Re: 1280 going berserkers

Thanks Dan et Etienne,

I will try running the alignment utility a few more times as well as
the head cleaning routines. I have been working on creating some curves
for the 2200. It might be time for the 2200 to become the primary
negative printer. I have already worked out which combination of colors
gives the highest UV density on that printer. So it is just a matter of
some calibration exercises from here.

Clay
On Apr 8, 2005, at 8:47 AM, Etienne Garbaux wrote:

> Clay wrote:
>
>> In the last few weeks, my heretofore dependable epson 1280 is creating
>> striping on my diginegs.
>>
>> My question is this: Has anyone experienced or heard of printers
>> developing this problem as they age?
>>
>> My printer is now about 3 years old. And before you ask - yes, I ran
>> multiple cleaning cycles - yes, I changed the ink cartridge, and yes,
>> i
>> ran the alignment utility.
>
> Having moved to Canon printers several generations ago because of
> persistent Epson banding problems, I'm not familiar with the 1280, but
> I
> suspect it has a "permanent" print head (separate ink cartridges, print
> head is part of the printer rather than part of the cartridge). Try
> many,
> many more cleaning cycles (several dozen or more), testing
> periodically.
> If you still have the problem after 50 cleaning cycles, it's time for
> either a new print head or a new printer. My guess is that the
> economics
> favor buying a new printer and selling the 1280 on one of the auction
> sites
> (with full disclosure of the banding, of course!).
>
> If you are handy with tools, willing to write off the printer if your
> surgery fails, and have an ultrasonic cleaner, you might try pulling
> out
> the print head and giving it a bath in the ultrasonic tank. Last time
> I
> did this with an Epson, I had a devil of a time getting the head
> aligned
> mechanically within the rather narrow operating range of the electronic
> alignment adjustors.
>
> Having said all that, I vote for making negatives the old fashioned
> way.
> I have yet to see a digineg made with a home printer (as opposed to
> high-resolution linescanner diginegs on film) that would not betray its
> heritage when printed on a high-resolution medium (gelatin silver,
> albumen,
> or carbon). I can almost always tell prints from home-printer diginegs
> even on lower-resolution Pt/kalli/salt/cyano prints, and prefer the
> look of
> an all-analog printing chain. One day, we will have the digital output
> tools we need, although I doubt that home-printer diginegs will ever
> get
> there -- but someone will make an affordable linescanner or
> equivalent, and
> we will all be admitted to digital heaven. But that day is not here
> yet!
>
> Best regards,
>
> etienne
>
Received on Fri Apr 8 08:31:39 2005