Digital BW, The Print

Bob, can you give me a detailled description of the bottom-fill 
procedure?

Thanks, 

Peter


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Michaels" 
<bob@b...> wrote:
> Peter: banding can be caused by either clogged nozzles or ink feed
> problems. Ink feed problems are frequenty the cause with a CIS or 
CFS.
> That's why MIS suggests you put new Epson carts in to see if that
> solves the problem. If so, it's a feed problem and nothing dealing
> with clogged heads will help. Follow the MIS advice and try Epson
> carts. That may just diagnose the problem as ink feed.
> 
> I had banding and bad nozzle checks after changing carts and inks in
> my 1280 with a MIS CFS. But I knew it was a feed problem since it 
went
> away with Epson carts. Sucking ink from the CFS bottle via bottom 
fill
> didn't help as it usually did. But disconnecting from the CFS tube,
> then emptying and then refilling the Eboni cart via bottom fill 
solved
> the problem.
> 
> My MIS CFS has been 99% reliable but there's still some "black 
magic"
> involved in the way they work. 
> 
> Bob Michaels
> 
>   --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "flabes23"
> <peter.bongard@t...> wrote:
> > Hi Steve!
> > 
> > Thanks again for your detailled post. I'd love to say that there 
had 
> > been an improvement but nothing changed after performing all of 
your 
> > steps. Now- before I dump my 1290 (which I'd hate to, because 
before 
> > the banding issue it produced beatiful prints) and get the 7960, 
> > there are two more questions I have: 
> > 1) when trying to align the prints, I never get a grain-free box 
in 
> > the second column. The row that is printed first shows an ok box 
at 
> > around "5" (but the banding is also visible there), but even 
after re-
> > adjustement there isn't a grain-free box in the second row (I can 
see 
> > no improvement in both rows when clicking re-adjust (sorry, don't 
> > know how this button is called in the english epson-software)). 
Could 
> > this have something to do with my issue?
> > 2) What about a software problem? I have a usb-hub. Could the 
signal 
> > from the PC to the printer be "bad", so that it produces 
microbanding?
> > 
> > Thanks again!
> > 
> > Peter
> > 
> > --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "scrber" 
> > <stephen.bate@m...> wrote:
> > > OK, so you have at least improved it.  Thats a start.
> > > There is one more thing that could be affecting the printing.  
That 
> > > is that the paper is not being 'indexed' forward enough at each 
> > step.
> > > There are two causes.  One common, I get it a lot with my 
printers 
> > > after heavy use, the other pretty rare, I have read about it 
but 
> > > never seen it.
> > > 
> > > 1. Your paper has a coating, normally a kind of chalky 
substrate 
> > that 
> > > accepts the ink.  This coating is extremely slippy and over a 
> > period 
> > > of time can build up on the rollers that feed the paper and 
cause a 
> > > tiny amount of slip each time the rollers try to 'grab' the 
paper 
> > in 
> > > order to move it forwards.  When I use my satin matt papers 
such as 
> > > imajet, there is a huge amount of coating deposited on the 
> > rollers.  
> > > After 50 or so prints, the grab roller wont even feed the paper 
> > > anymore.
> > > 
> > > So, what do you do?  Two steps.
> > > i. Take normal plain bond paper, 50 sheets of and feed them 
through 
> > > the printer.  Just stick a fullstop on a blank page in word and 
let 
> > > it go.  This clears a lot off.  
> > > ii. Next step is to spray some more of our beloved windex onto 
some 
> > > more bond paper, especially on the RHS where it is grabbed. NOT 
too 
> > > much because it will tear up, but enough that it is damp.  Feed 
wet 
> > > sheet after dry sheet alternately about 10 sheets.
> > > iii.  Finally if you feel around inside the paper feed tray you 
can 
> > > find two thin plastic flaps that cover the 'grab' rollers.  
Gently 
> > > fold these back outwards and that a cotton bud soaked with 
Windex.  
> > > Rub the grab roller with the cotton bud and see how much gunk 
comes 
> > > off.  Normally it helps to get the printer into a red light 'no 
> > > paper' situation so that you can press the feed but to cycle it 
a 
> > few 
