How the thickness of paper affects printing

[telv]

I have three different models of Canon printers and have found that depending on the thickness of paper being used the position of the image is altered. Up to about 200gsm the printers print accurately. Above that they start to print too soon. The heavier the paper the greater the discrepancy. This makes the top margin smaller than the bottom on an image which should be printed centrally. While all three printers are similarly affected, my MP610 is the worst and when using paper of 350gsm there is a difference of around 7mm between the two margins. Does anyone have any experience of this and can suggest a solution, other than to alter the margins of the image itself? Thanks in advance

 

[The Hat]

Every printer has some problems with thicker paper and one of the ways of correcting the feed mechanism is to clean the feed roller frequently.

Another is to tape your thick paper to a host sheet about 50 cm back from the front edge this will allow the printer to pick up the lighter sheet and feed it correctly each time..

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

350 gr paper is most likely out of spec, I assume there is a slip in the transport mechanism. And you may get a problem with the printhead when the distance to the nozzle plate is insufficient, slightest bending of the paper may touch the nozzle plate leaving black stains on the printout. You may check, just for a test, the envelope setting, that widens the distance to the paper. In earlier days there was a mechanical adjustment possible at the carriage, and with large format printers you can adjust the paper thickness within the driver settings.

 

[Paul Verizzo]

A very interesting observation! You didn't mention the printer models. Are these "consumer" types with only the standard top/rear feed, or "pro" types with a single sheet only rear feed?

350 gsm is some fat cellulose!

 

[Smile]

I remember the days when printers did not have auto sheet feed systems, you had to insert paper sheets one by one.

 

[3dogs]

I had this problem with a smaller printer that did not have the ability to set platen width and feed path. I also found that the Print head picked up a lot of 'paper dust' off the surface of the sheet once I went over spec. for sheet thickness the roller cleaning became super critical or I got slip, both front to back but also in extreme cses side to side.
Eventually I was cleaning after each print and soon got fed up with that.
I found a solution tho. It was easy. Bought a printer designed to do what I was a wanting to do.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

the paper selection 'envelope' is increasing the platen gap, but stiff/thick paper is always a
problem with bottom feed printers, there is no reliable way to trick out the feed mechanism,
the pick up etc, it's friction, and there may be barriers, corners in the paper path normal paper goes around but not such thick paper. You may go for a printer with a single feed option from the back side which would move the paper straight through, or a model which takes the paper from the back like the old IP4/5000 models or some Epson printers

 

[telv]

The three printers I referred to are Canon iP4500, iP4950 and MP610. I only use the rear paper trays. The feed rollers are regularly cleaned with PlatenClene and there isn't a problem with the initial feed of either paper or card. Up to 400gsm feeds successfully in all of them. The roller feed mechanism appears to be the same except on the iP4950 it is centrally positioned. I can't see at the moment how the effect I mentioned has to do with the take-up rollers.
I haven't found that altering the platen gap makes any difference. Smudges haven't been a problem and increasing the gap reduces print quality.
Most of the printing I do is with heavy paper and card but don't do enough to justify the cost of more professional models. Now that Canon have abandoned the rear feed on their "home" models I am trying to keep the older models going. Would appreciate any other suggestions. As The Hat suggests, most printers have some kind of difficulty with card.

 

[3dogs]

Yes, going too wide had the same effect for me. Is there a reason that you are avoiding making adjustments via the print commands?

 

[The Hat]

When your printer has difficulty trying to feed heavy card stock and purchasing a more expensive model is out of the question then the cheaper alternative is to alter your cart stock.

All types of papers made today are designed to feed from the short side and so all commercial paper stock has always been traditionally made long grain, so what’s that mean ?.

Your typical A4 or letter size and most other quality papers will curl up length ways when water is poured over them, or will tear easily in the same direction and that is a good indication of which way the grain is running.

So by cutting an A4 or A3 heavy cart stock in half the two pieces will then have the grain running in the wrong direction but that will now make it prefect for running through your printer with a lot less trouble..