Epson Ink Problem

[Engelkott]

Hi!

I have an Epson 890 Photo which i am having problems with. Each time i
print an A4 sheet of pictures (contact sheet) the printer dumps a line
of black ink across the page (roughly 2cm into the print) which then
gets dragged all down the page and ruins the rest of the pictures.

The ink dunped appears not to be a printed line because it is dragged
or smudged so it appears to be blobs of ink.

If i print a letter or anything else all is well. This is naturally
very frustrating and have grown tired of banging my head on the wall.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Engelkott

 

[Taliesyn]

Hi!

I have an Epson 890 Photo which i am having problems with. Each time i
print an A4 sheet of pictures (contact sheet) the printer dumps a line
of black ink across the page (roughly 2cm into the print) which then
gets dragged all down the page and ruins the rest of the pictures.

The ink dunped appears not to be a printed line because it is dragged
or smudged so it appears to be blobs of ink.

If i print a letter or anything else all is well. This is naturally
very frustrating and have grown tired of banging my head on the wall.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Engelkott

I'm not an Epson expert. But I don't I need be in this case. . . .

Something as simple as a slightly curled sheet - and photo papers
can be notoriously curly - can do this by inadvertently making contact
with the print head as it passes overhead. Remember the gap between
the print head and the paper is very SMALL. The underneaths of print
heads always carry patches of old ink. Try to straighten the paper
as much as possible so that it is almost perfectly flat, so that
no part of it will be "high enough" to strike the print head. Or if
necessary, curve it slightly by hand to the shape of the paper path.
I have had this happen myself with various papers. Remember, you had
stated that it doesn't do this with normal text printing. Good luck!

-Taliesyn
__________________________________________________________
The Taliesyn Website: http://www.colba.net/~andresk

 

[Engelkott]

I'm not an Epson expert. But I don't I need be in this case. . . .

Something as simple as a slightly curled sheet - and photo papers
can be notoriously curly - can do this by inadvertently making contact
with the print head as it passes overhead. Remember the gap between
the print head and the paper is very SMALL. The underneaths of print
heads always carry patches of old ink. Try to straighten the paper
as much as possible so that it is almost perfectly flat, so that
no part of it will be "high enough" to strike the print head. Or if
necessary, curve it slightly by hand to the shape of the paper path.
I have had this happen myself with various papers. Remember, you had
stated that it doesn't do this with normal text printing. Good luck!

-Taliesyn
__________________________________________________________
The Taliesyn Website: http://www.colba.net/~andresk

Thanks for the reply! What you have said makes perfect sense now you
have said it! The corners of the paper do curl up slightly so i
will try to straighten them. The paper in question was Ilford Satin
paper.

One question i have though is why does it take 2cm to deposit the ink
across the page and not straight away?

Cheers!

Engelkott

 

[Taliesyn]

Thanks for the reply! What you have said makes perfect sense now you
have said it! The corners of the paper do curl up slightly so i
will try to straighten them. The paper in question was Ilford Satin
paper.

One question i have though is why does it take 2cm to deposit the ink
across the page and not straight away?

Just the way it feeds, I guess. Yes, those corners are the most
important parts. I have actually had this happen on slightly
curled at the edges coated paper on my Canons (iP5000 and i860).
After a few black stained ones I got the message that the printers
didn't like their pages curled. :-(

Cheers!

Engelkott

Cheers to you too, and may all your pages remain flat!

-Taliesyn
__________________________________________________________
The Taliesyn Website: http://www.colba.net/~andresk

 

[Engelkott]

Just another thought, could it be paper thickness too? I have never
adjusted the lever on the side for paper thickness so maybe if i move
that it would help?

Cheers!

 

[Engelkott]

Just the way it feeds, I guess. Yes, those corners are the most
important parts. I have actually had this happen on slightly
curled at the edges coated paper on my Canons (iP5000 and i860).
After a few black stained ones I got the message that the printers
didn't like their pages curled. :-(


Cheers to you too, and may all your pages remain flat!

-Taliesyn
__________________________________________________________
The Taliesyn Website: http://www.colba.net/~andresk

I have been considering getting a Canon to go with my Canon cameras
and scanner. I like the 900 series, is there a printer you would
reccomend i take a look at?

Cheers again!

