Uneven Printing/Poor Resolution; Smudged Or Marred Printout (Front); Smudged Or Marred Printout (Reverse Side); White Or Black Banding - Epson Stylus Pro 9000 Service Manual

EPSON Stylus Pro 9000

UNEVEN PRINTING/POOR RESOLUTION

If printout quality suffers from unevenness, poor quality, or similar problems,
check the following.
1. Perform platen gap adjustment
Using the control-panel setting or the diagnostic-program function, check
the platen gap (bi-directional printing position as well as PG adjustment).
2. If this error occurs only when the user prints on custom or thick paper, (Use
the control panel paper thickness setting to correct the paper size and the
print position (depending on the paper-thickness setting, the location
where the ink strikes the paper may change))
3. If after following the above steps the printout quality has not improved,
verify the following.
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Head angle adjustment
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Head height adjustment
When using the "Adj.B (or C) Head Skew" as well as
the "Adj:PG Check Height" functions, always perform
the Gap Adjustment or Bi-directional Position
Adjustment operation.

SMUDGED OR MARRED PRINTOUT (FRONT)

The front, or top, side of the paper can become smudged or marred if it rubs
against the printhead surface. If this happens, verify the following.
1. If the smudged area is just around the front or rear edge of roll paper, make
sure the margins (top and bottom) are set to 15mm on the control panel.
(When printing high-duty print jobs with the top and bottom margins set to
3mm, the high volume of ink can cause the paper to warp and rub against
the printhead surface.)
2. If this problem recurs, check the Cap Assembly retention spring. If this
spring is broken or comes off its hook, the Cap Assembly cannot wipe ink
off the printhead surface, and that ink will smudge the printout. Fix or
replace this spring.
Troubleshooting

SMUDGED OR MARRED PRINTOUT (REVERSE SIDE)

The reverse side of the paper can become smudged or marred if there is ink on
the printer parts. Make sure there is no ink on the following parts, and if there is
ink, wipe off the affected parts.
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If the problem is not caused by the above, most likely the paper jammed in the
printer or curled up after being ejected.

WHITE OR BLACK BANDING

If white or black banding (lines across the page) appear on your printout, try the
following.
1. Cleaning
2. If multiple cleaning cycles don't clear the banding problem, try adjusting the
heads as described below.
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Troubleshooting Based on Your Printout
Sub-platen surface
Grid roller surface
Lower Paper Guide surface
Head slant adjustment (B head/C head)
If all the nozzles in the B head and C head are not perfectly lined up,
the raster lines will overlap. The unprinted area between one line and
the next line (where a nozzle was supposed to fire but missed) is
banding.
Head height adjustment (B head/C head)
Bi-directional print position adjustment
Gap adjustment opening
Revision B
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