Problems with Epson R2000 alignment patterns

[BrightGuy]

This is my first posting at Nifty-stuff.com forum and would like to ask something to the Epson R2000/R3000 owners. I recently purchased an R2000 printer and noticed a sub-optimal quality when printing at Level 4 quality (or below) with photo papers. At Level 5 and with normal papers there would probably be the same problem but my eyes can't see it. I'm using OEM cartridges came with the printer and the problem occured since the first page ever printed. Don't take me wrong. It is not printing that bad, the colors are great, very sharp outlines, but there are some visible horizontal lines across the printed image which are even more noticiable at some colors and resolutions. The test pattern is excelent, firing all colors, but the printhead alignment patterns are not:

Is it normal for this kind of printer? Or should I ship it back to Epson? Is there anything that I should try at my end? I already tried 3 cleaning cycles with almost no improvement. The remaining ink does not allow me to initiate much more cleaning cycles until I receive new cartridges in some days.

 

[BrightGuy]

The Nifty-stuff.com forum was not allowing me to post URLs in my first message. So they are:

 

[tdudash]

I recently bought a R2000, I haven't had any alignment problems. Running a 'Cleaning Cycle' won't fix an alignment problem, open your print que window, click on the Utilities, then the 'Print Head Alignment', it will default to 'Automatic', run it and see if this will 'automatically' fix the problem.

 

[jtoolman]

You still having those problems? This is Jose! ( jtoolman )

 

[BrightGuy]

I recently bought a R2000, I haven't had any alignment problems. Running a 'Cleaning Cycle' won't fix an alignment problem, open your print que window, click on the Utilities, then the 'Print Head Alignment', it will default to 'Automatic', run it and see if this will 'automatically' fix the problem.

Although I used the manual alignment pattern to demonstrate the problem, the problem does not seem to be related to any misalignment, or at least to anything that would be completely solved by adjustments made by the Epson adjustment program. There're some evenly spaced horizontal lines/gaps which are not present at another (jtoolman's one) R2000 printer. Does your printer show this problem at any rate? Could you please scan the manual alignment #5 pattern at 1200dpi and publish here a crop of it?

 

[BrightGuy]

You still having those problems? This is Jose! ( jtoolman )

Hi jtoolman! Yes, I'm still having the same problem, although somewhat less intense. I managed to find an authorized Epson service in my country which accepted the imported printer, despite of, as he said, Epson in Brazil would not supply spare parts if needed. He performed the whole Adjustment Program procedures for the R2000 and after all the problem became 50-80% less visible. The printer is printing ok but there're some transitions, specially between shadows and midtones, which the problem is still more prone to be visible on at a close inspection. Also, I suspect the grainess would be even lesser and better if the printer could fire ink with more precision, as yours does.

I will try to contact Epson in America and check with them if they could make a remote pre-diagnosis of the problem (based on some scans I have done) and send to the authorized site, at the expense of mine, the printer parts needed to completely fix the problem (as long as, of course, this would not cost more than purchasing and importing a whole new printer). The technician suspects there would be something related to the printhead or, even more probable, to the paper feed, which is not completely compensated by software adjustments.