White specks on roll canvas

[hugowolf]

Any tips for avoiding white specs on roll canvas? With sheets I can brush the surface with a drafting brush and use a blower. How do I avoid this problem on a Epson 9890?

Brian A

[fetish]

do you mean flaking of the coating?
on rolls you can gently wipe the surface of the canvas with a cotton glove to remove the flakes as it's fed into the printer.

[darlingm]

White specs are almost certainly from debris being on the canvas when it is printed, and when they fall off, it leaves the canvas itself unprinted.

To fix this problem, you have to figure out whether debris is getting on the canvas inside the printer, or if the canvas is going into the printer with debris on it.

I think the 9890 has the same rotary style cutter as the 9900, but I'm not positive.  If you're using the printer to auto cut canvas, turn that off and you'll see most of your problem go away.  Epson's new cutter can handle canvas, but it has to cut it extremely quickly because it pretty much has to cut the whole canvas before gravity has been able to pull the right hand side of the canvas down much.  Unfortunately, this causes a ton of debris that starts floating on the inside of your printer and causing white spots.  It really sucks to finally have a cutter that can handle canvas but effectively not be able to use it.  If you're printing a bunch of canvas in a row, you either have to get a take up reel or sit there cutting between each print so it doesn't all bunch up in front of the printer.  Perhaps a future version of Epson printers will grip the right hand side of the media until it's fully cut and drop it all at once...

What manufacturer of canvas are you using?  It's possible the canvas is coming to you with debris on it, which is difficult and time consuming to deal with.  It's also possible the area your printer is in has a lot of dust/debris floating around that you would have to work on.  If you're leaving rolls fed into the printer for a while between print jobs, it might help to wind it back up with the cover down (assuming there's a media cover on the 9890 like the 9900.)  If you're leaving rolls out when not in the printer, make sure to put them back in their original plastic.

Either way, I highly recommend vacuuming the heck out of the inside of your printer periodically.

The issue will never be perfect, and you'll have to reprint some or touch them up using acrylic paint or artist pens.

[hugowolf]

I haven’t had the problem before. My thinking is that the flakes must be on the canvas roll. Why else would the problem exhibit itself only on canvas and not on paper printed before and after printing the canvas (using the printer’s cutter).

It is a 36 inch roll of Innova Ultra Gloss. I haven’t had this problem with matte canvas.

I will try the cotton glove idea next time I use the canvas.

I have thought about touching up, perhaps with Sakura Pigma pens?

Any directions on how and what (and what not) to vacuum would be appreciated

The 9890 is physically identical to the 9900. It even has two empty slots where the O and G would go.

Thanks,
Brian A

[Justan]

Start a regular practice of using air in a can everywhere along the printer’s paper (canvas) path. Do this each time you switch the roll out. Plus when it’s critical, roll out the canvas and spray with air in a can and then roll the canvas back on to the roll.

My experience, after printing about 20 rolls of canvas is that it is far more prone to contaminants than other papers.

Also make sure that the printer is not having problems of ink accumulating anywhere.

Also while yours isnt a HP printer, for those who have one, the HP Z series printers need to have the print drive belt checked for wear. It’s typical with these printers after about 4 years for belt start to dropping bits of itself regularly. The cure is to replace the belt. This is a time consuming but not terribly difficult task.

In all events use a bright light periodically and check for any debris along the printer path.

[hugowolf]

Thanks Justan,

I am somewhat worried about just blasting out the debris; maybe I can run a vacuum cleaner hose near the canned air to pickup particulate matter?

I am not new to printing canvas, but I am much more familiar with fine art papers, and haven’t had this problem even with cotton rag papers. I have noticed that when I have to cut rag with a blade, it is much more prone to frayed edges than alpha-cellulose papers – it is more difficult to cut cleanly.

Another possibility was the cotton gloves I wore to mount the paper, I used to be able to get absolutely lint free cotton gloves, recent batches have been less than stella.

Start a regular practice of using air in a can everywhere along the printer’s paper (canvas) path. Do this each time you switch the roll out. Plus when it’s critical, roll out the canvas and spray with air in a can and then roll the canvas back on to the roll.

My experience, after printing about 20 rolls of canvas is that it is far more prone to contaminants than other papers.

Also make sure that the printer is not having problems of ink accumulating anywhere.

Also while yours isnt a HP printer, for those who have one, the HP Z series printers need to have the print drive belt checked for wear. It’s typical with these printers after about 4 years for belt start to dropping bits of itself regularly. The cure is to replace the belt. This is a time consuming but not terribly difficult task.

In all events use a bright light periodically and check for any debris along the printer path.

[Justan]

Fwiw, some both vacuum and use air in a can. I’ve been using air in a can only and haven’t had problems. I always use medical exam gloves for handling prints and related. They are excellent, very inexpensive, leave no trace, and are *fabulous* for a wide variety of purposes.

Cotton gloves absorb oils from the hands, and leave some miniscule fibers on nearly anything they contact. It’s the nature of cotton.

[darlingm]

Air compressor with nozzle that is made for spraying air when the trigger is pulled, 6.5 Peak HP heavy duty shopvac.

Air spraying nozzle also works well for spraying off a canvas just before coating, so nothing gets stuck in there forever.  (Probably shouldn't spray too close or it might start ripping the ink off!)  Granted, if there's debris that was printed on and you remove it, that might create a white speck.  However, I've gotten the debris printed on fairly under control, so this is just more for anything on the canvas during its 24 hour dry period.

[Justan]

^^Air from a typical compressor often has a high water content but there are filters that can remove most of it.