Persistant banding issues 1430 - New carts

Hello, I’ve been struggling with banding problems making Piezo digital negs for about 3 years now. First using the previous incarnation on 2 Epson R2880 printers, now the new system on two 1500W’s

I have fully vetted the second 1500W with OEM inks, printing both test prints and test negatives and can see no evidence of any banding. In all instances are the images smooth.

I recently received the new carts hoping that this would alleviate the problem. However, certain images, especially those with large areas of even tonality still refuse to work. Even with a fully vetted printer, perfect nozzle check pattern and head realignment. I’m doing everything by the book but still can’t get a good neg out. My only option is to explore getting a Pro model like a 3880 now. Keith Schrieber who has been helping me massively on Facebook has printed the same image and says it looks better on the R3880 compared to the 1500W, yet there is still some evidence of faint banding. So imaginably this would neg not be adequate quality for glossy silver printing.

I understand there is possibly a new driver under development. Could this help things at all?

Cheers

The new driver will help things. It drops first for PiezoDN customers (free upgrade).

 

best,

Walker

Thanks for the reply Walker. Good to hear. So you definitely think this will take care of the banding areas of even tonality/highlights?

Can you suggest any other reason I might still be experiencing banding given the information above?

It takes care of all banding. Totally different dither, microwave, and dot size/placement + it ups resolution to 5760x2880. Neg prints take forever but it’s worth it. They are basically able to be placed in enlargers at this point.

-W

That sounds incredible :slight_smile: Really hope this finally solves the problem. Good things come to those who wait eh

I posted this last night but it’s not showing up. Sorry if it appears twice.

Just to be clear, my 1430 is not in optimum condition after sitting for around 3 months with little use. (I got sidetracked back in April with a building project that I never expected to take 3 months.) I got the ink flowing and all seemed fine until I tried to make this negative that Gareth mentioned. It’s a very smooth high-key seascape. The file itself is absolutely perfect, but the negs I made a week ago look like crap. Getting some vertical banding (long axis), but not over the entire image, and other random weirdness like short lines of no ink and a few small fuzzy spots of lower density. I have replenished the CISS and run lots of 6-channel flush pages most of which look perfect. Nozzle checks vary but I’ve just come to expect that with this printer.

So I tried the same image on the 3880. It’s much better with the exception of droplet size, which I liken to the difference between grain on TMX or Acros 100 developed in Pyrocat HD and that of TXP or HP5 in Rodinal. (Hey, at least I didn’t say Kodak Recording Film in Rodinal!) And if I stare at the negative long enough I can see a faint cross-hatch pattern in certain areas and tones. I think I’m gonna try the custom paper setup routine on this printer to see if that makes a difference. Did I mention that this is an extremely challenging image?

Today I tried again with the 1430. It looks better than last week but still not as good as what I was getting before the hiatus. Oh yeah, and I was reminded of a little issue I had avoided with the 8x20 negs I had been printing on it since there was nothing close to the right-hand edge - the LD Roller that starts the paper feeding leaves a mark on the film about 1/2 inch wide and an inch long 1.5 - 2 inches in from the right edge and 2-3 inches down from the top. Every. Time. But still no star-wheel marks from this printer even with no modification!

I haven’t been able to print any of these yet, but hopefully within a few days will have the darkroom back in working order.

 

Walker,

What is this new driver that you are referring to? Is it for a specific printer?

It’s for all contemporary Epson printers that we currently support + upcoming SureColor printers.

It is Mac and Linux only although you can run Linux on Windows for free now.

 

best,

W

Do you know where I can get more info on how to run Linux on Windows?

It looks like I already have the correct OS for the Windows Subsystem for Linux.