Digital BW, The Print

I just got a 1400 and am about to drop some $$$ on 13x19 paper.  I'm wondering on thickness what route to go.  I'm probably going to do PA Alise or HPR, but the question is thicker or thinner?  I presume thinner feeds easier but may curl and hit the print head or perhaps curl more when framed.  

Of these options which you folks think would be the least fuss?

Alise 250g (16 mil)
Alise 300g (20 mil)
H. Photo Rag 188g
H. Photo Rag 308g

I suppose if I choose to do non-OBA it is going to be one of the Alises for sure since I can get the Museum version.

Thanks for any advice,

Ken

with care it will take any of those papers. But the more coated thick paper you put through, the more often you need to clean the feed parts to keep it working well.
Since it's an office printer it's happiest with thin papers, but these coatings will powder off onto the feed parts and hamper grab eventually no matter how thick or thin.
Tyler

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "kwalsh74" <kwalsh74@...> wrote:

>
> I just got a 1400 and am about to drop some $$$ on 13x19 paper.  I'm wondering on thickness what route to go.  I'm probably going to do PA Alise or HPR, but the question is thicker or thinner?  I presume thinner feeds easier but may curl and hit the print head or perhaps curl more when framed.  
> 
> Of these options which you folks think would be the least fuss?
> 
> Alise 250g (16 mil)
> Alise 300g (20 mil)
> H. Photo Rag 188g
> H. Photo Rag 308g
> 
> I suppose if I choose to do non-OBA it is going to be one of the Alises for sure since I can get the Museum version.
> 
> Thanks for any advice,
> 
> Ken
>

Ken -

 

According to Epson, the maximum thickness for the 1400 is 11.8 mils.  It is
possible to feed thicker paper and many are doing exactly that.  However,
according to Epson's techs, the thicker paper will eventually damage the
printer's ability to feed the thinner papers designed to go through the
printer.  Additionally, if you are using a coated paper, the coating may
wear off onto the rollers and thereby requiring a manual hand cleaning of
the rollers.  If you enjoying tinkering around then go for the thicker
paper.  However, if you want to make prints with the least amount of fuss,
I'd recommend staying within or close to the manufacturer's specifications
for the printer (many will disagree with this recommendation).  

 

For what it's worth, I've used Maob's Entrada Rag 190 (15.5 mils) in the
printer; however, it will hang up from time-to-time and it did require a
certain amount of fussing.  

 

Tom



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

Tom,

Do you happen to know what the maximum thickness paper for the R1800 is? I tried some Alise in it but had a heck of a time getting it to load. Most of the time it shot right through, even using the rear slot and after carefully cleaning the rollers. I finally sold an almost-full package.

And might you or someone else know the thickness in mils of Premier Art Fine Art Hot Press? It's 205 gm/sq m. I wanted to try Alise because of the favorable reviews of its DMax but couldn't see it was that much better than the Fine Art HP. (I admit to that being a non-scientific comment, I'm not trained enough to know how to do that, nor apparently am I that discerning!). So that's my current paper of choice.

Thanks...

Paul

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tom Fielder" <tfielder@...> wrote:

>
> Ken -
> 
>  
> 
> According to Epson, the maximum thickness for the 1400 is 11.8 mils.  It is
> possible to feed thicker paper and many are doing exactly that.  However,
> according to Epson's techs, the thicker paper will eventually damage the
> printer's ability to feed the thinner papers designed to go through the
> printer.  Additionally, if you are using a coated paper, the coating may
> wear off onto the rollers and thereby requiring a manual hand cleaning of
> the rollers.  If you enjoying tinkering around then go for the thicker
> paper.  However, if you want to make prints with the least amount of fuss,
> I'd recommend staying within or close to the manufacturer's specifications
> for the printer (many will disagree with this recommendation).  
> 
>  
> 
> For what it's worth, I've used Maob's Entrada Rag 190 (15.5 mils) in the
> printer; however, it will hang up from time-to-time and it did require a
> certain amount of fussing.  
> 
>  
> 
> Tom
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "paulmwhiting" <paulmwhiting@...> wrote:

> Do you happen to know what the maximum thickness paper for the R1800 is?...
> 
> And might you or someone else know the thickness in mils of Premier Art Fine Art Hot Press? It's 205 gm/sq m.

Paul I don't really know the maximum thickness in mils for the 1800 but I can tell you that the PAHP 205 runs wonderfully through the 1800 and other machines I've used.  The 205 is double sided so tends to remain very flat.  I currently have a lot of the PAHP 270 which also runs well when new (feeding single sheets up top with a very slight assist) but over time, because it is single sided, has a tendency to curl slightly and must be hand counter rolled to prevent head strikes on the 1800.  My dial calipers are currently broken but I'm guessing by feel that the PAHP205 is around 8 mils (.008")  I've not tried the PAHP 305 but I would think the flatness of being dual sided coupled with clean rollers and a slight assist might work but that remains to be seen.

