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Ink stains on my prints using my new Prograf pro 4100

jmousalli
Apprentice

I have a Prograf Pro-4100 that drops ink on everything I print, right now I am printing on Hahnemuhle Cézanne Canvas Matte, base weight: 430 gsm and thickness: 20.5 mils. This started to happen after printing about seven 34 x 44" photographs, I cleaned the nozzles in the standard mode and printed the pattern to verify that everything is working well and nothing looks irregular. I cleaned the platen as indicated. the manual and I have found ink residue in the ink suction holes, which seems to be normal. However, I have just started using the printer. Please if you can help me to understand the cause of this problem. Thank you very much

1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

JoshSnider86
Contributor

Hi, How is the image quality otherwise? My first guess is the print head is too close to the paper. This could look like the ink is blotchy or uneven. If the print head is too close, there could be some contact with a corner of the print head carriage which would leave an unexpected stain on the print side of your paper. I would reach out to Canon or Hahnemuhle to see if they have a recommended print settings for that paper. Shades of Paper, a supplier of both Hahnemuhle and Canon has been a really valuable resource for this type of troubleshooting for me. I use a similar canvas and my setting is;
Media Type > Fine Art Papers > Canon Artistic Matte Canvas

The ink on the platen and in the ink suction holes is normal but does require cleaning every so often. This comes from borderless printing. That ink would generally get on the back of your prints. It can be a pest if you're stacking your prints together and don't realize. Since it's a thicker pool of ink it doesn't dry as fast as the thin layer of printed ink. This will result in your stack of prints having random smudges of ink which is inadvertently transferred from the back of the paper that was on top.

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2 REPLIES 2

JoshSnider86
Contributor

Hi, How is the image quality otherwise? My first guess is the print head is too close to the paper. This could look like the ink is blotchy or uneven. If the print head is too close, there could be some contact with a corner of the print head carriage which would leave an unexpected stain on the print side of your paper. I would reach out to Canon or Hahnemuhle to see if they have a recommended print settings for that paper. Shades of Paper, a supplier of both Hahnemuhle and Canon has been a really valuable resource for this type of troubleshooting for me. I use a similar canvas and my setting is;
Media Type > Fine Art Papers > Canon Artistic Matte Canvas

The ink on the platen and in the ink suction holes is normal but does require cleaning every so often. This comes from borderless printing. That ink would generally get on the back of your prints. It can be a pest if you're stacking your prints together and don't realize. Since it's a thicker pool of ink it doesn't dry as fast as the thin layer of printed ink. This will result in your stack of prints having random smudges of ink which is inadvertently transferred from the back of the paper that was on top.

Hello Josh, nice to greet you, I thank you and greatly appreciate that you responded to my question, everything is due to a learning curve that I must to go through, and any help I can receive is very timely. Thank you so much!

Holiday
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