Epson R2880 can't grab paper

[mrsubtraction]

My R2880 seems to print fine except it has a hard time grabbing paper. I sometimes find that I have to clean the roller with alcohol after almost every print job in order for it to successfully intake the next sheet.

Does anyone have experience with this problem? Is this something that would be economical to have repaired? Thanks in advance!

 

[mikling]

ALL Epsons so far with the rear feed are afflicted with this problem sooner or later.
First thing is to NOT use alcohol to clean the roller. Alcohol will accelerate the roller drying out and make the problem worse. Also do not try rubber renew as this will also cause accelerated aging as well though providing immediate relief. Only warm water should be used or at worse a very mild claening solution that does not cause residues. Do not use windex.

You will find countless used Epsons for sale used due to this. This can be both to your benefit if buying used and detriment if you plan to keep the printer long term. Keep the rear of the printer out of sunlight. Cover the rear when not in use. Even auto tires dry out and are advised to be changed after 6 years even if not worn.

Hmmm..... Canons don't seem to suffer the same fate. An artifact of their experience in the copier business maybe?

 

[mrsubtraction]

Wow terrific insight thank you @mikling.

I hear you on the alcohol.

Are the rollers user replaceable?

 

[18%grey]

I don't know where I got this from.
When my 3800's do this, I wet a third of a sheet of A4
then feed in and out a couple of times and it helps.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

ALL Epsons so far with the rear feed are afflicted with this problem sooner or later.

Beyond the recommendations above you may try some things which can help but won't fix the basic cause of it.

Some papers are more prone to that type of misfeeding than others - it might be some slight curl at the edge or something, you might find another, even similar paper with less problems. It might depend on the adhesion between the sheets in the stacker, and the printer might try to pull two sheets at once. I have seen less of such problems overall with PE photo papers than with castcoated papers, those with a more paperlike backside surface you could print on.

You can test if the misfeeds happen more frequently if you only have one sheet loaded, or a few sheets loaded or the stacker loaded almost full - I have seen differences in this regard, I had a printer which at the end only took single sheets, and another one which needed an almost full stacker and started misfeeding after about 10-15 sheets

 

[PeterBJ]

I don't know where I got this from.
When my 3800's do this, I wet a third of a sheet of A4
then feed in and out a couple of times and it helps.

Maybe from HP? They recommend that in case of difficulties with picking up paper that the pickup rollers are cleaned with a rag moistened with warm, not hot, water. HP warns against the use of alcohol and other solvents for the cleaning the rollers.

ALL Epsons so far with the rear feed are afflicted with this problem sooner or later....

Hmmm..... Canons don't seem to suffer the same fate. An artifact of their experience in the copier business maybe?

Copier service technicians sometimes use a rubber roller surface cleaner to recondition the rollers. I have successfully used a such product, the "AF Platenclene". This is from a Danish seller, the product is also available in other countries.

 

[slackercruster]

Matte papers, thick papers can offer some issues especially when you print 50 in a row. I run glossy paper scrap prints through the machine periodically they clean the rollers. Many times thick mate paper has to be hand-fed one sheet at a time.