Navigating the Epson P800's Tricky Corner

[Chris Kern]

I recently switched to using 17x22-inch sheets of Epson's Legacy Platine paper from Legacy Baryta, which appears to have been discontinued, in my P800.  The Platine product is considerably thicker and consequently stiffer, and when I use the front fine art feeder, I'm having difficulty getting the paper to navigate the bump where it needs to curl up when it reaches the back paper support.  Sometimes I get it to work fine and in other occasions the corner of the sheet gets damaged in the process: I haven't been able to figure out what precisely I'm doing that makes the difference.  Unfortunately, I don't have sufficient space to move the printer far enough away from the wall to use the poster-board feeder.  Anybody found a reliable way to feed thicker paper through the front feeder on a P800?

[BobShaw]

Try sliding another piece of paper through first and then slide yours over it. According to the specs that is only 0.43mm so it would go in the rear feed or just use a roll.

[kamma1]

I had this problem quite a bit, and now always place a single sheet of ordinary office paper in the back slot, so that it just covers the 'bump'.  The front-fed paper easily slides over it. 
With that, and careful placement of the sheet I'm loading (it's extremely finicky), I haven't had a damaged sheet in a long time.

[TeamG]

Two ways you can do it

If you want to feed from the front manually push the paper in until you feel it hit the ramp at the back. Now twist the paper on a slight angle, imagine instead of the full leading edge of the paper hitting the ramp, just a corner is.  Give a little push so you can feel it get past the ramp, then straighten the paper against the right hand guide and tell the printer to load

The alternative is to actually load it from the back.  Feed it down and similar to the first method when you feel it hit the bottom of the ramp just give it a little twist to push past.  Straighten the paper and continue to push it through until you see it lead out the front and then make sure it's aligned straight and then tell the printer to load the paper

[Chris Kern]

Thank you, Gentle Men.  I'll try each of the techniques, and see which works best for me.