Digital BW, The Print

Hello everone,

First I would to thank everyone. I have been "listening in" for 
about 6 weeks and benefiting from your combined expertise.

I have an Epson 1200 and have experienced that now familiar banding 
problem when using Piezo inks. My first results were fantastic and 
then the banding got progressively worse. I tried every trick anyone 
had posted for the last 18 months to no avail.

I gave up and took the printer to repair only to have new heads back 
ordered. I finally gave up and picked it back up to print large 
topographic sheets for a photo trip. 

I had a set of cleaning cartridges from Inkjet Mall in the machine 
and tryed a few cleaning cycles with them and then printed a 
stepwedge with them. They have a small amount of gray dye in them 
and I could tell that the banding problem was undiminished. 

From the previous nozzle tests I had determined that I had 7 black 
nozzles and one magenta nozzle that were being deflected up or down 
to a small degree. I installed the Epson cartridges and the printer 
automatically runs a cleaning cycle and I ran one additional 
cleaning cycle. I then printed a nozzle check on Epson Matt Paper-
Heavyweight. It was perfect with no deflections at all (I use a 7X 
loupe). I also ran a test print of a stepwedge 
(grayscale) with the piezo driver and the color 
inks. There was no banding at all!!!

If any conclusions can be drawn from this one experience it would 
seem that the Epson Ink cartridges can serve as very effective 
cleaning cartridges. I spent two weeks trying all of the cleaning 
methods suggested here and on the "Piezography 3000" lists. Epson 
cartridges solved the problem in a few minutes.

I will be installing the MIS FS inks in the CFS configuration on 
this printer. I will also keep a set of color cartridges on hand for 
cleaning purposes.

It would seem that Jon Cone might want to take a look at using a 
similar "solvent" for his pigment system so that his inks would be 
as self-cleaning as the Epson inks are. I am sure that there are 
many considerations in the selection of the right medium but maybe 
the answer to the banding and clogging problem can be resolved in 
this way.

I hope some may find this experience helpful.

Eric Durham