Digital BW, The Print

I switched to MIS FS and haven't had a problem since.  I noticed on my
machine that when running the Epson ink through it in an attempt to clear up
a Piezo ink clog, it was more successful if I left it in for several weeks;
the amount of time seemed more important than the amount of ink.  Also, try
running a cleaning cart through it.  That may also help.

Stephen

STEPHEN    JENNINGS
    P h o t o g r a p h e r
       Cambridge, MA
sgjennin@...

> 
> I seem to have no luck with digital black & white.
> 
> Today I hooked up new cartridges on my CIS system,filled them with new MIS FS
> ink, and got perfect nozzle checks the first time.  Then I tried printing only
> to discover that I still have absolutely no density in the mid-tones.  The
> prints are actually worse than my worst Piezo DSS prints - almost solarized.
> 
> I just printed a gray-scale step-wedge and found that things appear normal
> from about 0% to around 30% and from about 85-90% to 100%.  But from about 35%
> to 80% things are a real mess.  There's a catastrophic drop in density from
> 85% to 80%, no discernable difference in density from about 60% to 80%, and
> the density at 50-55% is actually greater than from 60% to 80%.
> 
> What is going on?  If any of you can give me some guidance, I'd appreciate it
> very much.  To help eliminate some variables:
> 
> 1. I am printing on the right side of the paper (I'm using EAM with the logo
> on the back).
> 2.  I double and triple-checked the inks before loading my CIS system.  I am
> certain that I loaded the inks, as labeled by MIS, in the right positions.
> 
> Here's what I'm afraid of.  Could a severe case of DSS with the Piezo inks
> have done permanent damage o my print head?  I did put the MIS inks into the
> 1160 that had a very bad case of DSS, but I have run a full set of Epson
> cartridges through it since then and it seemed to be printing just fine with
> the color inks (although I didn't ever print anything too critical with it and
> carefully analyze the results).
> 
> Any thoughts, suggestions, advice, etc. would be appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Jim