Printing on Sihl glossy paper

[PrintingSoon]

I don't know where you are located, you may mail samples of some speckled sheets first to Sihl to show the problems with the actual papers you got from them. And you may check shipping rates with a few courier services like DPD, they may be quite different, in some cases lower than the postal service. Some have a kind of Euro flat rate, another shipper is more concerned about dimensions than weight. Your box should be rather compact and heavy.
Use a piece of folded paper and just raise the bar slightly - 1mm or so for a first test, and keep a hand ready to pull the power cable if you get a paper jam . The printhead won't hit the wheels, it doesn't when you print CD's.
If you are planning to test and use various different paper types a profiling unit like the ColorMunki - or its successor - would make sense. You may have a look on Ebay for used models as well to start with.
Please don't be deflected by the Datacolor Spyderprint models, there is a risk that you can get complete nonsense profiles.

I' m in England, my plan is to use DPD who will charge about £30 GBP (35 Euros). There service is normally good.
That would be a good idea, I may suggest it to them depending on the type of response I receive.

I placed a piece of card under the bar and everything looked/sounded normal until close to the end, when the printer started making a slight single click noise every few seconds. The noise didn't sound really bad so I left it to continue, I then noticed the paper wasn't coming out any more. A moment later the printer finished and pushed the paper out. At the end of the print there is extra ink which also happens to be the wrong colour.



^Very bad photo but it shows the ink.

As for the wheel marks they are only visible on a tiny part of the darkest part of the photo. I didn't want to raise the bar too much so the wheel marks can probably be removed fully but the print may then be messed up. I printed a photo after with the card removed and everything is back to normal. I noticed on this print there are only a couple of small speckle marks but there is what looks like a spray of small dots. It's the best print I've had using Silh paper.

I've been checking eBay and I've bided a couple of times, I've also missed some buy it now auctions. I was intending to bid on a Spyderprint but after searching on here I decided to pay more for a ColorMunki.

 

[PrintingSoon]

Me and my big mouth again here, but wouldn’t a ColorMunki be a total waste of good money, especially going on your current experience and what you have already posted here, the best place I reckon for you to start would be to invest in a higher quality Photo printer..

I will be using my other L805 for sublimation printing and I intend to test different papers. I will also test more paper for my photo prints but I won't be buying 1100 sheets again before testing a pack. The L805 I'm using for photos was only purchased for the prints I will be selling very cheap. In the future I may get into A3 printing at which point quality will become more important. The ColorMonki will also be useful then.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I reckon for you to start would be to invest in a higher quality Photo printer.

I'm very happy with my L805, and with the prior L800 (which I killed with too many experiments - ink changes etc).
But have I missed something since the days of my last IP4000/5000 printers in terms of photo printing ?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

I placed a piece of card under the bar and everything looked/sounded normal until close to the end,

Thanks for your feedback, so the pressure of the sprocket wheels are not just used for guidance of the paper but to support the actual paper transport as well so this does not work out in your case. There may be position just to lower the pressure slightly but still enough to keep the paper moving.
DPD - yes, they do a good job overall - fast and reliable, I got several shipments with them from the U.K.
You may have a look to Hermes as well, they have lower rates in Germany but deliveries take a day longer
https://international.myhermes.co.uk/

 

[PrintingSoon]

Thanks for the suggestion, it was well worth trying. I think you're right, especially combined with the paper settings I used yesterday which greatly improved the wheel marks. I used Epson premium glossy when I had the bar raised, this caused the most visible wheel marks on Thursdays prints. I was going to test the other paper settings with the bar raised but after the page stopped moving I decided against it.

I checked with Hermes before and the maximum weight they accept is 15kg. DPD's price isn't so bad, Parcelforce charge £75 (83.33 Euros) and I'm not a fan of Parcelforce. They have damaged a few of my parcels.

 

[The Hat]

I'm very happy with my L805, and with the prior L800 (which I killed with too many experiments - ink changes etc).
But have I missed something since the days of my last IP4000/5000 printers in terms of photo printing ?

Yes indeed, But you’re not trying to sell your prints, and I still reckon a ColorMunki is a waste of money, because @PrintingSoon needs get his prints right first, before trying to change and complicate things..