Epson SC-P5000 - Weird Paper Size Problem

[pflower]

Actually it is not really a problem as such, but it is strange.  I am on Mac OSX 10.14.6 and have the most recent driver for the printer installed (10.33).  This is a replacement for my venerable 3880.  I have lots of Lightroom presets for printing based upon my paper choices, paper profiles, margins etc. for the 3880.  Simple to update to the P5000 - just change the Printer and check the paper source.  But my 3880 presets all just used the generic paper size in Page Set Up - i.e. I just chose A4,A3,A3+ or A2.  On the P5000 choosing the generic paper size (for all cut sheets) forces one to use Roll Paper with no option to change the paper source since other options are greyed out.

You have to choose one of the other alternatives helpfully labelled things like Borders - Sheet or Borders Maximum Sheet if you want to use cut sheets.  Unfortunately some of these impose margins which override whatever is specified in Lightroom.  I have now worked out how to print with the margins I want and which I have specified in Lightroom.  But I find this weird and counter intuitive. 

Is it just me or is this the same for everyone?  I have been in contact with Epson support but they don't seem particularly concerned or interested.  It's not a big deal since I have worked out which paper size option to choose to get the margins I want but it does seem weird that choosing a generic paper size defaults to Roll Paper when there are other options specifically designated for Roll Paper and labelled as such.

Still I'm very happy with my new printer.

[vrkaya]

Mark Seagal (hope that's spelled right) pointed me to creating custom sizes with 0" margins, which has really helped me. For example, I have a custom 17x22" size that eliminates the default margins that sometimes creep in with non-custom settings. The only issue I have had, which has been discussed in another post of mine, is that some Rolls have a "hard" margin setting of 1/8" along the edges and cannot print completely borderless from a roll; but as others have pointed out, and which I eventually realized, the darn frame rabbet covers this white margin.

My printer also frequently defaults back to "Roll Paper" even when I just printed a sheet using Front Feed and used saved custom settings. I have become used to always going into Printer Settings to correct it. Seems to be a software glitch with Epson. It reverts back no matter how many times I save the darned settings.

So, I guess my point is to use the Custom Sizes with 0 margins all-around if you have not already set those? I have them setup for the regular sheet sizes I use....and the rolls.

Regards,
Ron

[Daverich]

Actually it is not really a problem as such, but it is strange.  I am on Mac OSX 10.14.6 and have the most recent driver for the printer installed (10.33).  This is a replacement for my venerable 3880.  I have lots of Lightroom presets for printing based upon my paper choices, paper profiles, margins etc. for the 3880.  Simple to update to the P5000 - just change the Printer and check the paper source.  But my 3880 presets all just used the generic paper size in Page Set Up - i.e. I just chose A4,A3,A3+ or A2.  On the P5000 choosing the generic paper size (for all cut sheets) forces one to use Roll Paper with no option to change the paper source since other options are greyed out.

You have to choose one of the other alternatives helpfully labelled things like Borders - Sheet or Borders Maximum Sheet if you want to use cut sheets.  Unfortunately some of these impose margins which override whatever is specified in Lightroom.  I have now worked out how to print with the margins I want and which I have specified in Lightroom.  But I find this weird and counter intuitive. 

Is it just me or is this the same for everyone?  I have been in contact with Epson support but they don't seem particularly concerned or interested.  It's not a big deal since I have worked out which paper size option to choose to get the margins I want but it does seem weird that choosing a generic paper size defaults to Roll Paper when there are other options specifically designated for Roll Paper and labelled as such.

Still I'm very happy with my new printer.

I wonder if part of the problem is that your previous printer did not print on rolls so the issue didn’t come up? At any rate, I just choose whatever size paper/with borders and off I go. Just out of curiosity, do you know if sheets or roll paper are chosen on the front panel? If you set that for sheets perhaps that’s what your printer would default to?

[pflower]

I wonder if part of the problem is that your previous printer did not print on rolls so the issue didn’t come up? At any rate, I just choose whatever size paper/with borders and off I go. Just out of curiosity, do you know if sheets or roll paper are chosen on the front panel? If you set that for sheets perhaps that’s what your printer would default to?

That was my first thought, but no - the Page Set Up dialog and Print Settings dialog appears to override anything set on the lcd front panel as regards cut sheets or roll paper.  However I have discovered that, unlike my previous 3880, specifying a different paper from the current inset - i.e if the printer is set to MK specifying a PK paper in Print Settings does not force an ink change (and vice versa).  Instead nothing happens and you have to go to the front panel and manually change inks.  This may be because I am still discovering how to use this printer and there is a way around this, but whilst paper settings override the cut sheet/roll paper set up from the front panel they do not override the  currently installed inkset.  Still learning.

[pflower]

Interesting.  I started another thread because my first attempt at Roll Printing resulted in unequal margins despite having chosen a Page Set Up paper with, theoretically, 0 margins left and right but the print came out with unequal margins.  So maybe the best thing is to create a custom paper size of 17x22 with zero margins and use that.  I am confused however by your point about a "hard" margin set of 1/8" along the edges.  Is this only of relevance if one is printing borderless to the extremes of the paper size or does it impact my problem in getting equal margins on the left and right sides and if so what exactly does that mean?

Mark Seagal (hope that's spelled right) pointed me to creating custom sizes with 0" margins, which has really helped me. For example, I have a custom 17x22" size that eliminates the default margins that sometimes creep in with non-custom settings. The only issue I have had, which has been discussed in another post of mine, is that some Rolls have a "hard" margin setting of 1/8" along the edges and cannot print completely borderless from a roll; but as others have pointed out, and which I eventually realized, the darn frame rabbet covers this white margin.

My printer also frequently defaults back to "Roll Paper" even when I just printed a sheet using Front Feed and used saved custom settings. I have become used to always going into Printer Settings to correct it. Seems to be a software glitch with Epson. It reverts back no matter how many times I save the darned settings.

So, I guess my point is to use the Custom Sizes with 0 margins all-around if you have not already set those? I have them setup for the regular sheet sizes I use....and the rolls.

Regards,
Ron