> > > times, this gives you access to more of the roller and can 
clean it 
> > > better.
> > > iv. Use a number of sheets in your printer paper tray, it 
places 
> > the 
> > > top printable sheet closer to the rollers and helps it to 
feed.  If 
> > > you check the posts prior to this someone found that this step 
> > alone 
> > > cured their problem.
> > > 
> > > Now the second possibility....
> > > 
> > > 2.  Your band that drives the paper feed has stretched.  This 
could 
> > > theoretically mean that you will always get banding - even in 
your 
> > > alignment patterns.  As I said before, I have never known this 
> > > happed, only read about it during my lengthy research to solve 
the 
> > > same issues you have.
> > > 
> > > Also, try changing papers.
> > > Take a cheap EAM and see how that improves this on the 0 
setting.
> > > 
> > > I have no experience with the HPs, but you can just look around 
> > this 
> > > board and see that most people swear by their Epsons and have 
found 
> > > ways to solve most of the issues.  At the end of the day, we 
are 
> > > tinkering with things that weren't really meant to be....There 
is 
> > no 
> > > telling what problems you may have with an HP.  Some of the 
issues 
> > > above could be just the same.
> > > Good luck
> > > 
> > > Steve
> > > 
> > > 
> > > --- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "flabes23" 
> > > <peter.bongard@t...> wrote:
> > > > Hi Steve,
> > > > 
> > > > 
> > > > thanks for your detailed post, but unfortunately I did 
everything 
> > > you 
> > > > suggested. I will give you a more detailed report on what 
I`ve 
> > done 
> > > > yet.
> > > > Some weeks ago I moved to a new flat. During the drive to the 
new 
> > > > house I tried to leave the ink-bottles and the printer on the 
> > same 
> > > > heigh. Some days later. I printed fifty thick cards. I 
therefore 
> > > > changed the lever from 0 to + position (it's in the + 
position 
> > > since 
> > > > then, because I mainly print on Tetenal or Permajet 240g 
Archival 
> > > > Matte). During that time I often got bad nozzlechecks and 
after 
> > one 
> > > > photo-print was suddenly missing the grey color, I decided to 
> > flush 
> > > > the cards using the syringe-method the MIS-guys suggested on 
> > their 
> > > > site (I did everything exactly as they described except the 
step 
> > > > where a brand new cardrige set is needed in order to check if 
the 
> > > > print head works fine...sorry ;-), but apart from the bad 
nozzle 
> > > > checks I got from time to time the prints were perfect-no 
banding 
> > > > whatsoever! So the printheads were ok until that point). 
After 
> > that 
> > > > the trouble began: I got very fine horizontal lines on my 
prints 
> > > > (microbanding, I guess), although I always had a perfect 
nozzle-
> > > > check. It seemed as if less ink came onto the paper than 
before 
> > the 
> > > > card-flush. The whole image didn't look as "rich" as it 
looked 
> > > > before. After that I tried some methods I learned from 
various 
> > > > forums: Printing out the purge-file. No improvement. Run 
various 
> > > > cleaning-cycles. Still no improvement. Then I tried 
realigning 
> > the 
> > > > printheads several times along with the Windex-trick and the 
> > > raising 
> > > > of the bottles. After that the picture looked better, 
> > significantly 
> > > > better, but the banding is still there. Since I'm a 
photographer, 
> > > > this situation is very vexing for me. Now I'm going to 
sacrifice 
> > > one 
> > > > more sheet of my beloved Tetenal Archival Matte and do a 
proper 
> > > > Windex-treatment before that. Then I realign the heads once 
more, 
> > > but 
> > > > if this doesn't work, then say goodbye to Mr. Epson :-< . So 
> > Steve, 
> > > > after hearing my whole story - do you have any idea what 
could 
> > > cause 
> > > > this problem or if there is any other thing I should test? My 
> > > > suspicion is that I made something wrong during the card-
flush. 
> > > Maybe 
> > > > I should repeat it, now with the cardrige-step included? 
Apart 
> > from 
> > > > that, do you think that the hp 7960 can print out b/w as 
> > beautiful 
> > > as 
> > > > my Epson with the MIS-inks? 
> > > > 
> > > > Thanks for your advice. I'm actually quite desperated. 
> > > > 
> > > > Regards,
> > > > 
> > > > Peter