Digital BW, The Print

I've been battling a nasty ink drip and blob problem for over a year now on my Epson Artisan 1430. I'm using refillable cartridges, and now a Cobra CIS. The ink I use is Eboni Variable Tone (Carbon 6 with a blue toner, per Paul Roark's recent formulation). In addition to blobs and drips, it's been a huge struggle to get to the point where I have a clean nozzle check. It seems the two problems are related.

From other postings to this group and the QTR group I can see that I'm not the only one having these kinds of problems. Therefore, the solution I've discovered may be useful for others.

It's actually thanks to Jon Cone that I've figured out how to avoid this problem. I thought it was a defective printer, or defective cartridges. In a posting somewhere (maybe on his forum... not sure), Jon asked a user having a drip problem if the paper was curled.

Sure enough, the paper I'm using often has a strong curl in it (like a sheet cut from a roll). It's most pronounced in smaller sheets; I cut 8.5 x 11 sheets in half for making test prints, and these can have a very strong curl. When the printer gets to the bottom edge of the paper, the curl in the paper springs up, whacking the print head, and splattering ink all over the place. This produces drips and blobs, and also results in splattered ink drying on the bottom of the head.

Jon's advice was to carefully flatten out the sheets by hand (bending down the corners, smoothing out the edge curl). This has made a huge difference for me. I still need to clean the printer regularly, but the problem is mostly gone now.

If you're having ink drip and blob problems, check your paper to see if it's the source.

Rob

As I believe I've reported somewhere previously, I use my wife's steam iron to press the paper on its non-printable side to flatten it after I've cut it from the roll.  I've done this for years, with no untoward results.

I don't think it really matters whether the iron is on the steam setting or not.  I use the iron on the setting my wife has left it on, and don't pay much attention.  I suppose I'd see if it works satisfactorily at first with the steam setting off.