Ink Delivery Problems (Clogs?)

A couple of posts ago I mentioned taking on a new painting reproduction job. This is for an existing client, that is, one for whom I've previously done work. For this painter, I proof on matte papers, most often Epson Enhanced Matte. I switch the 7900 to MK ink when using this paper. I use Epson's MK profile, the one installed along with the printer driver. There's a PK profile for this paper too, but not surprisingly it produces clearly inferior results.

On 24 April I swapped PK for MK, ran a nozzle check as usual (no problems found), and made a proof of a large oil painting. The proof printing was fine, although it pointed to additional color correction work I needed to do. I did that, and then printed a narrow test strip from the file as proof #2.

The test strip was awful. It was instantly apparent one or more channels had problems. I ran a nozzle check print, requiring removal of the roll paper so I could feed a sheet of plain bond. I found VLM had completely disappeared, as had nearly all nozzles for LC. These inks had 19% and 26%, respectively, remaining.

These colors are (conveniently) paired in the printhead, so I ran a standard cleaning on that pair. I followed that with another nozzle check print, which showed VLM missing only a tiny corner of the pattern, but LC missing perhaps 40% of its pattern. I was out of time and had to run to a meeting.

Coming back to the printer several hours later, I ran a nozzle check print. It was identical to the previous one. Why would I think it might not be? According to postings on various Web forums, there's a growing consensus that many of the reports of nozzle clogging on the x900 and x890 printers aren't clogged nozzles at all, but may be caused by air being drawn into the ink lines, or other problems upstream from the nozzles themselves. If you're curious about this you'll find a lot to read on the Web. A reported cure is to run a cleaning cycle and then wait 24 hours before checking the nozzles. This has worked for some people. I'm glad they could find the 24 hours to wait.

I couldn't, so I ran another standard cleaning on the VLM/LC pair. This eliminated the few clogged nozzles remaining in the VLM channel, but did not improve LC. I really needed to get on with my work, so I ran a "strong" cleaning of that pair, and then another nozzle check print. Problem resolved. I now had ink being delivered to all nozzles. Perhaps I should have run the strong cleaning in the first place, but there's no way to know in advance whether a standard cleaning will resolve the problem. In my experience, it often does.

I can't complain about clogs. I've had much better luck, if that's what it is, than the people reporting chronic or permanent problems. What's puzzling to me is the sequence: After the PK >> MK swap I ran a 100% clean nozzle check print. I then made a perfect normal print, yet a few minutes later my next print showed ink delivery problems that were fairly stubborn to clear, on two paired channels.

I expect to leave the printer set to use MK for at least a few weeks, barring any unexpected need to print on gloss papers. I'll continue to work as usual, running nozzle checks prior to each day's printing session(s).

  --Jay

Rebate Status Redux

Remember that rebate I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, the free roll of EEF I never received? Today I had a few minutes to waste, so I called the phone number the rebate processor lists on its Web status page. I listened (twice) to the ubiquitous "This call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes" message. I wanted to respond, "Fine. This call may be blogged about, to assist you in assuring quality", but the recording didn't give me a chance. It continued, explaining it "may take up to four weeks for your rebate request to appear in our system." Since the status on the Web shows my rebate request has been "in process" since November, 2011, it's pretty clear that it's in their system.

After listening for a couple of minutes to music never intended for the limited bandwidth of the U.S. telephone system, I spoke with Erika. I explained the issue, answered the half-dozen questions that followed, and was then told to resubmit all of the original rebate information (the form and the information it requires, the UPC bar code from the shipping crate, etc.) via fax.

Fax? Who faxes anymore? I don't have a fax machine, nor do I even have a modem around here so I could fax from a PC. Have these folk not heard of email and PDFs?

But I'll gather the necessary information, complete the form again, type a cover letter, and take this somewhere to be faxed to Erika tomorrow. Sometimes free stuff is not a bargain.

I asked, as I always do, what I should expect to happen next. She said I'd get a call back within five days, and the rebate would then be processed. I asked how long that would take. You guessed it: four to six weeks. I'll keep you posted.

Epson, and the service providers they hire, do some things better than others.

  --Jay

Back to Work

The 7900 in the "new" studio, running the first print in weeks.

It's been three-and-a-half weeks since I last made a print. In that time, the printer was moved to a different room, the studio was sheet-rocked, painted, and trimmed out, lighting and track for future lighting have been installed, and we've begun moving "stuff" back into that room. That stuff includes the 7900, which we moved back into the studio a couple of days ago.

Although I had no immediate need, I wanted to run a nozzle check print, and then print a photo for a show coming up early next month (Moon Over the Mission Mountains at Sunrise", shown below). We got the room organized and cleaned up enough so I could do that today.

Humidity is a little higher than normal for the room, currently about 46%. We've had some recent snow and a little rain, but I suspect the increased moisture is simply the drying out of the sheet rock mud, the texture layer, primer, and two coats of finish paint. Regardless of the source, the increased humidity seems so far to have had no affect on the printer. Today's nozzle check was perfect, as was the print. This is a fairly dark image, but there's nice detail in the mountains and in the foreground trees, which don't show up well in the small jpeg here. The full disc of the moon is also quite visible, which is what attracted me to the scene in the first place.

Although the studio is far from complete, with flooring, track lighting fixtures, storage cabinetry and shelving, and work-surfaces to be installed, the room is already a great improvement over the bare wood studs and insulation it's been these last few years. It's warmer, quieter, and more comfortable. I'm back to work!

Up next is a series of 12 painting repros too shoot. For the 7900, this means I'll be making test prints, but doing little in the way of "fine art" printing, or printing of my own work. With a little luck, I'll find time to get out shooting. The snowy owls are still here in town, and I've been going up to that location several times a week. You can see what I've posted so far in the Snowy Owl gallery on my site. I've quite a few more to post, but to be honest, I'm itching to do some scenics, in particular some "grand landscapes" from locations I've scouted while visiting the owls.

  --Jay

New Article on lumen-perfectus.com

A quick follow-up to my Moving Day posting: I've written a short article for my Web site about the construction start-up for my print studio. Some of that is a rehash of the 21 March posting, but there's more detail and some photos.

  --Jay

Epson Rebate, Someday?

When I purchased my 7900 late last year, Epson offered, as a "rebate", a free roll of paper. I think there were a couple of choices; in any case, I completed the necessary form and checked the box for a 24 inch roll of Exhibition Fibre paper. The form said to allow six to eight weeks from the submission date for delivery of the paper.

As often happens, I'd forgotten about this until recently, when I decided to check the status of the long over-due roll of paper. This can be done by phone or via the Web, so I had a look site listed on the form. After entering the required information, I saw this:

By my reckoning, eight weeks from 11 November, 2011, is 13 January, 2012, give or take a day, so my roll of EEF is a little late—nearly 12 weeks late. A little poking around on various on-line forums shows Epson has developed a reputation for not honoring their rebates. There's also indication some people do receive the expected freebie, but often quite late.

Perhaps I'll call the number provided on the rebate submission form, but I suspect that's just an automated system that will eventually explain that my rebate is "In Process" and can be expected six to eight weeks after the submission date.

  --Jay