Epson L1800 - borderless print bottom page color issue

[diesector]

Hi guys,

I recently purchased Epson L1800 ITS printer and I am having borderless print quality issues.
The problem is when I print gray color (or any other, but on gray this is most visible) bottom 5 mm of the page has completely different color. This is visible on these pictures:


(this was printed on Kodak Premium Photo Paper Glossy, 230g/m2)


(this was printed on Epson Matte Paper Heavy Weight 167g/m2)

The source file for these was:


I have tried all settings variations (different paper settings, color profiles, color management by printer and by photoshop, always printed in slow printing mode in high quality, etc). All with the same effect. Then I tried cleaning heads, but this made things even worse. Realignment of heads didn't help either.

What might be wrong here? This printer was supposed to print A4 and larger photos borderless. With such quality it is useless... Is it a faulty printer? Rest of the print looks good - the quality is ok. Printer is placed on stable surface, ink is Epson original.

Thanks for all your help!
Cheers!
Maciek

 

[The Hat]

Hi @diesector and welcome, I have seen something very similar to your problem before, it is usually the Application that is what’s causing it, so which App. are you using to output your artwork...

 

[diesector]

Hi @diesector and welcome, I have seen something very similar to your problem before, it is usually the Application that is what’s causing it, so which App. are you using to output your artwork...

Thanks for the reply! I tried printing from: Photoshop CS6, Windows 10 Images app, Windows 10 Image preview app. All with the same issue.

EDIT: Tried printing from the Epson provided app - Epson Easy Photo Print - same result unfortunately.

I get a feeling I tried all settings' variations already and printed 30+ pages, each one affected (on plain white paper, Epson Matte, Kodak photo glossy, Epson glossy...) Tried reinstalling drivers (tried printing from two different PCs), checked printer firmware (it's the latest one - PT24EC). All - no luck.

I have also tried multiple printer profiles and image color schemes - sRGB, CMYK. All the same unfortunately.

 

[martin0reg]

Normally at the end (bottom?) of the page the printhead passes one or more times while the sheet doesn't move anymore. It looks like one or more of these last passes are missing.

Is the nozzle check 100% correct, no missing nozzle? Have you tried printing unidirctional (no hook on fast or bidirectional)?

..but in the end there may be adjustements which only epson service can do..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

yes, this type of banding problem exists with Epson printers in borderlesss mode, the sequence of the head and paper movement changes at the end of the page, I see this effect with an old R800/A4, it is visible on test prints like yours, but typically not on regular printouts, it is much less visible on a R265 or an L800 as well so I'm not concerned at this time. I'm not aware of a cure. But it is interesting for me to know since a have a backup L1800 in the basement and I'm surprised that this problem is popping up again with this strength.

 

[The Hat]

@diesector, your problem is not unique, as you can see it has happen before to others, as you have tried to print in several different App. to no avail, the problem maybe down to the file type your using.

Try converting your file to Jpeg or PDF and see if that gives you a satisfactory rendition, it’s a real bitch when something strange like this happens..

 

[diesector]

Thank you so much guys! Thanks to your suggestions I think I have found the cure to this weird issue.

It is definitely, as @martin0reg suggested, issue with not enough printhead passes over the end of the page.
When @martin0reg asked for nozzle check I came back to my yesterday's printouts and checked them again. I noticed that one of the yellow little lines in the nozzle check printout is missing - I didn't see it before (BTW: these lines are really bright - hard to see those yellow lines sometimes. Is it normal?).

I again cleaned the head nozzle and ran the print head nozzle check. What is surprising, after one more head cleaning the result was even worse (more missing lines in the nozzle check printout). So I tried it again, and again (clean nozzles, check nozzles, clean nozzles, check nozzles...). With each run it was getting worse. I then noticed that these lines start to move away from the pattern (misaligned).
So I went ahead and aligned heads again and rerun the head nozzle check. It started getting better. I have run this again and finally I could see all the lines within the nozzle check pattern.

Here's a snapshot of the few passes - what it looked like (you can see my yesterday's check and what it looked like today after few passes - I had run around 6 or 7 head nozzle checks, each time cleaning them)


Once this was done I sent my test image for printing on plain paper (selecting Epson Matte paper, high quality, turned off fast printing and - don't know if it this what helped here really - disabled bidirectional printing (thanks again @martin0reg). For those looking for this setting it is under "Ports" tab in the printer settings - there should be a checkbox under the ports list (I had to look for it as I am running non-english Windows distribution).

The test printout came out finally better (almost perfect). I then printed the original image on Epson Matte Paper Heavy Weight 167g/m2 paper. The result is superb - the print quality is high even at the bottom of the page.

Here's a comparison of the test printouts:


Thank you so much guys! I spent days on this issue, contacted Epson support (they haven't come back to me yet), thought I have tried everything, but thanks to your ideas I think the problem is gone (hopefully forever!). I am new to photo printing and will definitely look into this forum
Thank you!
Maciek

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

that's good news really. Get a UV flashlight like this one
https://www.amazon.com/UV-Detect-Fl...&qid=1491752257&sr=8-9&keywords=uv+flashlight
You'll be able to see your nozzle checks much better with it, especially the yellow lines, you'll see them as dark lines and very clearly.

 

[diesector]

Thanks @Ink stained Fingers . I will definitely get one!

Regarding Epson Support - I just got a reply from Polish Epson Support. I am shocked seeing the customer experience, so I will just cite here what they replied (both original mesage in Polish and my translation below):

Szanowny Panie XXXXXXX

Dziękujemy za skontaktowanie się z Centrum Obsługi Klienta firmy EPSON

Zgodnie z informacjami w sterowniku drukarki, przy drukowaniu bez marginesów "w zależności od nośnika jakość drukowania w górnych i dolnych obszarach może ulec pogorszeniu lub obszar może być rozmazany".

Serdecznie Pozdrawiamy

Justyna
Epson Customer Inter@ction Centre

What translates to English as more or less this:

Dear XXXXXX,

Thank you for contacting EPSON Customer Service.

According to the information in the printer driver, when printing borderless "print quality in the top and bottom areas may decline or the area may be smeared depending on the media".

Best regards,
Justyna
Epson Customer Inter@ction Centre

For anyone from EPSON here - the reference number of my ticket is No-2151-PL-4514519-10 April 2017.

I am really shocked that no one from EPSON even bothered to check the settings with me to find a cause. I think this is not what proper customer support should look like. I understand that the print quality might be worse in these areas, but does it mean it should look like the one on my test printouts? This is unnaceptable in any conditions - it is just no quality at all. Shame on you EPSON!

Even bigger thanks goes to you - true professionals! Thank you so much!

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

about every Epson printer comes up in the driver with a notice like that when you select the borderless printing option - since many years - that you may get into some print quality problems that way. Epson customer service tries to limit customer complaints in that respect but doesn't fix related problems technically. There is one type of problem which can't be fixed - if the paper is curled the trailing paper edge may bend upwards and touch the nozzle plate in a position where the paper end is loose and not guided anymore.