Engelkott

 

[Burt]

Taliesyn is on target with the paper curl issue. Canon support has an faq
that deals with this problem and has the fix that Taliesyn suggests. I have
a canon i960 and had a similar problem. I found that when I left photo
glossy paper in the printer feed area over a period of time it took a slight
curve and caused the problem. I now store my paper flat in a drawer and
only load it onto the feed area when I am printing. I remove what is left
after a print session and put it back in the flat storage area in my desk.
On the Canon there is a software adjustment for thicker paper and it works
well. It is a nuisance as there is a pop-up box that appears with each
print you do to verify the thicker paper function. On the Epson I had there
was simply a lever for thickness adjustment. I would first clean the print
head and store paper flat if you don't already do that.

There is a technique for cleaning under the print head of the Epson printers
that is included in Art Entlich's instructions for cleaning Epson print
heads. Send him an email at (e-mail address removed) and request his
information on Epson print head cleaning. I had an Epson Stylus 900 that
had occasional head blockages and his instructions were the best for
restoring it to like new function.

For some great information on printers, canon printers, aftermarket inks,
etc, go on to Neil Slades site. The link is
http://www.neilslade.com/papers/inkjetstuff.html . At his suggestion I
bought the I960 and really like it. I also took his advice on third party
inks and have been very pleased. Taliesyn also uses third party inks very
successfully.

 

[Taliesyn]

Taliesyn is on target with the paper curl issue. Canon support has an faq
that deals with this problem and has the fix that Taliesyn suggests. I have
a canon i960 and had a similar problem. I found that when I left photo
glossy paper in the printer feed area over a period of time it took a slight
curve and caused the problem. I now store my paper flat in a drawer and
only load it onto the feed area when I am printing. I remove what is left
after a print session and put it back in the flat storage area in my desk.
On the Canon there is a software adjustment for thicker paper and it works
well. It is a nuisance as there is a pop-up box that appears with each
print you do to verify the thicker paper function.

That's absolutely good advice of not storing photo paper in the printer
as it tends to curl even more. I too store it flat elsewhere and insert
it only at the moment of printing.... or right after the printer tells
me via a pop-up that I haven't inserted a paper in the machine ;-).

Funny, I've never seen this paper thickness adjustment option for the
Canon. Where and when does it appear? I was just looking for it for
my iP5000 and i860 and failed to find it.

-Taliesyn
__________________________________________________________
The Taliesyn Website: http://www.colba.net/~andresk

 

[ato_zee]

If you keep it flat under a book or similar, the weight will stop it
curling (flower press principle). The flat card packs paper
comes in are ok until you remove some sheets, the rest then
curls.

 

[Engelkott]

That's absolutely good advice of not storing photo paper in the printer
as it tends to curl even more. I too store it flat elsewhere and insert
it only at the moment of printing.... or right after the printer tells
me via a pop-up that I haven't inserted a paper in the machine ;-).

Funny, I've never seen this paper thickness adjustment option for the
Canon. Where and when does it appear? I was just looking for it for
my iP5000 and i860 and failed to find it.

-Taliesyn
__________________________________________________________
The Taliesyn Website: http://www.colba.net/~andresk

Thanks for the storage tip.

The paper thickness adjuster is a little lever under the cover where
the cartridges live. It moves the roller up and down slightly but i am
not sure if it moves the print head too.

Engelkott

 

[Taliesyn]

I have been considering getting a Canon to go with my Canon cameras
and scanner. I like the 900 series, is there a printer you would
reccomend i take a look at?

I don't like recommending because printers sometimes break down suddenly
and I don't want to look the bad guy. But I use an i860 and the recent
iP5000. I was supposed to get the lesser iP4000 but my store didn't have
any. The difference was $50 (CDN), I said go for it. It uses the same
cartridge alignment as the i860 and prints gorgeous photos, and works
flawlessly. The main technical difference is that the iP5000 prints with
smaller ink droplets than the iP4000, and a resolution of 9600 vs 4800.
I find prints with the iP5000 don't show the very faint head pass lines
(visible on SOME photos) that I can spot on my i860 when the finished
photo is turned 90 degrees. I believe I read somewhere that it was a
fault of the feed mechanism. Can't say for sure.

-Taliesyn
__________________________________________________________
The Taliesyn Website: http://www.colba.net/~andresk

 

[measekite]

Either the discontinued i960 or the IP4000.

I have been considering getting a Canon to go with my Canon cameras
and scanner. I like the 900 series, is there a printer you would
reccomend i take a look at?

Cheers again!

Engelkott

 

[Taliesyn]

Thanks for the storage tip.

The paper thickness adjuster is a little lever under the cover where
the cartridges live. It moves the roller up and down slightly but i am
not sure if it moves the print head too.

You mean on your Epson. I don't think the newer Canons have such
a lever. I think my earlier i850 had a lever and then it magically
disappeared on the i860. And I've never bothered with thickness
ever again - envelopes, thin paper, thick paper - all treated the
same.

