Epson Artisan 835 - What are causing these microscopic line streaks?

[rajhlinux]

Hello,

I need to print high precision transparency negatives for making PCBs.
I'm using the best settings and nozzle print check have no clogs and did alignment to the best abilities, however I can not figure out what is causing these micro spikes in the lines.

I first tested on HP advanced photo glossy photo paper using best settings with slow speed, below are the results (I used an Epson Artisan 835 printer):

Here, I circled it with red to show the issue of the micro spikes:

Hope some Epson printer nerd here can chime in on whats going on here.
How to resolve this issue?
Maybe the Epson printer I am using is not a higher quality machine?

Anyone thinks maybe an Epson 1400 or 3880 or maybe the newer Sure Color P600 / P800 might resolve these micro spike printing issues?

Thanks for any advice.

Edit: I've included original PCB PDF vector image file.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I'm missing a scale to your images above - what is the intended line width and distance of the tracks ? What is the overall size of the pc-board if I would try to reprint it ?

Does the effect occur only on horizontal lines or in any angle ?

Sicne when do you see this problem ?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I tried to print your PCB-Capture file - but these spikes are in this ***. png file already; please provide a 'clean' drawing so that I can compare. I printed to fit the pcb layout onto 4" x 6" photo paper, I think that's coming close to the actual size

 

[The Hat]

I tried to print your PCB-Capture fileI also

I also had a go of it on my Canon i9950 and I got no signs of any spikes.. Clean as whistle..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

The spikes are in the datafile, here is a magnified crop , and that's what the printer is printing - correctly

 

[rajhlinux]

I also had a go of it on my Canon i9950 and I got no signs of any spikes.. Clean as whistle..

Hello The Hat,

Thanks for your reply.

Please try it again, here is the original PCB PDF file which I've attached to this post, scan it after printing since it would be very difficult to view by the eye without microscope. Also note that printing on regular paper will not be suffice and works on premium photo glossy paper with highest settings with slowest speeds with max resolution because the ink will absorb and expand in regular paper substrates.

I have a canon printer but I do not want to use Canon because it uses thermal printheads which doesn't work well with a wide range of ink compositions and I rather use Epson's piezoelectric print heads which are virtually immune to any type of ink substance.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

What is the actual size of the pcb layout ? Which driver settings are you using - color or B/W - and the other parameters like contrast etc ?

 

[rajhlinux]

What is the actual size of the pcb layout ? Which driver settings are you using - color or B/W - and the other parameters like contrast etc ?

Thanks for your reply.

I made a post reply to you earlier but it seems like it needs moderator approval but for some reason my post reply to the user "The Hat" was accepted.

Anyhow I hope this post reply to you is accepted, here are the details on the Epson Artisan 835 settings I am using:

The paper I used is "HP Advanced Glossy Photo Paper"

I've also updated my original post which includes the original PCB vector file in PDF format. You can test print on that and I've confirmed the digital file has no artifacts.

 

[rajhlinux]

What is the actual size of the pcb layout ?

Here are the size of the PCB details:

The PCB traces are 0.006″ (0.15mm or about 154 microns).

On the tape measure, the top unit markings, represents inches of the imperial unit of measure system.
On the bottom unit markings, represents millimeters of the metric unit of measure system.

 

[rajhlinux]

I've also included the printer's nozzle print check test page and alignment as well.
(Please note I did a test alignment twice and printed both sides of the paper, it is why there is a shadow overlay):