Vertical Banding

[Carlos4072]

I have many Epson P800 printers, but in one of them, the last days I'm getting a vertical banding in my prints when I print at 720x1440. Usually I print at this resolution because it is better for my workflow. This vertical banding disappears when I print at 1440x1440. Do you have any idea why this could be happening ?? The only adjustment that I did for that printer was the print head height adjustment. I already cleaned and replaced the encoder and aligned the print head.

Edited September 16, 2023 by Carlos4072

[anum11]

Your ink assembly may need a flush and maybe some dampers need replacement.

[Carlos4072]

22 hours ago, anum11 said:

Your ink assembly may need a flush and maybe some dampers need replacement.

Interesting, i guess dampers can't be, since i just replaced all the dampers. But... ink assembly... could be, but can you explain to me the logic behind this please ?? Thanks a lot for the advice.

[anum11]

ink builds up in lines, without flushing them clear even if you replace dampers, they will go back to what they were before you replace them. Because dirty ink still coming from catridges and ink lines.

[Carlos4072]

I did the flush, and again replaced the dampers. No improvement. Any other advice ?

[johnson4]

a bad head alignment can do this, did you know exactly what you were doing, or when aligning the marks did you guess? Print an exact size box ( like 4”x4”) then measure it with a caliper, is the image any amount longer than 4” exactly, in the feed direction? 
 

did this machine suffer from a head strike, which you believe it has recovered fully from? 

Edited September 28, 2023 by johnson4

[anum11]

On 9/28/2023 at 12:54 AM, Carlos4072 said:

I did the flush, and again replaced the dampers. No improvement. Any other advice ?

Printhead itself may be stiffed. In that case ı manually flush printhead and printhead adaptor until it soften. But it is a risky process.

[Carlos4072]

On 9/28/2023 at 1:07 AM, johnson4 said:

a bad head alignment can do this, did you know exactly what you were doing, or when aligning the marks did you guess? Print an exact size box ( like 4”x4”) then measure it with a caliper, is the image any amount longer than 4” exactly, in the feed direction? 
 

did this machine suffer from a head strike, which you believe it has recovered fully from? 

Yes, the alignment took a lot of time, since I checked with detail the best alignment option in each prompt from the printer. The thing about print a box and measure with the digital caliper, I can try it for sure. And not, this print head is new, no head strikes until now. Thanks for the advice.

[Carlos4072]

On 9/29/2023 at 8:33 AM, anum11 said:

Printhead itself may be stiffed. In that case ı manually flush printhead and printhead adaptor until it soften. But it is a risky process.

Another interesting possibility. In a forum about Epson printers for photographers, I read that Epson suggested doing 9 print head cleaning in a row, for a similar vertical banding that other user reported to the Epson Support. Then, this makes sense for me. 

[johnson4]

On 10/4/2023 at 4:28 AM, Carlos4072 said:

Yes, the alignment took a lot of time, since I checked with detail the best alignment option in each prompt from the printer. The thing about print a box and measure with the digital caliper, I can try it for sure. And not, this print head is new, no head strikes until now. Thanks for the advice.

So this is the aftermath of a head strike then? Probably needs a new head. It’s why I stopped using the p800’s. Literally one head strike can do it in and it runs much closer than other models to the film. 

any manual flushing on the p800 printhead normally destroys it entirely. I went through many of them, at least 12 in my lifetime of using them. Maybe you can do better, but that printhead is not that robust. The ink gels inside the printhead when there is a head-strike. the pressure required to remove this gelled ink also destroys the printhead. 
 

if it is the printhead. I would consider it trashed. 

[johnson4]

When the ink gels, it’s not just at the surface, it gets inside the walls through the nozzle port usually. 

 

your best bet is soaking it for a few days with cleaner submerging the face into cleaner. Add a damp paper towel over the top/manifold ports so it doesn’t dry out, l used cleaner.

Everyday gently push cleaner into the printhead, like barely. This will slowly soften the gelled ink and gravity “pulls” the heavier solids downwards as it sits in the cleaner. After a few days try flushing it gently. Do this for about a week. If it doesn’t improve significantly then your cleaner sucks or the printhead is too far gone. 
 

I have recovered every single printhead from a P5000/p6000 using this method. I pretty much just alternate them now if/when something pops up using this method. Even ones with 100% clogs from me letting the machine run out of film resulting in some insane head-strikes that lasted several minutes.
 

However, cheaper heads like the xp600  and p600/p800, usually the membrane wall collapses before the clog comes out. 
 

 

good luck! 

Edited October 5, 2023 by johnson4

[johnson4]

On 10/4/2023 at 4:32 AM, Carlos4072 said:

Another interesting possibility. In a forum about Epson printers for photographers, I read that Epson suggested doing 9 print head cleaning in a row, for a similar vertical banding that other user reported to the Epson Support. Then, this makes sense for me. 

It’s weird because in the manual it says not to do this, could help I guess. 
 

the problem with this is your printhead has “one” cap that sucks from all nozzles at once. So you’ll end up just sucking extra ink from the flowing nozzles leaving the clogged nozzles. This works with standard ink sometimes because the clogs are at the surface with dye or pigment oem ink but aftermarket ink that gels when in contact with the pretreatment on the film? Not something I ever recovered from with this model. 
 

soaks and cleans, soaks and cleans. I think the first thing to check is the nozzle check instead of printing, it can permanently damage the head. 
 

knowing how the printhead is made and how it works inside can quickly debunk many “methods” people use to recover them. 
 

in my opinion this printhead is done, no matter what you do or how much time you spend in doing it, if this is the result of a head strike. 

Edited October 5, 2023 by johnson4