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Author Topic: Epson r2880 & Fine Art Paper  (Read 5663 times)

Jeremy Payne

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Epson r2880 & Fine Art Paper
« on: September 01, 2009, 10:13:53 am »

Ok ... so my first printing session with the r2880 was fun, but somewhat frustrating.

After some very successful test prints with various 8 x 10 and letter sized papers ... both fiber and RC ... through both the auto sheet loader and the manual rear feeder ... I was ready for the bigger stuff.

At first, I had no problem ... the big sheets were feeding perfectly.  Then, after I thought I was done for the night ... and was very happy ... I decided to do one more big sheet.

It jammed.  I ejected it and tried again ... no good.  At the outset of the evening, my very first letter-sized fiber page had jammed, but after ejecting it loaded just fine.

This time, no matter what I did, it would not accept 13 x 19 fiber sheets any more - I tried the same sheet in the other direction, new sheets ... nada.  They would 'grab' and start to load, the 'jam'.

It was late and I was getting frustrated ... so I packed up and went to bed.

Here's my question:


Can 13 x 19 inch fine art sheets (Ilford Galerie Gold Silk) that are supposed to be sent via the rear manual feeder be sent through the auto sheet loader one at a time?

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Alan Goldhammer

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Epson r2880 & Fine Art Paper
« Reply #1 on: September 01, 2009, 11:49:28 am »

Quote from: Jeremy Payne
Ok ... so my first printing session with the r2880 was fun, but somewhat frustrating.

After some very successful test prints with various 8 x 10 and letter sized papers ... both fiber and RC ... through both the auto sheet loader and the manual rear feeder ... I was ready for the bigger stuff.

At first, I had no problem ... the big sheets were feeding perfectly.  Then, after I thought I was done for the night ... and was very happy ... I decided to do one more big sheet.

It jammed.  I ejected it and tried again ... no good.  At the outset of the evening, my very first letter-sized fiber page had jammed, but after ejecting it loaded just fine.

This time, no matter what I did, it would not accept 13 x 19 fiber sheets any more - I tried the same sheet in the other direction, new sheets ... nada.  They would 'grab' and start to load, the 'jam'.

It was late and I was getting frustrated ... so I packed up and went to bed.

Here's my question:


Can 13 x 19 inch fine art sheets (Ilford Galerie Gold Silk) that are supposed to be sent via the rear manual feeder be sent through the auto sheet loader one at a time?
The Ilford paper might go through the sheet feeder as it is not as thick or heavy as other papers such as the Hahnemuhle or Epson Exhibition Fiber that I regularly use.  The rear feeder of the R2880 is quite finicky as you have now found out.  It took a while for me to get to the point where it relibably feeds and doesn't give you a "jam" light.  I've found that you gently feed it in without a lot of force and once the pick up engages don't push the paper in (I know this is hard to describe in a forum posting).  I've gotten to the point where I can get 95% jam free printing from the rear feeder.  If you are getting persistant jams, turn the printer off and disconnect the USB cable, count to 30 (the old computer restart time   ) and that should solve the problem.
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Jeremy Payne

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Epson r2880 & Fine Art Paper
« Reply #2 on: September 01, 2009, 12:18:03 pm »

Quote from: Alan Goldhammer
The Ilford paper might go through the sheet feeder as it is not as thick or heavy as other papers such as the Hahnemuhle or Epson Exhibition Fiber that I regularly use.  The rear feeder of the R2880 is quite finicky as you have now found out.  It took a while for me to get to the point where it relibably feeds and doesn't give you a "jam" light.  I've found that you gently feed it in without a lot of force and once the pick up engages don't push the paper in (I know this is hard to describe in a forum posting).  I've gotten to the point where I can get 95% jam free printing from the rear feeder.  If you are getting persistant jams, turn the printer off and disconnect the USB cable, count to 30 (the old computer restart time   ) and that should solve the problem.
I understand what you mean about not pushing too hard ... when it worked, it was effortless ... when it wasn't working at the end, I was definitely starting to 'push' it.

I have it all boxed up as it is too big to have out in the apartment all the time ... hopefully, 24 hours in the doghouse will convince it to play nice ...

I'll also try the auto sheet loader ... as you say, the Ilford Gold Fiber Silk isn't that thick at all.
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Randy Carone

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Epson r2880 & Fine Art Paper
« Reply #3 on: September 01, 2009, 02:49:14 pm »

The 2880 Auto Sheet Loader is engineered to accept media up to 250gsm. Thicker sheets should be loaded using the rear feeder. I have used the Auto Loader for many sheets of Silver Rag and Exhibition Fiber on my 2200 but, recently, I was advised by our Epson Field Engineer that feeding heavy sheets through the Auto Loader can compress the feed rollers and cause problems down the road. He also mentioned that you may have a job stuck in the cue that is causing the sheet rejection. This should be cleared out by having the printer off for a while. My guess is when the printer is let out of the "dog house" all will be well but I'd use the rear feeder for sheets heavier than 250gsm. Let us know how things progress.
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Randy Carone

Jeremy Payne

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Epson r2880 & Fine Art Paper
« Reply #4 on: September 01, 2009, 03:19:43 pm »

Quote from: Randy Carone
The 2880 Auto Sheet Loader is engineered to accept media up to 250gsm. Thicker sheets should be loaded using the rear feeder. I have used the Auto Loader for many sheets of Silver Rag and Exhibition Fiber on my 2200 but, recently, I was advised by our Epson Field Engineer that feeding heavy sheets through the Auto Loader can compress the feed rollers and cause problems down the road. He also mentioned that you may have a job stuck in the cue that is causing the sheet rejection. This should be cleared out by having the printer off for a while. My guess is when the printer is let out of the "dog house" all will be well but I'd use the rear feeder for sheets heavier than 250gsm. Let us know how things progress.
Thanks for that ... it is interesting that what can and can't be used is defined by weight and not thickness/caliper ... they are obviously correlated, but I would think it is thickness that actually matters and not weight.  I may try and ask customer support what thickness is supported by the auto-loader and see what they say ... I'll describe a non-name 245gsm paper that is 12.5 mil thick and see what they suggest.

The Ultra Premium Matte Paper (auto loader compatible) is 10.3 mil thick ... the Ilford is 12.5 and the Exhibition Fiber is 13 ... the fine art papers are close, but materially bigger.

Lots of the other fine art papers are much thicker ... e.g. the Velvet Fine Art paper is 19 mil thick.

I've read a bunch of (internet forum) reports of folks putting the Exhibition Fiber through the sheet loader no problem, but I don't want to compress the rollers - which I could see happening.

Cool.  Will keep y'all posted ...
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Jeremy Payne

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Epson r2880 & Fine Art Paper
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2009, 03:32:44 pm »

Interesting ... I described a no-name 12 mil thick, matte fine art paper to customer support ... and they suggested that I use the top sheet loader.
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Jeremy Payne

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Epson r2880 & Fine Art Paper
« Reply #6 on: September 03, 2009, 12:59:11 am »

So ... complete success after resting.  Fully functioning rear loader and more stupidly nice prints ...

Back to printing ... thanks all!
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