Epson 3880/P800 - Platen Gap and Paper Thickness settings?

[elliot_n]

Has anyone explored the rather complicated process laid out here to establish the correct Platen Gap and Paper Thickness settings for third-party papers?

http://blog.brettlerickson.com/2015/12/28/advanced-printing-on-the-epson-stylus-pro-3880-and-surecolor-p800-adjusting-and-calibrating-the-print-feed/

[elliot_n]

Hmm, it seems I won't be able to explore this procedure, as my Epson 3880 driver (Mac, version 9.33) does not come with the 'Epson LFP Remote Panel' — the icon is there in Epson Printer Utility 4, but it is greyed-out.

Edit to add:

- I'm UK-based, but I have always used the drivers from the US Epson site. On that site, driver 9.33, released 21 Apr 2016, is the latest available for the 3880, and it does not include the 'Epson LFP Remote Panel'.
- On the Epson UK site there is a more recent driver, 10.08, released 10 Jan 2018, and a separate download link for 'Epson LFP Remote Panel 2', released 12 Sep 2018.

Hmm, my printer is working fine, so I hesitate to start uninstalling and reinstalling drivers.

[Alan Goldhammer]

This is a lot of work to do for a 3880.  I can see if one had a big printer and was regularly printing for museums that this might be something to do but not for personal or even small scale professional use.  I certainly didn't do this with my late 3880

[elliot_n]

I've never heard of anyone doing it — except this guy.

I downloaded the 'Epson LFP Remote Panel 2' from the Epson UK site and it installs ok and seems to be functioning properly on my mac (High Sierra) with the Epson US 9.33 driver. (A warning comes up that it's 32 bit.)

But I'm not sure if I'll go any further.

[elliot_n]

I had a play with the calibration features in the Epson LFP Remote Panel and I came to the conclusion that there's nothing worth adjusting there, unless you're having ongoing issues with a very unusual paper.

The blog post I quoted seems muddled. The banding issue he presents should initially be treated with a nozzle check, than an auto printhead alignment, and finally a manual printhead alignment. When he gets to the stage of adjusting Paper Thickness, he misunderstands Epson instructions on how the printed chart should be read (he's looking for line-pairs where there's a 'clear separation between the two', whereas Epson states that the line-pairs should be aligned.)

So nothing to see here. I will stick to the standard advice that when using fine art papers that are slightly heavier/thicker than papers like Epson Premium Gloss, you should set the Paper Thickness to 4, and the Platen Gap to Wide. It bothers me slightly to make both of these adjustments, when perhaps only one is necessary, but I don't think it's worth wasting ink over.

[Alan Goldhammer]

So nothing to see here. I will stick to the standard advice that when using fine art papers that are slightly heavier/thicker than papers like Epson Premium Gloss, you should set the Paper Thickness to 4, and the Platen Gap to Wide. It bothers me slightly to make both of these adjustments, when perhaps only one is necessary, but I don't think it's worth wasting ink over.

All manufacturers list the paper thickness in their specifications but sometimes different units.  You just have to convert them to get the proper setting for the printer.  I always got fine prints from my 3880 but didn't like the occasional paper feed error.  Other than that it was a workhorse.