Today I printed on JCS Type 2 papers for the first time on my R2400. I printed a nozzle test page first and the pattern looked good, no gaps. I made my print on Type2 paper and then found banding throughout most of the print, and what appears to be increasingly worse as paper fed through. I then printed another test page and the nozzle pattern looked good, no gaps.
I printed through the rear slot. The Type 2 paper is definitely heavy paper, is it too thick for my R2400? I have run EPSON Velvet Fine Art paper before with no banding (as recent as last week). The Type 2 does feel a little thicker, but not sure if thickness is the issue.
So you are right (big surprise??). It isn’t the paper, I tried printing on EPSON Matte HW and had the same issue. I think I’ve had nozzle issues for some time, there’s something about this photo that has presented the issue more clearly. I looked back at some past nozzle pattern prints and could see vertical issues when the staircase looked good. So I went through the guide you sent a link on, found issues with vertical lines on the print pattern check, ran several nozzle checks/head cleanings. It is never able to clean off the heads completely. I am draining good ink like crazy, so I am looking at my options. Would you recommend buying a separate set of cartridges dedicated to piezoflush? Or could it be that the nozzle head is just too old and either needs replacing? Or is time to find another printer? I am frustrated, not sure how many more cleaning cycles I can survive!
If getting a new printer is the best option, what could you recommend for under $1000? I would continue to dedicate this printer to Piezography only.
Can you post a good scan (300ppi so I can see detail) of your nozzle check for me to evaluate? Seeing your nozzle check will help me determine if it looks fixable or not.
If the mis-firing nozzles aren’t too excessive or severe, then I would suggest cleaning the capping station, wiper blade and bottom of the head following our instructions, getting a set of refill carts and PiezoFlush, and possibly also our print head cleaning kit (http://shopping.netsuite.com/s.nl/c.362672/it.A/id.6605/.f?sc=18&category=39428). You can find our recommended cleaning procedures, and a video demonstrating many cleaning procedures on a desktop model printer, here: http://www.inkjetmall.com/tech/content.php?133-Printer-Cleaning-and-Preventative-Maintenance
The R2880 is a great desktop model printer for up to 13x19 paper. We’ve had one that we’ve used for several years as our primary testing printer in our R+D labs, and that machine has been a workhorse. I have hope that you’ll be able to get yours working well after some manual cleaning, but if it turns out to be beyond repair, then the main factor to help me determine which printer(s) to recommend is, how often do you print vs. how long does the printer sit unused? If you print frequently, like at least several times a week, I would suggest getting a 3880, which can print up to 17x22 paper and has much bigger carts (less refilling, and more printing), but really- the R2880 is a great machine for smaller prints.
I hope this helps! Please keep me posted and let me know if you have further questions or there’s anything else I can help you with.
Best~ Dana
Below is the scan. From my perspective the light magenta position vertical line is not good, the others look good. All of the staircase lines good to me. I’d appreciate your comments to see if I’m reading these correctly.
I have also done these things:
I have the the print head cleaning kit, and have gone through each ink position flush out.
I ran numerous nozzle check/head cleaning cycles. I can never get the printer to clean entirely, it always ends the cycle with a message that I should try a manual cleaning.
I have cleaned off the wiper blade, capping station and bottom of nozzle head per your video instructions. The wiper blade had a lot of caked on ink which is now clean, and since then have run a multitude of cleaning cycles and two runs of flushes with the print head cleaning kit. I have also flushed out the light magenta position a few more times since that appears to me as the problem child.
Thanks for the printer information. I typically print on weekends, sometimes more frequently. So the R3000 is not in your top picks?
From what I can see, your nozzle check looks good as far as the horizontal nozzles printing cleanly and in the correct pattern, other than a few minor mis-firing nozzles in the LM channel. I expect the minor LM nozzle issues can be fixed with manual cleaning of the head and other parts, following our instructions.
The main thing I see is the vertical lines between each channel have a gap between them, which I believe is alignment related. I suggest aligning your printer on Type 2 paper, then doing a test print to check how the banding looks.
Ok great, never even thought about performing an alignment (then again I’ve never done one either). I will certainly give that a try and let you know.
A couple of side bar questions:
Does the printer cartridge counter consider cleaning cycles as part of the ink useage? I found my Matte Black cartridge empty, where the utility showed about half left. I did run through several head cleanings/nozzle checks.
If I accidentally put the wrong ink in a cartridge (hypothetically of course, because I would never make such a mistake), will that position eventually come back to normal after emptying and refilling several times? Lets say, Matte Black #1 into Light Black #6 cartridge.
If you’ve never done an alignment, then you certainly should. Please let me know your results.
Yes, all printing and cleaning cycles are tracked/calculated when the printer figures the remaining ink level of the carts. For accurate ink level tracking, refill carts must be totally filled/refilled with ink at the same time as the chip is reset.
if you accidentally put the wrong ink in a cart, these carts can not be cleaned out and refilled with the correct ink- in this case, a new cart should be used.
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