Walker,
If our photo tech is unable to perform Keith Schrieber’s trick of raising the wheels, would it be possible to schedule a day to have Dana properly clean/raise wheels on this Epson 3800? I could drive it over.
We’ve lost the past three weeks of printing Pictorico due to problems that our new tech isn’t able to overcome.
-Jonathan
Yeah, sure, come on by! I can do it. It will only take about 20mins. We do charge labor fee for it.
Give us a call before coming. M-Thurs 10am-4 is when we are available.
best,
Walker
Our tech is trying her hardest to eliminate the pizza wheel issue, but they are still visible. Is there a way I could drive over tomorrow, 3/21 Thursday, and have it looked at? I would get there by 11am if that works for you.
11am tomorrow works fine. I’ll put it on my schedule.
best,
Walker
Sounds to me like either the tech is not following the procedure in my article which lifts the star-wheels so that they do not contact the film, or the problem is due to something other than the star-wheels. It’s really not a difficult procedure.
By the way, I know that 99% of us (a statistic I just made up) refer to those little things as pizza-wheels, but a pizza wheel shaped like that would do a lousy job of cutting pizza. A pizza wheel is a round knife with a smooth edge. In the service and repair manuals, Epson calls them star-wheels, as in the points of a star. I think of them as spurs. 
Keith
We figured it out in person.
The tech had maneuvered the top platen (star wheels) rack into a skewed state. Just reset it and did a few mods and tested and it’s a’ok.
-Walker
So, we’ve taped two pieces of glossy paper measuring 2x8.5 inches on each end of the Pictorico, created a canvas size of 8.5x 15 inches and we’ve eliminated the star wheel issue but now have these random gash lines running perpendicular to the paper feed axis.
I think you may need to raise the platen gap a bit because you head is hitting the film.
best,
Walker
I assume you loaded this from the top (not back) as I mentioned in person last week?
best,
Walker
this could be an issue…our tests so far have been loaded in the usual rear manual feed slot. Please clarify where the top feed is. Thanks.
The top feed is at the top of the printer aka the normal place where you put paper for printing (do nozzle checks, etc).
-Walker
Also known as the sheet feed.
Yes, that’s where we’ve been loading the Pictorico…
First you said:
Then you said:
Yes, that’s where we’ve been loading the Pictorico…
The top-feed that Walker is referring to is the sheet-feed, NOT the rear manual-feed. If you are using the top-feed/sheet-feed, you are not using the rear manual feed, and vice versa.
OTOH, I’ve been using 38XX’s for a very long time and I’m not so sure it actually makes a difference in this context. That is not true for the front manual-feed.
Sorry for butting in.
The Piezography saga continues. This week we’ve had better luck getting Pictorico sheets through the printer without random gashes, but on close examination there are still faintly visible lines running perpendicular to the feed path. The platen has been set at “widest” IMG_1912|375x500
If you are feeding from the top (sheet feed) then you shouldn’t have to set this to widest at all. Normal should work just fine.
And you have verified that ALL nozzles are firing before doing the print correct? Every nozzle has to be clean before printing.
-Walker
Maybe this is as good as it gets?
-Loaded from the top
-Power Clean beforehand
-Platen gap set at “Normal”
-hand hold it as it comes out
Also make sure it’s set to UNiDirection not Bydirectional and 2880dpi.
-Walker
After adhering 2 inch tabs on each end of the 8.5x11 PIctorico film, we’ve gotten some successful negatives.
However today we tried sending 16x20 sheets of Pictorico through but have tons of fine scratches left by the head, lines that run perpendicular to the feed direction. Are we asking too much?
Something is catching on the 17x22 film. Check the feed area and run a film though and actually look at it as it’s going through. Adjust as necessarily. Be especially careful of the 4 corners (curl them away from the emulsion before you feed/print).
best regards,
Walker
