Digital BW, The Print

Thanks for all the advice Mike,

I finally found a process that works for me so I thought I would share it for anyone else who might have the same problems.

By rolling the page over the cardboard roll from the inside of some paper-towels I put a reverse bend into the paper. I am careful not to roll it too far as it can crease the paper halfway if you let it double up on the roll, but I do aim for quite a strong reverse roll.

This eliminates the ink at the start and end of the page but only seems to increase the amount of splotches down the left-hand side of the page which look like big ink drops about 5mm round and line up all down the side of the page. I finally managed to get rid of these by setting the Resolution to 1400x1400 and the Speed to Uni-directional in QTR. I guess it was the second setting that did it.

Anyway, I am now making great prints so thanks again Mike!

Nigel.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, Michael King <drmrking@...> wrote:
>
> BTW this paper curling problem (towards the coated side) occurs with nearly
> all matte papers I've used.
> Obviously something to do with the coating, which is why many good quality
> matte papers are coated on both sides, the best equally coated on both sides
> (like Epson Ultrasmooth) to reduce/stop curling, not to allow you to print
> on both sides.
> 
> Don't know why the coating causes curling, maybe someone in the paper
> business can explain.
> 
> Mike
> 
> 
> 2009/12/30 Michael King <drmrking@...>
> 
> > So I think what is happening is that the ends of the paper that are not
> > held by the rollers (like all the small printers) tend to bend up and touch
> > the head and yes your inks are maybe a bit thin and there is some ink
> > sitting under the head.
> >
> > Try the following;
> >
> > 1) Bend the paper before you put it into the printer so the ends are are
> > bend away from the printing surface and or
> >
> > 2) Print an image that's at least 5cm (2.5inch) from front edge and back
> > edge.
> >
> > Either or both of these should help.
> >
> > Mike
> >
> > 2009/12/30 nigglefish <nigglefish@...>
> >
> >
> >>
> >> I have an Epson TX650 loaded with MIS Eboni and UT14-PKN and dilutions of
> >> these made using Paul Roark's base (the one with Edwal LFN for 1.5pl
> >> printers). The TX650 is the current entry-level 6 Claria ink 1.5pl printer
> >> in Australia (it's a PX650 in the UK) similar in stats to the R260. I am
> >> printing on Photo Rag 188 and a very cheap matte inkjet paper for
> >> experiments.
> >>
> >> The problem I have is that whenever I print using QTR and Printing Model
> >> R260-MIS (to which I have added some profiles) I get blobs and streaks of
> >> ink in the borders (which are about 1.5cm) around the image I am printing.
> >> They can take the form of 1mm ink strains along the top or bottom edges of
> >> the paper, as if part of the edge had been very lightly dipped in ink,
> >> horizontal streaks within the first 1cm of the top or bottom edge of the
> >> paper (these look like the head or some rollers have streaked ink from the
> >> previous stains), and sometimes little dense drops of ink on the right hand
> >> margin. The images themselves are always perfect with no marks on them, but
> >> there are always some messy ink blotches somewhere in the border.
> >>
> >> Some of the ink will get on rollers and effect later sheets. Aside from
> >> this left over mess though I never seem to have a problem when I use the
> >> Epson driver to print images. I have tried adjusting the Ink Limit (Shadows)
> >> to -50 in QTR's Advanced Adjustments, rolling the paper around a paper roll
> >> and using a thinner paper, but I always have some messy ink in the borders
> >> when using QTR.
> >>
> >> Is my ink too thin? Too thick? Are my refillable cartridges no good? Is my
> >> Ink Limit in my QTR curves (40 with a Black Boost of 50) too high for the
> >> printer? Am I using QTR incorrectly? Am I just missing something? Any help
> >> or ideas would be appreciated!
> >>
> >> Cheers, Nigel.
> >>
> >> 
> >>
> >
> >
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>