epson P9000 scratching prints

[Cara Barer]

I've owned an Epson 9800 (now no longer working) an Epson 9880 which is still functioning fine and I've just purchased the new Epson P9000. It is scratching my prints after I get about halfway into a roll of paper. The Exhibition Fiber has a strong curl which I think the machine cannot handle. Any suggestions on other paper choices, or how to combat this problem with the Exhibition Fiber?

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Epson large format printers typically use suction to keep the paper flat in the print bed. I would assume that there is some option in the driver , maybe hidden somewhere like in paper properties to adjust the vacuum. You may as well try to increase the paper thickness setting in the driver to increase the distance of the printhead to the paper , a slight increase typically does not impact the print quality visibly, but it may be worth a try to test that with different settings. What is the core diameter of the fiber material - 2 or 3"? I have seen some papers being offered on 2" or 3" rolls. A change of the material would be the very last option.

 

[Cara Barer]

The Exhibition Fiber comes on a 3" core. I've set the platen on a "wide" setting. I can go to "wider" or "widest" but the print quality is affected. Bands of foggy vertical stripes appear when I do that. I also take high speed off. My next step will be to increase to maximum suction and see what happens. I also discovered that I can increase the tension, which I was not aware that I could control. So, there are two more options to try before giving up and switching papers. In the meantime......wasting tons of time, ink, and paper! Grrr.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

yes, increasing tension and suction should improve the situation together with the 'wide' platen gap. These are settings you typically would not adjust for more regular papers. The 'high speed' option is the switch for the bidirectional printing. If the printhead alignment is not perfect and you are printing high res small text or line patterns or such artwork you may get sharper prints without bidirectional printing but it slows down the printout.