On Jan 8, 2004, at 3:21 AM, Cavendish Studios wrote:
We have recently started to see tiny faint white flecks on the
black backgrounds in our portraits.
Whilst this is slight and looks like dust, it is unacceptable
and the image has to be reprinted. The 'flecks' are not on the
image and invariably not on the reprints.
We link our PCs to the printer via a network cables and I wonder
whether this effect could be caused by noise on the Cat 5 cables
that we use? The cables are over long and do mingle with other
wires.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Jonathan Coleman
Cavendish Studios
Are you using a RIP or standard Epson drivers? If you are using
a RIP, just try the standard drivers to see if the results are the
same.
I agree that the network cables are not likely the problem. If
your network hub has a collision detection LED, watch it sometime
to see if you are getting a lot of hits when sending a job.
Collisions are resent, so the data is not lost, but maybe the
ethernet buffer of the printer is not handling the collisions
very well. However, network collisions are not as likely as the
other reason outlined below...
Has the printer been idle for any period of time just before you
get the spots on the prints, or does it happen more randomly in the
course of consistent printing? If the printer has been idle for
a couple of hours, do you run a test/calibration swatch first to
make sure all of the jets are printing?
Fingerprints and media defects can cause spots in prints. Any type
of oil on the blank paper media can prevent the dye/pigment from
absorbing for that spot. Make sure your operators keep the area
clean and are using dust free gloves while switching paper rolls.
Try a different brand of a similar paper to see if the results are
the same. Try a different finish: matte/satin/gloss. Although
switching finishes may be unacceptable for production, it may help
isolate the paper as the culprit.
===============================================================
GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
