Pressure Marks from Pinch Rollers Canon iPF8400

[samueljohnchia]

Hi,

Has anyone experienced pressure marks from the pinch rollers on a Canon iPF8400/iPF8300/iPF8100 or any S version of the printer? They all use the exact same parts for the pinch rollers that squeeze and push the paper forward.

Mine seems to be pretty bad and deep. I've tried all sorts of media. Almost all of them get pinched so hard they leave visible marks. I just tried a demo printer in my local Canon's showroom and it was much much better, but there was still one or two marks on the paper.

[Iluvmycam]

Yes, marks show up on much of the silk, satin and semi gloss fine art  / Baryta media. RC media is tougher.  Hahn FA Baryta is the toughest, that is what I use.

[samueljohnchia]

Here's a picture of the marks after loading the paper only. Canson Rag Photographique 310, ultra soft paper. After printing it gets far worse. Feeding/advancing the paper forward to dust off the surface before printing totally ruins it. Clients see the ripples from miles away and are completely put off. The problem seems to be worsening. Some of the rollers also seem to be rocking laterally, perhaps because the rollers are slightly conical in shape instead of being perfectly cylindrical. The springs pushing the rollers down exert a HUGE amount of force, far more than necessary I feel.

I can't believe that everybody's iPF printers sharing this roller design all accept the roller marks and print on only one kind of paper. Or canvas, which doesn't show the problem. Why aren't there complaints?

You gotta be joking. Your printer marks all kinds of paper except for Hah FA Baryta?? You let it get away with just that? Your clients are ok with the marks?

I had an iPF8100 for 4.5 years and it never marked paper like that. The marks were not even visible. Even the demo 8300S printer I tried was pretty much acceptable except for some slight light marks, and only in some spots, not regular across the entire width of the printer.

Please, I know lots of you out there have iPF8300s and iPF8400s and printers that share the same roller design. How are yours performing?

[Rob Reiter]

Never had that problem on any paper or fabric, either with my 8100, 8300 or 8400. What does Canon tech support say?

[Geraldo Garcia]

That is odd...

I print on Canson Rag Photographique 310 with my IPF8400 pretty much every day and never had that type of problem. On Canson Platine (luster/baryta-like surface) I sometimes notice a faint mark, but that happens on any printer when you use this paper and the soft marks tend to disappear after the print is mounted. Never had it with matte paper.

I am using Canson´s .am1 preset file? http://www.canson-infinity.com/en/icc_choice.asp and it sets the paper type to "FineArt Txtr" and, as I said, never had that issue.

If the problem persists after experimenting with the media settings it is a malfunction you should call Canon or a technician.

Best regards.

[samueljohnchia]

Rob and Geraldo, thank you for sharing your experiences.

I raise the issue to Canon more than 10 weeks ago. Big saga. Until now the problem is not yet resolved. Basically samples have been taken my the local technical guys, and escalated to the South East Asia regional department, who then said they do not have the expertise to deal with it and then passed it on to Canon Japan. The regional technician's reply FROM CANON INC JAPAN was that the printer was behaving normally, and this is the printer's limitation. It will mark thick or uneven paper. Screw them, it marked the thin smooth Canon semigloss paper which they claim is their 'standard' paper for testing. The regional tech guys did eventually come to personally check on the printer and he remarked that it was very bad, he had never seen anything like it. The recommendation was to change the rollers. 1.5 weeks later they brought old, used, dirty rollers salvaged from their demo printer that's a few years old, and tried to pressure me to let them install it in my brand new less than 6 month old printer. Finally I wrung their hand for a 1-1 replacement. The local tech is insisting that all printers that use rollers to pinch the paper for feeding will surely mark the paper. I was also told Canon may not even want me as a customer anymore and might refund me my money if the replacement iPF8400 has the same problem because it is not fit for my usage...%$*@!

[TSJ1927]

IPF8300 here.  None of your problems.  I run William Turner & German Etching both of which are easy to scuff  or mar..... all OK.  As to scuffing thick paper,  I still have quite a supply of the discontinued Hawk Mountain Nighthawk sheets (500gsm) and the 8300 runs perfect with no skewing or scuffs.

Your regional support is blowing you off.  If you are still under warranty,  demand better service.  Good Luck

[samueljohnchia]

Apologies for reviving an old thread of mine. It's been a number of years since and I've collected more information about roller mark problems and in fact, found a viable solution to my problem. Unfortunately, I could not make the information public while my printer was under warranty. I hope this treatise is helpful to those who have the same or similar printers to mine, if they are still facing such problems. There are several good reasons to want to keep these older (and better) machines running. None of the new generation printers is appealing to me at all. Maybe it might also inspire some to figure out other/better solutions, seeing that roller marks are a persistent though not oft-discussed problem.

It's a long and detailed article, then again, it's a pretty complicated problem. Lots of pictures too. Have fun! Even if printers mostly want to make you tear your hair out, and occasionally decide that they want to be printers and make a few beautiful prints...

https://cacaoeditions.com/printer-roller-marks/

[mearussi]

Apologies for reviving an old thread of mine. It's been a number of years since and I've collected more information about roller mark problems and in fact, found a viable solution to my problem. Unfortunately, I could not make the information public while my printer was under warranty. I hope this treatise is helpful to those who have the same or similar printers to mine, if they are still facing such problems. There are several good reasons to want to keep these older (and better) machines running. None of the new generation printers is appealing to me at all. Maybe it might also inspire some to figure out other/better solutions, seeing that roller marks are a persistent though not oft-discussed problem.

It's a long and detailed article, then again, it's a pretty complicated problem. Lots of pictures too. Have fun! Even if printers mostly want to make you tear your hair out, and occasionally decide that they want to be printers and make a few beautiful prints...

https://cacaoeditions.com/printer-roller-marks/

Thanks for posting. It's not a problem I've ever noticed but then I don't look at my prints with a side light. I have the ipf8300 and ipf6400 so next time I print I'll check. I have though often noticed a compression mark across the full length of the paper when I forget and leave it in the rollers overnight, especially on the older Epsons I used to have (x800).   

[Panagiotis]

Apologies for reviving an old thread of mine. It's been a number of years since and I've collected more information about roller mark problems and in fact, found a viable solution to my problem. Unfortunately, I could not make the information public while my printer was under warranty. I hope this treatise is helpful to those who have the same or similar printers to mine, if they are still facing such problems. There are several good reasons to want to keep these older (and better) machines running. None of the new generation printers is appealing to me at all. Maybe it might also inspire some to figure out other/better solutions, seeing that roller marks are a persistent though not oft-discussed problem.

It's a long and detailed article, then again, it's a pretty complicated problem. Lots of pictures too. Have fun! Even if printers mostly want to make you tear your hair out, and occasionally decide that they want to be printers and make a few beautiful prints...

https://cacaoeditions.com/printer-roller-marks/

Thanks for the update and the very detailed article on your site. I am printing with Canon PRO-1000 and PRO-4000. I can easily spot the roller marks on the PRO-1000 on Hahnemuhle Photo Matt Fibre e.g but at a very very steep angle. To be honest I have never check the 4000 ~: but I will do.