It's a bit dis-heartening to hear about you having trouble with the Alise and the 1800.  I've been wanting to try the alise the next time I need matte paper.  The PAHP has been the nicest matte I've found so far.  I've tried other papers I could probably learn to love but they tend toward twice the price and have the single sided curling problem as well.

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "paulmwhiting" <paulmwhiting@...> wrote:

> Do you happen to know what the maximum thickness paper for the R1800 is?...
> 
> And might you or someone else know the thickness in mils of Premier Art Fine Art Hot Press? It's 205 gm/sq m.

Paul I don't really know the maximum thickness in mils for the 1800 but I can tell you that the PAHP 205 runs wonderfully through the 1800 and other machines I've used.  The 205 is double sided so tends to remain very flat.  I currently have a lot of the PAHP 270 which also runs well when new (feeding single sheets up top with a very slight assist) but over time, because it is single sided, has a tendency to curl slightly and must be hand counter rolled to prevent head strikes on the 1800.  My dial calipers are currently broken but I'm guessing by feel that the PAHP205 is around 8 mils (.008")  I've not tried the PAHP 305 but I would think the flatness of being dual sided coupled with clean rollers and a slight assist might work but that remains to be seen.

It's a bit dis-heartening to hear about you having trouble with the Alise and the 1800.  I've been wanting to try the alise the next time I need matte paper.  The PAHP has been the nicest matte I've found so far.  I've tried other papers I could probably learn to love but they tend toward twice the price and have the single sided curling problem as well.

Thanks, Robert, good information.

> Paul I don't really know the maximum thickness in mils for the 1800 but I can tell you that the PAHP 205 runs wonderfully through the 1800 and other machines I've used.  The 205 is double sided so tends to remain very flat.  I currently have a lot of the PAHP 270 which also runs well when new (feeding single sheets up top with a very slight assist) but over time, because it is single sided, has a tendency to curl slightly and must be hand counter rolled to prevent head strikes on the 1800.  My dial calipers are currently broken but I'm guessing by feel that the PAHP205 is around 8 mils (.008")  I've not tried the PAHP 305 but I would think the flatness of being dual sided coupled with clean rollers and a slight assist might work but that remains to be seen.

Actually I have to occasionally clean the 1800's rollers occasionally, even with the PAHP. And I didn't realize single-sided paper tends to curl, that's good to know. There's a sticker on the PAHP plastic wrap that says "Print this side" although the on-line specs call it "CS2" which means coated two sides. I e-mailed Atlex about that and they said to ignore the sticker, the paper is indeed coated both sides.
> 
> It's a bit dis-heartening to hear about you having trouble with the Alise and the 1800.  I've been wanting to try the Alise the next time I need matte paper.  The PAHP has been the nicest matte I've found so far.  I've tried other papers I could probably learn to love but they tend toward twice the price and have the single sided curling problem as well.

I was a little dis-heartened also... but as I say my non-professional eye couldn't see that the Alise DMax was that much better. I use the 3MK setup in my 1800, btw... what do you use? (sorry everyone, that's a little OT here!)

Paul

I have been using 210 and 250 gram papers in the1400 with no problem - sheets must be fed one at a time - paper that has been coated on both sides will sometimes cause the roller which first grabs the paper to become slick and mis - feed - this roller can be cleaned with alcohol and a q-tip - the 91% is preferable to the 70%-

Berel  Lutsky

I feed 300gsm Entrada Natural through my 1400 all the time. One sheet at
a time, but I do have to rest my hand on the top of the paper for it to
feed. It is also true that, over time, the initial paper feed roller fed
less and less reliably until I sent a sheet of paper with windex on it
through the printer a couple of times. Now, it feeds about the same as
it was new (although, I admit that I really cannot remember *exactly*
how it fed when it was new).

I'm planning on using more 190gsm Entrada Natural so that feeding will
be easier; I figure even if it is on the edge of what Epson claims to be
able to feed, it's got to be a bit easier than the 300gsm. Besides, I
don't need the weight of the 300 unless folks will be handling the photos.

Andrew



On 01/05/2010 01:35 PM, Lutsky, Berel wrote:
> I have been using 210 and 250 gram papers in the1400 with no problem -
> sheets must be fed one at a time - paper that has been coated on both
> sides will sometimes cause the roller which first grabs the paper to
> become slick and mis - feed - this roller can be cleaned with alcohol
> and a q-tip - the 91% is preferable to the 70%-
> 
> Berel Lutsky

-- 
http://andrewsharpe.com

Paul -
 
I don't know the recommendation for the R1800; however, you might find it in
the User's Guide or call either Epson or LexJet - 800-453-9538.  
 
Tom


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

Thanks, Tom. I couldn't that info in the User's Guide, but perhaps I'll give them a call... thanks for that number.

Paul

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "Tom Fielder" <tfielder@...> wrote:

>
> Paul -
>  
> I don't know the recommendation for the R1800; however, you might find it in
> the User's Guide or call either Epson or LexJet - 800-453-9538.  
>  
> Tom
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

Thank you everyone for the very helpful input!

I ended up going for 250gsm Alise Museum.  Only available in 50 sheet boxes, so given my printing rate and wall space I'm probably set for life :).

Ken