Digital BW, The Print

I have the MIS UTR2 inks installed in an Epson R220 using the 
variable tone set as described by Clayton Jones in this article 
http://www.cjcom.net/articles/digiprn10.htm.

Works perfect on Epson Enhanced Matte, but if I try and use Photo Rag 
308, I get micro banding in the midtones and shadows.  I have tried 
cleaning cycles and head alignment.  I have dried 360 dpi, 300 dpi 
and 240 dpi.  I have also tried printing with the Epson print driver 
set to all the various paper types.  Some settings band worse than 
others.  In one case I could get rid of most the banding, but at the 
same time, the image was very washed out.

What else can I do to try and get rid of the banding?

If I want to try a different dither pattern, can I use QTR with this 
ink combination?  If so, I am not familiar with how to set QTR up to 
control this ink set.  

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

The banding should be simple to fix--it's almost certainly caused by 
papers of different thickness being used. Each thickness needs the 
print heads aligned differently.

Run the utility to align the print heads using the paper that you are 
printing on. Often running the utility twice and getting "offset" 
settings that are close to neutral is better than using extreme 
settings only once.

Many printers make it a practice to align the print heads before each 
printing session with the paper being used, even if it's the same as 
for the previous session. It may seem like a pain to do this, but 
after getting into the habit and enjoying the benefits, you'll 
probably find this the easiest way. Just takes a few minutes and you 
can forget about the associated problems of misaligned heads (like 
banding!).


--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Zach Proffitt" 
<zachproffitt@...> wrote:
>
> I have the MIS UTR2 inks installed in an Epson R220 using the 
> variable tone set as described by Clayton Jones in this article 
> http://www.cjcom.net/articles/digiprn10.htm.
> 
> Works perfect on Epson Enhanced Matte, but if I try and use Photo 
Rag 
> 308, I get micro banding in the midtones and shadows.  I have tried 
> cleaning cycles and head alignment.  I have dried 360 dpi, 300 dpi 
> and 240 dpi.  I have also tried printing with the Epson print 
driver 
> set to all the various paper types.  Some settings band worse than 
> others.  In one case I could get rid of most the banding, but at 
the 
> same time, the image was very washed out.
> 
> What else can I do to try and get rid of the banding?
> 
> If I want to try a different dither pattern, can I use QTR with 
this 
> ink combination?  If so, I am not familiar with how to set QTR up 
to 

> control this ink set.  
> 
> Any recommendations?
> 
> Thanks!
>

Thanks for the response.  I've actually spent two nights trying to 
align this printer.  I've got about 20 sheets of photo rag wasted with 
two alignment patterns per side on them.  

I haven't made it past trying to align black.  At most I've had 3 of 
the 4 alignment sections have a square without banding.  I haven't 
been able to get all 4 sections with a square without banding yet.

I can get the alignment perfect on plain paper or Epson Enhanced Matte 
no problem.  Is it possible that this printer just won't print on 
heavy paper?

Hi,
I have an Epson C86 and I have only used the MIS EZ ink cartridges in it.
The first set worked great – I had very little clogging.
The second set clogs after only two or three days and I have used most of
the
ink cleaning the print head.

Has any one else noticed this variability?

Thanks
Mike J.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

I went through a number of EZ cartridges when I first set up my C84 (a 
couple of years ago), to check out the various neutral/warm combinations 
before picking one to use with a CIS.  I don't recall having any 
clogging problems with the carts, and have had none to speak of in 2+ 
years of running many bottles of EZ ink through the CIS.  I didn't let 
the printer sit very long when I was testing it with cartridges, but it 
has sometimes gone more than a month between printings with the CIS 
installed.  Any time a nozzle check has indicated a problem, it only 
takes one or two cleaning cycles to get everything back up to par.

The C84 recently died - message said its parts had reached the end of 
their service life (I don't count every print, but just the two 
Christmas projects it did totaled over 1800 8x10 images - not bad for a 
$60 printer.)  I replaced it with a refurb C88 ($59 from Epson, 
delivered), moved the CIS over and have been running smoothly from the 
first print.

Cheers,
Kip

Mike Johnston wrote:

> Hi,
> I have an Epson C86 and I have only used the MIS EZ ink cartridges in it.
> The first set worked great - I had very little clogging.
> The second set clogs after only two or three days and I have used most of
> the
> ink cleaning the print head.
>
> Has any one else noticed this variability?
>
> Thanks
> Mike J.
>
>
>
>  



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]