Digital BW, The Print

Hi Jeff;

What we refer to as 'banding'is gapping in the ink spray due to 
clogged nozzles, air bubbles in the head, or sometimes a very badly 
misaligned head. It is always in the direction of travel of the 
head. A vertical scratch like you describe is likely a rough edge 
somewhere, or something stuck to the bottom of the roller arm 
assembly, or perhaps a 'pizza wheel' that isn't turning. Run a piece 
of paper through and watch the star-shaped wheels in the area of the 
scratch to verify that they are rotating. One question: you aren't 
by chance feeding the paper in horizontally, so that the 'left edge' 
actually is the last strip to get printed before exiting the 
printer? Dumb question, but often if there is not enough margin on 
that last strip to hold it down while being printed, it pops up when 
it leaves the last set of rear rollers, and the head itself can 
scratch it. Happens mostly with small pieces of stiff paper.

Hope some of this helps.

Steve Karafyllakis

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Jeff Hargrove 
<jeff@j...>" <jeff@j...> wrote:
> I am quite new to inkjet printing and I am not sure whether my
> problem is what you would call banding. 
> 
> Anyway, on all my prints, in the same position, I get a "white"
> hair-thin line running virtical from top to bottom. Its position 
> is the same regardless of the print (ie the same distance from 
> the left edge of the paper) which leads me to  believe that 
> something in the printer is scratching my prints as they move 
> through the printer. I say scratch because there doesn't seem 
> to be any ink on  this very fine line. It can only be seen if the 
> light hits the print at a certain angle.
> 
> I did an alignment check, nozzle check and cleaning, cleaned the
> rollers with  windex and air brushed them afterwards. This has 
> had no effect. I have tried several adjustments of the paper 
> thickness lever, no results either.
> 
> Is this a form of banding? I  would very much appreciate any help 
or
> advice you could give me. I forgot to mention that I am printing 
on 
> a 1290 with generation 4 color inks.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> Jeff Hargrove