Hi,

I had used Laser printer vellum with my Epson Stylus Photo 1280 and
since then, everything I print has this very faded black horizontal
line. Any theories or answers as to what caused it... and more
importantly, things I could do to fix it?

I tried cleaning the printer head and nozzle... and I even went as far
as to take apart the printer to see if I could find anything.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,
Charles

Some vellums do not work well with ink jet printers.
http://www.scraperfect.com/
This is a product that I have used when printing on vellum.

Your description of the defect is not detailed enough to know what it is.

If you have a scanner, you can send me a scan of it in email.

If you wish to do so, scan at 300 dpi and jpeg to high quality.

Send it as an attachment to:

e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org

(at) =@

(dot) = .

and I will try to determine its cause and solution.

When you say horizontal line do you mean one line or repeating? does it
go the same direction as the heads move?


Please try to be very descriptive when you state a defect. It is
otherwise difficult to know what is being described.

Art
(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I had used Laser printer vellum with my Epson Stylus Photo 1280 and
> since then, everything I print has this very faded black horizontal
> line. Any theories or answers as to what caused it... and more
> importantly, things I could do to fix it?
>
> I tried cleaning the printer head and nozzle... and I even went as far
> as to take apart the printer to see if I could find anything.
>
> Any help would be much appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
> Charles
>

When my Epsons give me strange artifact in the output, I first presume that
hair, lint, and so forth have clung to the print head.I clean the heads to
remove that debris. You say you've done that. Cleaning the heads would
mean that I've worked strips of lint-free cloth saturated with ammoniated
cleaner across the undersurface of the print head.

If artifacts still appear in the printout, I clean the mylar locator strip.
I've only had about 5 Epson printers so I can't speak for the entire
product line. I do have a 900 which is quite similar to your 1280.
There's a clear plastic strip running parallel to the cogged drive belt.
Oil, ink, and other liquids seem to obliterate the integrity of the optical
(or magnetic--I don't know) sensing mechanism. I use a lint free cloth
moistened with ammoniated cleaner and swipe the strip a few times to clean
it.

Just one tiny globule of ink or oil on that locator strip will cause some
amazingly perverse output.

On my 900, I know the strip needs to be cleaned when the spray pattern is
way off the mark or when everything appears blurry.

A quick swipe of the strip puts it back into action. Maybe this will work
for your 1280?

//rus//



Arthur Entlich <e-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in news:4OXof.125318$ki.77279
@pd7tw2no:

> Your description of the defect is not detailed enough to know what it is.
>
> If you have a scanner, you can send me a scan of it in email.
>
> If you wish to do so, scan at 300 dpi and jpeg to high quality.
>
> Send it as an attachment to:
>
> e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org
>
> (at) =@
>
> (dot) = .
>
> and I will try to determine its cause and solution.
>
> When you say horizontal line do you mean one line or repeating? does it
> go the same direction as the heads move?
>
>
> Please try to be very descriptive when you state a defect. It is
> otherwise difficult to know what is being described.
>
> Art
> (E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> I had used Laser printer vellum with my Epson Stylus Photo 1280 and
>> since then, everything I print has this very faded black horizontal
>> line. Any theories or answers as to what caused it... and more
>> importantly, things I could do to fix it?
>>
>> I tried cleaning the printer head and nozzle... and I even went as far
>> as to take apart the printer to see if I could find anything.
>>
>> Any help would be much appreciated.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Charles
>>

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate all of your help.

After 40+ pages of printing, for the first draft of a project, it
started fading and finally disappeared. I think Rus was correct, where
smearing from the vellum had gotten all over the mylar locator strip.

Happy new year!
Charles

Hi Rus,

That's some very useful information. The stripe you speak of is used to
help the stepper motor position the head properly. It is optical, not
magnetic, and you are correct that if it gets dirty enough it can indeed
confuse the printer.

Art

Rus wrote:

> When my Epsons give me strange artifact in the output, I first presume that
> hair, lint, and so forth have clung to the print head.I clean the heads to
> remove that debris. You say you've done that. Cleaning the heads would
> mean that I've worked strips of lint-free cloth saturated with ammoniated
> cleaner across the undersurface of the print head.
>
> If artifacts still appear in the printout, I clean the mylar locator strip.
> I've only had about 5 Epson printers so I can't speak for the entire
> product line. I do have a 900 which is quite similar to your 1280.
> There's a clear plastic strip running parallel to the cogged drive belt.
> Oil, ink, and other liquids seem to obliterate the integrity of the optical
> (or magnetic--I don't know) sensing mechanism. I use a lint free cloth
> moistened with ammoniated cleaner and swipe the strip a few times to clean
> it.
>
> Just one tiny globule of ink or oil on that locator strip will cause some
> amazingly perverse output.
>
> On my 900, I know the strip needs to be cleaned when the spray pattern is
> way off the mark or when everything appears blurry.
>
> A quick swipe of the strip puts it back into action. Maybe this will work
> for your 1280?
>
> //rus//
>
>
>
> Arthur Entlich <e-(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in news:4OXof.125318$ki.77279
> @pd7tw2no:
>
>
>>Your description of the defect is not detailed enough to know what it is.
>>
>>If you have a scanner, you can send me a scan of it in email.
>>
>>If you wish to do so, scan at 300 dpi and jpeg to high quality.
>>
>>Send it as an attachment to:
>>
>>e-printerhelp(at)mvps(dot)org
>>
>>(at) =@
>>
>>(dot) = .
>>
>>and I will try to determine its cause and solution.
>>
>>When you say horizontal line do you mean one line or repeating? does it
>>go the same direction as the heads move?
>>
>>
>> Please try to be very descriptive when you state a defect. It is
>>otherwise difficult to know what is being described.
>>
>>Art
>>(E-Mail Removed) wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>
>>>I had used Laser printer vellum with my Epson Stylus Photo 1280 and
>>>since then, everything I print has this very faded black horizontal
>>>line. Any theories or answers as to what caused it... and more
>>>importantly, things I could do to fix it?
>>>
>>>I tried cleaning the printer head and nozzle... and I even went as far
>>>as to take apart the printer to see if I could find anything.
>>>
>>>Any help would be much appreciated.
>>>
>>>Thanks,
>>>Charles
>>>
>
>

Let us know if it has fixed the problem.

Art

(E-Mail Removed) wrote:

> Thanks for the replies. I appreciate all of your help.
>
> After 40+ pages of printing, for the first draft of a project, it
> started fading and finally disappeared. I think Rus was correct, where
> smearing from the vellum had gotten all over the mylar locator strip.
>
> Happy new year!
> Charles
>