Digital BW, The Print

I recently purchased a refurbished Epson 2200 for making black and 
white prints with MIS UT7 inks, using the eboni black, epson driver and 
the Paul Roark curves. When printing on Epson Premium Glossy, in the 
very darkest areas of the print (and only in those areas) I get little 
dotted track marks which I belive are coming from the tiny metal spurs 
or pinwheels that are part of the paper feed mechanism. The marks seem 
to exactly match the spacing of those wheels. If I switch to Epson 
Enhanced Matte there are no marks, but then the blacks are not as deep 
and at certain lighting angles look "chalky" rather than "inky."  

Is there something I need to adjust on my printer? If not, can anyone 
recommend a paper which has curves written for it (either by Paul Roark 
or someone else), which has (relatively) deep, inky blacks, which is 
archival, available in 13-inch wide sizes (Super B) and which will not 
show these tracks? I haven't yet tried the Epson Premium Semi-gloss 
which Paul highly recommends. I am willing to compromise on the 
archival qualities if I have to. If there are already answers to this 
posted I was unable to find them; please point me in the right 
direction. Thanks.

The marks are caused by the exit guide rollers on the Epson printer.
It is possible to get a device which will lift those rollers and
prevent the marks appearing.

"Permajet" in the UK have a wheel lifter (cost £25) but I am sure
someone in the US will have one too. Perhaps someone dealing in Eboni
inks.

Regards
John
 

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@...m, "prexadotcom"
<john.m.gardner@r...> wrote:

> I recently purchased a refurbished Epson 2200 for making black and 
> white prints with MIS UT7 inks, using the eboni black, epson driver and 
> the Paul Roark curves. When printing on Epson Premium Glossy, in the 
> very darkest areas of the print (and only in those areas) I get little 
> dotted track marks which I belive are coming from the tiny metal spurs 
> or pinwheels that are part of the paper feed mechanism. The marks seem 
> to exactly match the spacing of those wheels. If I switch to Epson 
> Enhanced Matte there are no marks, but then the blacks are not as deep 
> and at certain lighting angles look "chalky" rather than "inky."  
> 
> Is there something I need to adjust on my printer? If not, can anyone 
> recommend a paper which has curves written for it (either by Paul Roark 
> or someone else), which has (relatively) deep, inky blacks, which is 
> archival, available in 13-inch wide sizes (Super B) and which will not 
> show these tracks? I haven't yet tried the Epson Premium Semi-gloss 
> which Paul highly recommends. I am willing to compromise on the 
> archival qualities if I have to. If there are already answers to this 
> posted I was unable to find them; please point me in the right 
> direction. Thanks.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "prexadotcom" 
<john.m.gardner@r...> wrote:
> I recently purchased a refurbished Epson 2200 for making black and 
> white prints with MIS UT7 inks, using the eboni black, epson driver and 
> the Paul Roark curves. When printing on Epson Premium Glossy, in the 
> very darkest areas of the print (and only in those areas) I get little 
> dotted track marks which I belive are coming from the tiny metal spurs 
> or pinwheels that are part of the paper feed mechanism. The marks seem 
> to exactly match the spacing of those wheels. If I switch to Epson 
> Enhanced Matte there are no marks, but then the blacks are not as deep 
> and at certain lighting angles look "chalky" rather than "inky."  
> 
> Is there something I need to adjust on my printer?
snip

Try this link to the MIS website.  It talks about the "pizza wheel" problem.

http://inksupply.info/index.php?_a=knowledgebase&_j=questiondetails&_i=75

Ed

--- John, inside printer(lid is open, there is a metal  strip that
runs the width with pointed thin "pizza wheels"). There is a white,
small roller (far left)the roller can be pushed down to lift the strip
and pizza wheels.  this has eliminated the pizza wheel tracks, as far
as the larger black rollers that seem to be used to eject the paper,
the link someone provided to MIS will elminate the larger wheel
tracks. the plastic ties can be purchase at a hardware store. Pj

In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "prexadotcom"
<john.m.gardner@r...> wrote:

> I recently purchased a refurbished Epson 2200 for making black and 
> white prints with MIS UT7 inks, using the eboni black, epson driver and 
> the Paul Roark curves. When printing on Epson Premium Glossy, in the 
> very darkest areas of the print (and only in those areas) I get little 
> dotted track marks which I belive are coming from the tiny metal spurs 
> or pinwheels that are part of the paper feed mechanism. The marks seem 
> to exactly match the spacing of those wheels. If I switch to Epson 
> Enhanced Matte there are no marks, but then the blacks are not as deep 
> and at certain lighting angles look "chalky" rather than "inky."  
> 
> Is there something I need to adjust on my printer? If not, can anyone 
> recommend a paper which has curves written for it (either by Paul Roark 
> or someone else), which has (relatively) deep, inky blacks, which is 
> archival, available in 13-inch wide sizes (Super B) and which will not 
> show these tracks? I haven't yet tried the Epson Premium Semi-gloss 
> which Paul highly recommends. I am willing to compromise on the 
> archival qualities if I have to. If there are already answers to this 
> posted I was unable to find them; please point me in the right 
> direction. Thanks.

Thanks to all who replied and helped me solve this problem. After some 
consideration of the standard solutions and after poking around inside 
the machine awhile to see how things worked I arrived at yet another 
procedure for fixing the Epson 2200 pizzawheels. After lifting the top 
cover of the printer, you will notice a short metal tab at the far left 
which has clearance to swing up and down a few degrees, lifting the 
pizza wheels up so that they don't touch the paper. Using a bent 
paperclip I fashioned a hook of just the right size to loop around this 
tab. The other end of the hook is looped around the metal structure at 
the left, just to the right of the white plastic gears. This lifts the 
pizzawheels off the paper, but not so high that they interfere with the 
movement of the print head (if indeed they would interfere at the 
highest setting.) Does it scare me to go sticking a metal doohickey 
inside where it could fall down and possibly short out a circuit board 
or something?  Uh... yes, a little. But it seems to be hooked in there 
very solidly and is easily removed if I need to have the printer 
serviced. I dealt with the rubber wheels using the standard MIS 
recommended small zip tie method and am now getting unblemished prints! 

> In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "prexadotcom"
> <john.m.gardner@r...> wrote:

[snip]
I get little 
> > dotted track marks which I belive are coming from the tiny metal 
spurs 
> > or pinwheels that are part of the paper feed mechanism. 
[snip]