Epson L1800 banding

[luc7v]

I have an Epson L1800 printer for about one year and a half. I didn't use it much, because of some health problems. A few weeks ago I sent it to service and they cleaned the head. Since then I printed at least a page every day.

A few days ago I saw that it makes some banding. I usually print vintage graphics, so it's not obvious. I don't know, maybe it made banding some time before.

I ran Power Ink Flushing and it seemed better, but yesterday I saw the banding again.

Should I try the Power Ink Flushing again?

Or should I try Print Head Alignment? I'm not sure which squares to choose. I attached the test.

Please help.

Thank you,
Lucian

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

please print a nozzle check and post it here, I'm suspecting some irregularities already there which make the alignment difficult.
Which type of ink are you using - the Epson original inks ?
What is/was the overall usage of that printer ? You may run the status report with the WICReset utility which tell you the pages printed.

 

[luc7v]

Thank you for your answer. I attached a nozzle check.

The inks are by Inktec.
659 pages printed - as I said, there were months when I couldn't use the printer, but the authorized Epson service has cleaned the head a few weeks ago and I ran Power Ink Flushing a few days ago.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

the 3rd field from the left shows the light cyan pattern, and this aone shows quite some irregularities, some lines are not
straight, some are not separated by a small step down. This is not an effect you can align away. I'm afraid to tell you that I think it is ink related. There is a very slight build up of ink residue at the rim of the nozzles causing a deflection of the ink flow. I have observed a similar effect on a L382 printer and tested the impact of a 3rd party ink and an Epson genuine ink - there is a difference, I could effectively wash away those imperfections with some printing, I would advise you to go back to use the Epson inks again. The print may improve temporarily with some cleaning cycles but I'm afraid the problem will come back - with light cyan or another color. You first need to get a clean nozzle check again before you may run the alignment; I assume you did the alignment at the time of printer installation, and if Epson did not change the printhead you don't really need to do it again.
And please be aware that the UV stability of the Inktec ink is inferior to the Epson inks, they are cheaper but don't give you the same performance as Epson inks.

Edit: I found my previous thread about this same subject here

www.printerknowledge.com/threads/inks-and-printing-quality.12761/#post-109891

 

[luc7v]

Thank you for your advice.

I have a new set of Epson inks. I think to take out the old inks from the tank, to put the Epson inks and then to run Power
Ink Flushing.

Is it a better way to change the inks?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

You may do a testprint with the highest possible quality setting, the banding effect may become less visible since there are more print passes with more overprinting.
You may switch first the light cyan, take out the Inktec ink with a syringe and add some Epson ink. Do you have more regular stuff to print so you just switch over to the Epson ink with printing ?
Or - as you propose - you swap all at once and do an ink charge with WICReset, but those cleaning actions all increase the waste ink counter significantly (which you can read out as well with WICReset)

 

[luc7v]

Do you know a way to print with light cyan only?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

it may work with this one , scale it to full page

 

[luc7v]

I replaced the light cyan ink and I printed 10 pages like the one attached. It seems pretty bad. I know that I should print more until the old ink goes out, but do you think it will print right at some moment without Power Ink Flushing? If Power Ink Flushing is necessary anyway, maybe I should run it now.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

You may use the WICReset utility to monitor the Waste ink counter, the power flush or the ink charge increase that counter significantly.
I rather would run a normal cleaning, print that pattern again, and use different quality settings and paper selections - e.g. matte or inkjet paper instead of normal paper - to see which difference they make with this test print.
You may try as well a cleaning action of the nozzle plate - you turn the printer off and on again and pull the power cord as soon as the printhead starts moving. You place a folded piece of kitchen paper into the print path, soak it with window cleaner and shift the printhead over that pad, leave it there for a while , take the paper out again and print another test sheet.


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