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This is an old thread, I know, but here goes:

My faithful 1400, using C6 inkset, is finally giving me a bit of trouble. Am getting some banding at beginning and end of print, was using 1/2' margins. The banding consists of two lines, one about 1/8" wide and one much narrower. With .95" margins, I'm ok. But I've been using 1/2" margins since the day I got it (May, 2013) with no banding, ever.

I also tried .95" margins but with bi-directional printing (I've been using uni-directional) but got narrower banding throughout the whole print, not just top and bottom.

And a final question: you mentioned "both" transport rollers. I am not seeing a second one. The only one I see is on the lower right, quite thick, with a flat section to let the paper pass once it's been grabbed. I cleaned it but that didn't help. (I do need to clean it periodically when the paper feeds right through without printing, but this is rare.)

One thing I've noticed... I generally do a nozzle check before a printing session and invariably the black cart has a pattern with several gaps. All other carts, the ones with various dilutions, are perfect . I do one cleaning and the black cart is just fine. Is it normal for the black cart to show a bad pattern almost every startup?

My DMax is not quite as deep as it used to be either.

Thanks for any thoughts,

Paul W.

PS: I haven't tried spraying Windex on a blank sheet and running it through, I must admit. Will do so.

---In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, <roark.paul@...> wrote :

The 1400 series needs both paper transport rollers to be engaged to be perfectly smooth. So, both ends can suffer. The leading edge is usually the worst, probably due to the bend of the paper going in.

I don't think the 1400 series is the only modern printer that suffers from this, but it may be that the 1.5 pl models are more sensitive to it. Also, I think QTR shows the paper transport weaknesses of the printer more than the Epson driver. Additionally, the more inks you have firing, the less likely you'll see the problem.

It sounds like you didn't used to have the problem. That makes it sound as if the rollers may also need cleaning. Sometimes running paper through the printer using the paper transport button, where the paper has some Windex on it's middle part, will help clean them.

Thick paper, of course, has more problems than thin paper.

With fine art matte papers I try to leave ample margins to get the top image quality. On a letter size print a 9x7 may be it.

Hope this helps.

Paul

www.PaulRoark.com

On Fri, Jul 18, 2014 at 10:43 PM, climballday@... [DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint] <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

Like the subject line says, I've started getting severe banding at the leading and tailing edges of my prints. Everything through the middle is fine, but 1/2" to 1" on the front and trailing edge act like the printer is skipping lines or something.

Epson Artisan 1430 printer
Eboni 6 inks with cartridges from MIS.
It happens on both Moab Arches 300 and hahnemuhle bamboo papers (the only two I have tested since it started)
Settings are at 2880 and uni-directional, which have always worked well for me, until now.
the nozzle test print looks fine.

I can do more experimenting, but in searching this group, I saw a message from Paul from several years ago that said something to the effect of "except at the leading edge of the print, there is no reason you should get banding" which made me think this might be some sort of a known issue. Unfortunately, further searching didn't turn up any messages referring to it specifically.

So... is this something that happens consistently under certain circumstances? If so, what's the solution to eliminating it?

Thanks to everyone... this group has been invaluable as I've started off on this little adventure.

Stephen

Digital BW, The Print

Re: Banding at start and end of the print - Epson 1430 + Eboni inks

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