Horizontal Neon Lines

Hello - I'm new here. Thanks for this forum. Hopefully I can get help

I have an issue with my 7890. about 1" in from the top and bottom edges of a print I get a "fluorescent" looking blue/green horizontal line about 2mm wide running all the way across the image. I've tried adjusting the platen width and also tried surface cleaning the printhead lightly with piezoflush, but those "solutions" don't work. Any suggestions? Thanks so much. I'm attaching 2 pix of a print, wide and close up. The line does not occur in the unprinted areas of the paper, so it is definitely an "operationally related" issue. And, the issue is related to location -- I can crop smaller and stay within the width of where the lines would appear and avoid them, but that wastes paper and curtails my image size and use of all the paper. Thanks for any advice.

Do these lines appear regardless of the paper width ?
Do these lines appear regardless of the paper type selected in the driver ?
Do these lines appear regardless of the quality settings in the driver ?
Please post a scan of the nozzle check.

Yes. Yes. and Yes. Have to run out right now. Re: nozzle check: I can tell you that, currently, yellow is "acting up", but this issue predates the current nozzle issue. If I narrow my print to be within the measured width of these bands, the "lines" do not appear. That's a work around solution on large paper, but obviously hurts me on creating a full 8x10, say, on an 8.5" x 11" sheet. Typically, I use a smaller printer for those prints anyhow, but it still impinges in my ability to use "all" the paper area I can on larger images. I can post a nozzle check scan when I return, if you still think that would be relevant. Thanks for your kind reply. (I've even tried widening the platten, in hopes it's a simple "rubbing" problem, but to no avail.)

AllenDead69 said:

Yes. Yes. and Yes.

Click to expand...

I have a few more questions to help understanding a possible cause for your problem -
- did this problem occur suddenly - in connection with some event - firmware/driver udpate, changing cartridges or changing the supplier of cartridges
- does the effect show up was well if you print from another software/application , or are you running/can you run the printer with some RIP software ?
- did the current software you are using to print get an update recently ?
I try to find out with those questions whether the cause of the problem is related to some malfunction of the printer - hardware/firmware - or related to some other external factor.
If you have some other ideas in this respect please try them out.
And what is the problem with yellow you refer to - can that be illustrated in a printout - a test print - a sequence of color bars - whatever ?

I had a look to the service manual
www.teamictp.com/Downloads/Manuals/ESP77_79_97_99_SERIES_I.pdf
You'll find on p102 details for a pump creating some air pressure in the cartridges, to the ink bags to improve the ink flow. (There is more to the ink system in the manual, tubes etc at various locations)
It could be that there is a start up effect with the build up of the air pressure - e.g. one cartidge is not completely air tight anymore - or similar, and you get a similar effect at the end of a print levelling down the air pressure.

Could you make a printout of a test image like this one

Print it small - like A4 size, you mentioned that the problem occurs as well on smaller papers. It hopefully shows which color(s) are affected.

Are you doing refill into existing cartridges - or using original Epson ink ? Do you have another set of cartridges available for a test ? Could it be that yellow is part of the same overall problem ?

Thanks again for your kind reply and your willingness to help with this issue that I have not seen before. This isn't my first rodeo with Epson printers or even the 7890 . . . this is my second 7890. When it works, it's like printing heaven! (As well as many excellent desk top & medium sized other Epsons.) My first 7890 just finally died died. That one I was running Vermont Photo Inks, with no real problems, until cyan began to fade. This one is all OEM. I am familiar with Piezo fluid(s) and various flushing & routine cleanings with same on the face of the print head (the ol' paper towel soaked in that or alcohol trick). This printer (as the other one) was acquired used. I am a semi-retired social event photographer traveling a bit and shooting (and printing) for my own enjoyment (yet, I still use Epson -- haha!). I auditioned the printer prior to buying it. The nozzle check was perfect and I printed a "busy" scene prior to purchase, so everything seemed copacetic. I started getting these cyanic "neon" (for lack of a better term), horizontally, top and bottom, immediately after I got it home, so I wondered what I could have started doing wrong. Then I grabbed the folder with the test print I had made prior to purchase and faintly, they were there also - just faint and in the hour I messed around with the printer before buying it, having to DL drivers (again!) and poor internet, I never noticed the lines. I do not use any RIP software. My carefully calibrated monitors and my efforts in PShop and/or Lightroom render good results for my needs. Even this issue, vexing as it is, can be worked around, by shrinking the print on each end roughly 3/4" to be inside where they occur. Then they don't appear at all . . . not even on the clear paper margins . . . only within the image itself. As I stated, they are cyan in color (in fact, they disappear in the cyan bands on the test pattern you sent me), so I dunno if that is contributory or not. I have attached a recent nozzle check, which shows a good bit of yellow missing (about 33% of the nozzle check) but, as you can see in the printout of the color bar sample you sent me, yellow doesn't seem to suffer in printing. Weird. I made the size of that file close to full paper width so that you can see the neon lines clearly. Had I made it smaller, they would not have appeared. This affects letter sized paper the most, which I usually print on smaller printers anyway. Larger prints, I come in a bit for framing, mounting, etc. It's just a very vexing issue. To me it seems like a rubbing platen issue, but I have widened the platen, sooo . . . thanks again.

PS -- the "scans" are actually cell phone images - my old Epson Perfection scanner lies dormant.

The color bands image shows that magenta and probably light magenta are affected most by this effect, do you have other cartridges to swap out ? That's what I would try next.
The missing yellow nozzles are a rather serious problem, the driver doing multiple passes may cofer it up in most areas but you are loosing overall ink and color saturation which does not just affects yellow but colors like red , orange , green which are mixed with yellow and magenta or cyan, this affects at the end as well your color profiles if you use special ones for your ink/paper combinations.
You mention Vermont inks, that indicates that you do refill, I have my doubts that those inks are so much 'better' than other inks as they claim, it may not affect printing in the short term if an ink has a higher pigment concentration than other inks, but there can be longer term effects of minute deposits building up e.g. at the edge of nozzles, it may clog up the filter in the dampers - I expect that none of the refill inks on the market cause such effects but my experience with some
strange effects point into another direction.