Epson 1290, slight "striping". Remedy?

[timeUnit]

When I print on good quality glossy photo paper with my 1290 I see a slight striping in the midtones. It's not banding, and it seems to be something that the printer just "does", as it's been like that since I bought the machine, maybe five years ago.

I've gone through the nozzle check and the printer head alignment. And it seems OK. Still, I see some striping, even at 1440 dpi res.

It will most certainly not show in multi layer processes, like gum or gum over cyano. I'm only using the machine for diginegs.

But can it be fixed, if I want to do van dykes or palladium some time? Or should I find another printer?

Thanks,
Henning

[Katharine Thayer]

When I print on good quality glossy photo paper with my 1290 I see a slight striping in the midtones. It's not banding, and it seems to be something that the printer just "does", as it's been like that since I bought the machine, maybe five years ago.

I've gone through the nozzle check and the printer head alignment. And it seems OK. Still, I see some striping, even at 1440 dpi res.

It will most certainly not show in multi layer processes, like gum or gum over cyano. I'm only using the machine for diginegs.

But can it be fixed, if I want to do van dykes or palladium some time? Or should I find another printer?

Thanks,
Henning

I've sometimes found that changing the media selection fixes that. Choosing the media you're actually using isn't always the best selection, though intuitively it might seem so.
Katharine

[SusanV]

Henning, have you aligned the print heads using the same media you are
printing on? That's something I didn't know to do with my 1280, and it made
a difference once I did so.

There's a lot of information about this kind of thing... you might try searching
for "Epson 1280 banding", as that is the same machine as your 1290.
The 1280 is just the version sold in the U.S..

Good luck. My 1280 is making beautiful digi positives for gravure, using
Pictorico ohp.

Susan

[Tony Egan]

Hi - Any luck with solving this problem? I am really frustrated with my 1290 at the moment with banding problems with all media and settings. I figure it may be time to consign it to word processing and replace it?
Tony

[timeUnit]

I had no solution and opted for a new printer. The 1290 will be given to a friend.

Now I have a brand new (one week) B9180 that makes pizza wheel marks on glossy media, and HP will not replace it. Whoo-hoo.