EPSON 9800 1440 dpi issue

[tcaste]

We have a EPSON 9800 with Oris. We currently have the printer setup @ 720dpi & everything is working fine. We want to setup the printer for 1440dpi. When we print out a test page @ 720dpi everything looks fine. When we switch it to 1440dpi the files come out corrupted. (see attachment) Then we tried it @ 2880dpi the test page looks fine. It doesn't matter if you print a test page from Windows or Oris @ 1440dpi it's corrupt. Just looking for some input on what it might be.

Thanks

 

[indy jones]

You should try and use the Epson driver and print at 1440dpi, this will determine if it is the rip or printer that is causing the issue.

 

[tcaste]

Thanks for the reply! We did try the printer driver & we get the same results from 1440 dpi & 720 & 2880 work fine.

 

[indy jones]

When you used the print driver did you turn off color management. How old is your Epson?

 

[tcaste]

I'm not sure how to turn off color management. We also tried printing from a laptop without Oris on that computer & the 1440 still came out corrupt. 720 & 2880 still printed fine. Printer is a little over 2 yrs old.

 

[indy jones]

Are you printing a pdf file from Acrobat using the print driver?

 

[tcaste]

We tried a PDF through Acrobat but we also tried printing just the Windows Printer Test Page @ 1440 & that was corrupt &720 & 2880 were not.

 

[VladCanada]

Do you print as uniderect or bidirect output at all resolutions?
Is that overlap or gap issue?

 

[tcaste]

We print with biderect with Oris. But I'm not sure if you have that choice when using the printer driver.

 

[VladCanada]

That looks like you have one nozzle ON whole time of printing, but I dont know why at 1440 only.

 

[PrePress Guru]

I would try to run a nozzle test and head cleaning. Maybe even a power cleaning might be worth it.
You should also check on the firmware of the printer, i know epson released a few since the printer came out.
Then a paper feed calibration may also help.
Im not sure that any of these would be causing your problem but they are a good way to rule things out.
Good luck!

 

[pacart]

Do you have an option to print as a bitmap? Are you printing from Indesign?

This option is useful when printing documents that contain complex objects (such as objects with smooth shading or gradients) because it reduces the possibility of errors.

This option is available only if the printer driver identifies the printer as non-PostScript. If this option is selected for non-PostScript printers in Mac OS 10.3 or later, InDesign prints PostScript, which is then used by Mac OS and the driver to render the page images. In Windows, the high-end color and graphics features may not be converted appropriately if this option is not selected.

The output resolution may be limited by the printer driver’s resolution. To get the best quality output, set the non-PostScript printer driver resolution to be equal or greater than the output resolution specified in the InDesign Print dialog box.

This only works if you are printing from indesign. or have the option to print as bitmap from whatever other program you are using.

 

[Johu]

Just to make couple of things clear. Colortuner is ripping the data to bit map and color tuner uses the epson driver with setting taken from the driver. But your printout definately looks like there is a problem with the printer itself. I would try the internal tests of the printer just to see if they are okay. Although I think that they are not printed with 1440dpi.
Btw why are you switching from 720 to 1440?

 

[tcaste]

Thanks everyone for your help!
Johu I would have to agree with you that there is a problem with the printer if we tried printing the same file from 3 different computer with the same results. It's time to call a tech or look at purchasing a new one.
The reason we want to switch to 1440 is to have a little smother look in the proof.