss media and back to up to 1.6 for Baryta and Platine type media.

If you see a head strike (ink scuff on the media after the leading edge) increase the platen gap.
If strikes are occurring on the leading edge look at the margin settings, which are also based on media type
Note: If you increase OR set a platen gap using the SC-P10000 / 20000 custom media settings on the printer, changes made in the driver will have no impact.
Nothing overrides hardware custom media settings

Hope that helps.

- Larry

[JRSmit]

Note: If you increase OR set a platen gap using the SC-P10000 / 20000 custom media settings on the printer, changes made in the driver will have no impact.
Nothing overrides hardware custom media settings

Hope that helps.

- Larry

Is this true?

With the SC-P9000/7000 (also the epson 4900, 9900), the platengap setting in the driver worked,
so i could set the platengap to a value like wider to prevent head touching the paper.

[Larry Kaufman]

Yes, that will work correctly on those models assuming you are not using a custom media setup.

Platen gap setting priority on most SureColor models is based on:
1. Is a Custom Media Setting active? If yes, this is what is used regardless of any other setting
2. Has a General Control Panel Setting been made?
3. What are the Media Type and Platen settings in Driver?

For the SC-P10000 | P20000 it is:
1. Is a Custom Media Setting active? If yes, this is what is used regardless of any other setting.
2. Has a General Control Panel Setting: Standard, Wide, Wider, Widest been made? This will act relatively based on media information received from the software
    Note: On the printer's control panel these options should be grayed out if a custom media is active
3. The media type settings in the Driver hardcodes the Platen Gap.

So the SC-P10000 | P20000 is a slightly different platen gap scenario with no driver software control.

Best,

- Larry

[narikin]

Yes, that will work correctly on those models assuming you are not using a custom media setup.

For the SC-P10000 | P20000 it is:
1. Is a Custom Media Setting active? If yes, this is what is used regardless of any other setting.
2. Has a General Control Panel Setting: Standard, Wide, Wider, Widest been made? This will act relatively based on media information received from the software
    Note: On the printer's control panel these options should be grayed out if a custom media is active
3. The media type settings in the Driver hardcodes the Platen Gap.

So the SC-P10000 | P20000 is a slightly different platen gap scenario with no driver software control.

Best,

- Larry

Interesting information Larry, thanks for this.

So my take-away is *don't* use a custom paper setting unless you are positive you know what the platen gap should be. (and it is not simply 'wider gap for thicker papers' scenario).

Epson seem to have dropped the ball on many of their new papers, in terms of printer firmware updates. You can choose Legacy Baryta on the printer, but not Legacy Platine, although they came out at the same time. (They say use PLU260 on printer settings dialog box, but not what to put on the machine itself - presumably PLU260 too?)

From: "3. The media type settings in the Driver hardcodes the Platen Gap."

I take it you don't need to worry so much what the printer is set to, as long as it is the same as the media setting dialog.

Always wondered which one overrides which...

[JRSmit]

What else is set by a customers paper setting Regardless of driver settings?

[Larry Kaufman]

What else is set by a customers paper setting Regardless of driver settings?

If a Custom Media setting is activated at the control panel of the printer all physical media related settings coming from software are ignored.

Most impactful:
Platen Gap
Paper Thickness
Paper Feed Adjustment
Margins

There are more settings available for spindle tension, dry time, suction power, etc.
Take a look at what is available via the printer's control panel, or use the LFP Remote Panel2 software.
Note: on SureColor P-series printers 24" and larger you can give custom media an alpha-numeric name, on 17" printers it is a simple 1-10#

Use of custom media is most common in pre-press proofing environments where typically one media is being run under tightly controlled and repeatable conditions.

Best,

Larry

[JRSmit]

On my surecolor p9000 i use custom media only for head alignment. Fine Art Papers usually are (much) thicker than the double weight matte Epson prescribes for head alignment. It makes a difference.