Solved: Vertical Lines at edges

[mhenry]

I'm experiencing about an inch of tiny vertical lines on both the right and left edge of my prints. I'm using the following hardware, software and media:

Epson 1430 printer
Piezography K6 black inks
Moab Entrada Natural 13x19 paper
Quadtone RIP
Windows 7

I ran the Epson maintenance utility and everything checked out fine. I'm stumped! Anyone have any ideas?

[jon]

are they printed lines running the direction of the print head? If in the margins this is electrical firing of the jets when they are not supposed to be. Epson will have to remedy that one.

Are they more like blobs of ink running up and down the margins and the edges are often inky? Sounds like your paper is curling inwards and the print head keeps hitting it. If so, back curl the paper to try and gently bend the edges softly towards the back of the sheet so it does not curl upwards and hit the print head.

Can you take a picture and try and upload it here?

[mhenry]

are they printed lines running the direction of the print head? If in the margins this is electrical firing of the jets when they are not supposed to be. Epson will have to remedy that one.

Are they more like blobs of ink running up and down the margins and the edges are often inky? Sounds like your paper is curling inwards and the print head keeps hitting it. If so, back curl the paper to try and gently bend the edges softly towards the back of the sheet so it does not curl upwards and hit the print head.

Can you take a picture and try and upload it here?

Jon, Thanks for the reply. The lines are running the direction of the print head but they're not in the margins. No ink blobs and no inky edges. I'm having trouble attaching the files so I left the back door open to my website. http://michaelhenryphotography.com/Lines
The print was 8.5x11. Thanks again for your help.

[jon]

This is a type of banding that QTR produces when it prints too close to its maximum size on the loading and leading edges. I am going to guess that these two areas are within the first 1.5 inches of the beginning of the top and the bottom of the PAPER. Is that correct?

[mhenry]

This is a type of banding that QTR produces when it prints too close to its maximum size on the loading and leading edges. I am going to guess that these two areas are within the first 1.5 inches of the beginning of the top and the bottom of the PAPER. Is that correct?

Sounds exactly right!

[Dana-IJM]

It is important to leave 1" minimum top and bottom margins when printing Piezography gloss for the best quality output with desktop printer models, such as the 1400/1430, R2400, R2880, etc... If you want to use more of the paper, and want to avoid unprinted GO margins, you can add leading/ending strips on your paper (I do this here all the time, it works great). To do this, gently attach a 2" strip of paper (a scrap of the same paper so it's the same width and thickness) to the leading and ending edges of the sheet (using painter's masking tape attached on the back so it sticks but doesn't tear the paper when removed). Now, make a custom page size to account for the extra 4" length and print the ink image and Gloss Overcoat as you have been doing (but selecting the custom page size you made). This also works with Pro model printers, which have sensors and won't allow you to print if it detects printed area on the paper- the leading and ending strips help in this case as well. Happy printing~ Dana

[walkerblackwell]