Epson 4900 Paper Path: Mechanical Registration

[John Caldwell]

This impressed me quite a bit. I printed a second nozzle check after cleaning two ink channels. As I often do, I reused the same sheet I'd used minutes earlier to print the very nozzle check that dictated the need to the cleaning. What I failed to do was reorient the sheet; as a result the 2nd nozzle pattern was printed "overtop" of the first pattern - same sheet of paper, same side, same place on the page. Amazed by the precision of the overlap, I printed a 3rd pattern on top of the first two patterns, just for fun. This is crappy, flimsy photocopy paper, fed from the 4900 cassette tray. The registration of the patterns speaks to a level of paper handling precision that I'd have never predicted. This is the result:

Cheers,

John-

[Tom Montgomery]

Impressive. Another reason to love my 4900!

Now, why didn't _I_ think of putting inexpensive paper into the (usually empty) tray, to use for nozzle checks?

[Mike Guilbault]

Impressive. Another reason to love my 4900!

Now, why didn't _I_ think of putting inexpensive paper into the (usually empty) tray, to use for nozzle checks?

Duoh!  Didn't think of that either!  Nice to know.

[darlingm]

Well that's a bit better than my 9900 does!  I get a close overlap, when I forget to position, but it's not that!

I use the cheapest 8.5x11 xerox paper I can find.

For the 9900, I tell it I'm going to load a sheet.  If there's a previous nozzle check, once it loads, I hit the media type button and change it over to a roll.  I hit the down arrow a few times to advance it past that.  I hit the media type button and change it back to a sheet, and nozzle test.  I get five nozzle checks per side, so ten per sheet. 

[bobjoek]

This prompted me to try printing multiple nozzle check patterns using copier paper on my Epson Pro 4000. The results were a mismatch of about 1/32".  On a whim I tried four multiple nozzle checks on my Epson R3000.  The result was a perfect match.  Perhaps the newer Epsons are better at precise paper feeding.

Bob