I hate to see a good printer get landfilled, and it will be a good backup for my 3880. But, before I get serious about up the LM channel I need to know if another issue is related and fixable.
I made a few prints and noticed some micro-banding on prints in certain tones. An automatic head alignment followed by a manual head alignment did not improve things. The micro-banding is quite obvious in a QTR calibration print. It's parallel to the direction of the print head when the ink was laid down. The banding is very noticeable in Cyan and Magenta, and noticeable in Light Cyan and Light Magenta. It's barely noticeable in Y, LK, LLK, and practically invisible in K.
I'm using Paul Roark's Eboni-Variable Tone ink formula, so the Y channel is the toner, LLK is the same ink as LM, and LK is the same ink as M. The ink is WJ1082 from STS (a fresh bottle). The cartridges are refilled Epson OEM carts. Carts hold pressure and do not leak.
Prior to loading the Eboni-VT ink in the refilled Epson OEM carts, I ran a cleaning solution from cleaning carts through the printer until all lines printed clear. I lightly cleaned the print head, and I thoroughly cleaned the capping station using the techniques in the excellent Inkjetmall videos. There may still be dried ink and paper dust under the head (I haven't done overnight soaks of the head yet). As I said above, I also ran automatic and manual head alignments.
So... what might be causing this micro-banding in the calibration chart? More to the point, is it worth putting more time into this printer, or could I be dealing with something that isn't fixable? Rob