Epson 9800 printing on board - bad results

[russelltatedotocm]

Bad print quality on 1.5 mm stock - EPSON Stylus 9800 / MacOS10.6.7
Hi guys
I am new to the forums and new to large format printing!
I am still getting to grips with a 2nd hand Epson 9800 large format printer and all it's capabilities.
One thing that has me stumped though is printing on thick stock?
The machine is capable on printing on 1.5mm thick (0.0060") coated board

I seem to be getting very smearing blacks that are running and am not sure how to counter it?

What I have done so far is set the Epsons Platen to "widest "and also chosen Platen gap: to "Wider" on the paper configuration option when printing.

I figured seeting these to max would be the best option as 1.5mm is the thickest material the machine will take!

My print results are terrible, single flat tints are OK but full colour areas are over inked and smeary

The board I have is not ink jet coated and I was hoping to get passable results for small display jobs.

I wonder if there are any settings I can alter to get a better job?

Should I close down the platen gap or leave as is, or should I try another media setting (i'm using glossy photographic paper seeing as the ink seems to be sitting on the surface so much) There just seems to be so many options to choose from!
If Any body has experience on printing onto non ink jet coated thick media with decent results i'd love to hear from you!

Best Regards
Russell


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[color_matters]

Hello,
Printing on substrate that is not inkjet coated will give you such results, however try using plain paper setting and try to adjust the time for the printer to print the next line to give drying time on the inks.

If that doesn't work I found a link that I think would help you, its a pre-coat on your substrate it let's you even print on aluminum plates

Inkaid

 

[chevalier]

The substrate is not compatible with the inks. You'll need to purchase substrate with inkjet compatible coating.

 

[russelltatedotocm]

Thanks guys, I might follow up with Ink aid coating as suggested by color_matters