Homebrew PCBs

How do i reduce the amount of ink used?
I still have some puddling!

I tried printing grey, but then printing a gradient image from black to  
white it will be full on black to a distance and then full on white. I  
have tried using the brightness/contrast setting in the driver with the  
same effect.
Why?


Also, i notice the parking pad is full of ink/water each time. i have  
disabled the vacuum pump to prevent all ink running off, and manually pull  
the pad dry with a syringe before printing. It is easy to prime or clean a  
printhead without the pump, with the syringe. But i do not think the ink  
should run down into the parking pad normally?

I want to get this to work perfectly, today ;-)

Any suggestions on how to solve the puddling issue? IMO there is simply  
too much ink applied, how do i get it to make smaller droplets? (the 84  
does have this capability).

thanks

ST