First bad 4800 print
An interesting afternoon - the first print I've seen in a few years that has come out of an Epson looking like crap... (without it being my doing)
The 4800 has been reasonably busy the last couple of weeks, even moreso over the last few days as I've been running through a series of prints of about 15"x22" on 17" 308 rag roll, as well as a bunch of A3+ sheets made up of a mix of pics. The prints have been coming out as they should, one after another, no problem.
Then, from one print to the next a 15"x22" comes out looking like crap - very thin, weak.. almost like I was printing on the wrong side of the paper (hard to do on a roll even for me!) or the printer was being strangled. Hmm...
I check my file.. no worries there, I check the print/driver settings, no errors there, I double check both. Now my next step should've been a manual nozzle check but given the discussions over the past few days I went straight for the auto nozzle check - would the problem be visible, if so, how? I've included it below, some wee problems:
The bad nozzle karma vibe and the sometimes seemingly strange behaviours during Auto Check has definitely made me curious. I've got a bunch of questions for Epson regarding the printer and the inks. Maybe it's largely environmental conditions, maybe these printers need to be keep super busy... maybe it's to do with the inks, the carts, the lines - maybe it's the luck of the draw. One thing is for sure, the 2100 for all its failings is looking fairly low maintanence atm.
Nnot wanting to waste paper I went back to darkroom mode and printed a test strip from the same file which looked MUCH better, then went ahead and printed the full image - back to all systems go. The Auto Nozzle check cleared the problem which is great, but I've got some things to investigate...
posted by Pete Walsh @ 10:37 PM 5 comments
At 3:04 AM,
Anonymous said...
Pete,
Do you brush off or blow off with air, the rag paper before printing on it?
It maybe "flacks" from the rag papers clogging the nozzles.
I don't have the problems with my 4800 like you do. Though, I don't print on matte papers, either.
Just a thought,
Scott
At 8:37 AM,
Anonymous said...
Pete,
Check EApson's website for your country:
Epson has posted a new firmware for the 4800 (and, also, the 4000).
The new version is: A0045A
http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/support/supDetail.jsp?BV_UseBVCookie=yes&oid=57105&prodoid=55197363&infoType=Downloads&platform=Windows
Scott
At 1:43 PM,
Pete Walsh said...
Thanks Scott, I've wondered about what role the paper might be playing. With the rag on roll paper brushing/blowing it off isn't feasible but I do give the cut sheets a quick squirt of air.
At 1:46 PM,
Pete Walsh said...
Thanks Scott, will check out the firmware, probably won't install it though. There's no new firmware posted to Epson Australia's site for my combo of O/S and the 4800 - the most recent 12th July.
At 12:53 AM,
Are, Oslo said...
Hello,
First I would like to thank you for a very good and informative blog (the only one i read actually)! It helped me alot when making the step of adopting an Epson to my home. But I have gotten alot of information by both Epson people here in Norway and in the UK about Photorag emitting dust when printed upon in the 4800 and then clogging up the n ozzles.. Also its not recommended to cut the "rag" paper in the 4800 when it will also generate more dust. I currently run mk ink in my machine, but have choosen to go for the Moab paper instead of Hahnemüle since I heard about this dust problem. I dont know if this is a "Pro Epson rumour" only but when looking at the photo rag it has some loose particles at start.
Again thanks for a good blog..
Are, Oslo
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