Interesting(?) issue printing MK with an Epson 11880

[John V.]

I've been having a lot of fun over the past day trying to figure this one out.

See pic here:  http://i.imgur.com/zWNj80r.jpg

I've done a bunch of testing to try and figure out what the real problem is.

1. The problem persists across prints on different media (Epson Hot Press Bright, HFA Photo Rag)
2. The media setting (Ultrasmooth Fine Art, Velvet Fine Art) appears to play a role, though the striping is always visible somewhat.

Does this look familiar to anyone?

[jferrari]

The first question is always: What does your nozzle check look like?    - Jim

[John V.]

The first question is always: What does your nozzle check look like?    - Jim

good

[JRSmit]

I've been having a lot of fun over the past day trying to figure this one out.

See pic here:  http://i.imgur.com/zWNj80r.jpg

I've done a bunch of testing to try and figure out what the real problem is.

1. The problem persists across prints on different media (Epson Hot Press Bright, HFA Photo Rag)
2. The media setting (Ultrasmooth Fine Art, Velvet Fine Art) appears to play a role, though the striping is always visible somewhat.

Does this look familiar to anyone?

yes it does. It is the setting or the paper feed . Are the paper feed rolls clean?

[disneytoy]

Platen gap?

[Garry Sarre]

Hi John. Yes I have seen this several times on my 9900. Nothing to do with nozzles clogged.

It's almost like it is too much matte black going on. Then again, the same image as printed acceptable in a reprint.

I seem to get it happening once a year. I had to put some noise into the blacks once to get rid of it.

Wish I knew the answer, just letting you know, it's not just you:)

[Wayne Fox]

We saw that same issue on an 11880 a couple of weeks ago.  Tried a few things (tweaked paper advance, platen gap, etc).  Next day it printed same image fine. 

No clue what actual cause was.

[John V.]

Thanks everyone. Platen gap was the problem in my case. Paper feed also had en effect, but simply setting the platen to "standard" appears to work just fine. The platen is then adjusted accordingly to media type selected (which works in my case) as mentioned here: https://imageprinttoday.wordpress.com/2011/07/14/the-platen-gap/

I had "widest" selected, which *should* be the appropriate setting for ~300gsm paper, so having issues under the supposed correct setting has me a little confused...

The other thing that's still throwing me off is, I have noticed that prints from a previous roll of Epson Hot Press apparently have this problem also, now that I inspect them more thoroughly, though barely visible, and with this new roll of Epson HPB, under the same settings, the problem is really blatant... oh well, all seems to be ok now.