Epson R800 & Digital Negatives

[menglert]

Today I tried to start running some tests (PDN) with my Epson R800 to make some digital negatives for silver gelatin.

I printed the "Printer Evaluation Palette", took a quick look after, then let it dry overnight. Out of curiosity the next day, I did a contact print with it to see if I could pick up any inconsistencies, and also see if any other colors had enough density. Well I noticed black (all colors) was good, but the blue looked even better. Looking closely at the print I then noticed pizza wheels. They only showed up in the more dense colors, black and blue.

I have made digital negatives before and did some testing, but never saw this problem before on Pictorico White Film. With a past Epson I tried removing all the pizza wheels, and all was well for a short time, then some time in the future prints started scratching when being fed through (I had to junk the printer).

Settings & Gear:
Epson R800
Premium Glossy (paper setting)
Pictorico White Film (media)
RPM (print quality)
No color management or ICM
Gloss Opt (full)
High Speed Print (off)

I know most people use either an Epson 2200 or the newer R2400, but I don't have the money for either of these printers at the moment. So I would appreciate any suggestions to possibly solve these issues.

[Bromo33333]

[...] Looking closely at the print I then noticed pizza wheels. They only showed up in the more dense colors, black and blue. [...]

What is a "Pizza Wheel?" :confused:

[menglert]

If you look inside your printer you will see some rollers, and also some other wheels with what looks like tiny pins coming out of them. As the paper is fed through the printer these pins also roll over the print. So on some papers these pins will leave marks on the pigment that hasn't dried completely yet. These marks have been called "pizza wheels."

I have never noticed these "pizza wheels" on epson media, but have seen it on Pictorico OHP, and now I see it in dark areas on Pictorico White Film with the Epson R800.

Here is a LINK with some pictures to explain.

[philldresser]

I am very interested in this as I am contemplating purchasing a R800 purely for digi-negs.

I look forward to others comments here and any further developments/testing that you do

Phill

[BillSchwab]

MIS has a solution for pizza wheel marks HERE.

B.

[menglert]

I also posted this question on the Yahoo group for PDN, and recieved some answers. In addition, Epson emailed me back and said they do not plan on updating the driver with features (extended print head pass times) that could fix this problem.

While I can remove the pizza wheels in my R800 (I've done it before), I fear it will cause future problems (my last R800 started scratching prints some time after). Also, the paper is not held down, and the last 1-2 inches are smeared because of this. Mark offered the suggestion that you could tape another piece of paper to it so it will keep it flat through the printing process.

Right now I'm fairly angry with Epson, due to their lack of tech support, and also how their software manages inks.

Aside from that, I might take a look at the new HP pigment printer. Someone else posted success with an Epson R220 I think. Epson came out with a few new printers, R260 with 1.5 pic, but I don't think anyone has tested it for digital negatives.

I'll have to give this some more thought, and see if I should try modifying (removing pizza wheels) or look for a new printer.

Regards,
Martin