Epson R1800 and AccuRip - Film feeding problem

[jsheridan]

So I have a problem with my printer and the settings.

Using an R1800 with roll media and Accurip.

I can't seem to stop it from advancing stupid amounts of film after each seperation prints. If I set a page of 13" wide by 10" tall and print a 4 color job... theirs usually 8-10" of blank film advanced between each print before the printer starts the next color.

I've put every setting imaginable in the stock print driver and the Accurip driver and nothing will stop the film feeding. Every so often it just works the correct way with no advance and it prints the dashed cut lines.

I had the idea to put all seps on one long sheet one day.. all that did was advance 4' of film when it finished printing.. 

To work around, I print a color and wait till my reg marks print, then when it goes to advance to the next print, I grab the roll and stop it from advancing then let go when It stops advancing and let the next color print with .5 to 1" between images.

I've looked at the accu knowledgebase and even dug up the 1800 manual.. I hope I'm just missing something.

Any ideas?
Thanks!!

[ZooCity]

I've found all Epsons to purposefully waste epic amounts of media.  It's a pretty shameful thing and also silly that they would think this would go unnoticed by professionals losing large amounts of media daily.

Are you using Accurip's "custom" page size setting in the print dialog?  This works really well for fending off the waste with our 4800 and 1400.

Note: you can't use this "custom" setting out of PS but, at this point, we all need to be either learning to output exclusively from AI or ID or dedicating ourselves to using legacy versions of PS. 

I believe there is some setting that dictates how much it feeds before and after an image area. 

[blue moon]

when I used the AR I had to feed a blank sheet after every page it printed. Never did figure out what the issue was. I remember Preston was having a similar problem too . . .

pierre

[Evo]

What app are you printing from?

In CorelDraw for example, you need to set the overall document page size in Layout > Page Setup to the minimum of what the design requires. This page size is for the overall document, and is independent of the media page size set in the printer driver or AR.

(actually I ignore the printer driver settings all together and just set it from AR)

So say I have an image that is 6"x6". I would set the page size in Layout > Page Setup to something like 6.5"x6.5"

Then I might set the media size in AR to be 8" high by whatever the roll width is.


AR will automatically calculate the nUP and print how ever many of the seps it can fir on the roll width from there.


What it sounds like is your document page size is wider or taller than the media setting, so it's over compensating? (maybe?)

[jsheridan]

Everything prints from Illustrator.

[Evo]

Everything prints from Illustrator.

I know the settings are similar. (I abandoned Illy a long time ago...) The document page size needs to be the same or smaller than the selected media size in AR.

[jsheridan]

Looks like I got a grip in this.. turns out I have to use both print settings windows.

The AR 1800 window would default to letter size each time. Print a 5" tall from AI and AR would give you an 11" piece of film plus the 2" for getting it out of the print zone.

1st I set the page and all sep settings in the AI window.. then click setup in the lower left and it takes you to the AR 1800 print settings, adjust page size via the advanced tab and keep hitting OK or print till you get back to AI print window and hit print.. vaa laa! now the standard feed between prints and no wasted film.

[blue moon]

Looks like I got a grip in this.. turns out I have to use both print settings windows.

The AR 1800 window would default to letter size each time. Print a 5" tall from AI and AR would give you an 11" piece of film plus the 2" for getting it out of the print zone.

1st I set the page and all sep settings in the AI window.. then click setup in the lower left and it takes you to the AR 1800 print settings, adjust page size via the advanced tab and keep hitting OK or print till you get back to AI print window and hit print.. vaa laa! now the standard feed between prints and no wasted film.

that did not work for me from what I can remember . . . AR was feeding extra sheet of film even on the test print from within the RIP.

try this:
-open up you device window and select printing preferences for that printer. Set it to the size you need so it is preset for correct format. This way you will not have to go into the setting every time through the print dialog box.

pierre

[jsheridan]

that did not work for me from what I can remember . . . AR was feeding extra sheet of film even on the test print from within the RIP.

Were you using roll film or sheets.. I've had big problems trying to use sheets in mine, they always miss feed.

[blue moon]

sheets.

it's all a moot point now, I switched to Film Maker and think it is a much better product.

pierre

[Evo]

Looks like I got a grip in this.. turns out I have to use both print settings windows.

The AR 1800 window would default to letter size each time. Print a 5" tall from AI and AR would give you an 11" piece of film plus the 2" for getting it out of the print zone.

1st I set the page and all sep settings in the AI window.. then click setup in the lower left and it takes you to the AR 1800 print settings, adjust page size via the advanced tab and keep hitting OK or print till you get back to AI print window and hit print.. vaa laa! now the standard feed between prints and no wasted film.

Ok that's basically what I was describing.

Well I was trying to anyway... 

You first set up the given app's document page settings, (AI or CD) then set the media size in Accurip to be that same size or slightly larger. Leave the stock printer driver page settings alone completely, as AR will override it.