-Taliesyn
__________________________________________________________
The Taliesyn Website: http://www.colba.net/~andresk

 

[Engelkott]

Taliesyn is on target with the paper curl issue. Canon support has an faq
that deals with this problem and has the fix that Taliesyn suggests. I have
a canon i960 and had a similar problem. I found that when I left photo
glossy paper in the printer feed area over a period of time it took a slight
curve and caused the problem. I now store my paper flat in a drawer and
only load it onto the feed area when I am printing. I remove what is left
after a print session and put it back in the flat storage area in my desk.
On the Canon there is a software adjustment for thicker paper and it works
well. It is a nuisance as there is a pop-up box that appears with each
print you do to verify the thicker paper function. On the Epson I had there
was simply a lever for thickness adjustment. I would first clean the print
head and store paper flat if you don't already do that.

There is a technique for cleaning under the print head of the Epson printers
that is included in Art Entlich's instructions for cleaning Epson print
heads. Send him an email at (e-mail address removed) and request his
information on Epson print head cleaning. I had an Epson Stylus 900 that
had occasional head blockages and his instructions were the best for
restoring it to like new function.

For some great information on printers, canon printers, aftermarket inks,
etc, go on to Neil Slades site. The link is
http://www.neilslade.com/papers/inkjetstuff.html . At his suggestion I
bought the I960 and really like it. I also took his advice on third party
inks and have been very pleased. Taliesyn also uses third party inks very
successfully.

Thanks for all your advice. It is appreciated!

Engelkott

 

[Burt]

Taliesyn - check out your printer driver software. For the i960 you click
the maintenance tab, custom settings, and activate "prevent paper abrasion."
I guess that this increases the paper feed gap slightly. It did work, but
as I mentioned in my previous post to this thread, there is a dialogue box
that pops up for each print. It was much easier to store the paper
properly! At the same time I also ran into a problem with 4x6 borderless
printing of banding on the last 3/8 inch of the trailing edge of the
picture. Same problem of paper curl.

 

[Taliesyn]

Taliesyn - check out your printer driver software. For the i960 you click
the maintenance tab, custom settings, and activate "prevent paper abrasion."
I guess that this increases the paper feed gap slightly. It did work, but
as I mentioned in my previous post to this thread, there is a dialogue box
that pops up for each print. It was much easier to store the paper
properly! At the same time I also ran into a problem with 4x6 borderless
printing of banding on the last 3/8 inch of the trailing edge of the
picture. Same problem of paper curl.

Thanks. I have seen that "Prevent Paper Abrasion" check box, but
couldn't figure out what that meant. Perhaps had they called it
"Increase paper to printhead gap" it might have meant something.

About the banding, I found this at a website... "The banding problem (on
the printed side) is reduced with the Post-It note (Have a look at the
US Canon service site)".

I should check this out at the US Canon site too as I have seen banding
on my i860 prints in the last inch area of some photographs. I don't
know specifically which printers are involved. So far I haven't
noticed any problems on my iP5000.

-Taliesyn

 

[Hecate]

I have been considering getting a Canon to go with my Canon cameras
and scanner. I like the 900 series, is there a printer you would
reccomend i take a look at?

Cheers again!

That depends - do you want to keep your prints for any length of time?

--

Hecate - The Real One
(e-mail address removed)
Fashion: Buying things you don't need, with money
you don't have, to impress people you don't like...

 

[measekite]

Taliesyn - check out your printer driver software. For the i960 you click
the maintenance tab, custom settings, and activate "prevent paper abrasion."

The IP Pixma software is the same for this choice.

 

[Engelkott]

You mean on your Epson. I don't think the newer Canons have such
a lever. I think my earlier i850 had a lever and then it magically
disappeared on the i860. And I've never bothered with thickness
ever again - envelopes, thin paper, thick paper - all treated the
same.

-Taliesyn
__________________________________________________________
The Taliesyn Website: http://www.colba.net/~andresk

I have never bothered to adjust the lever before but with the problem
i have been having it might be a solution as the paper is 250gsm. The
paper i print letters on is Epson 80gsm.

Engelkott

 

[Engelkott]

That depends - do you want to keep your prints for any length of time?

No, not for long. If i print anything to frame i use a pro lab s i
still prefer the finish you get from a lab and besides that the costs
are not too bad.

I will mainly be using it to print things for other people or to make
walled portfolio snaps. The credit card holder size pics but they are
rotated every once in a while.

Engelkott