imagePROGRAF PRO-1100 banding / horizontal lines in first inch of print

[themagiceight]

Hi, I just bought the Pro-1100 yesterday and I'm printing to MOAB Lasal 235 5x7 paper using the correct MOAB profile. I notice in the first inch or so of printing, I get horizontal lines / banding (shown below). This is consistent across different images, and I've tried change the following:

• print head height at standard, med-high, and high
• unidirectional printing on / off
• abrasion prevention on / off
• vacuum on / off
• borderless and with margins
• Re-alignment of the print head

I'm going to try other paper tomorrow, but at this point this seems like a hardware issue? Anything else I should try?

Have to admit, I'm pretty frustrated either way, given that this printer is brand new, I've wasted quite a bit of paper and ink troubleshooting, and some ink cartridges are already at 30%.

[themagiceight]

Ran one more test while I wait for the RMA, and it makes the lines a lot more faint, though doesn't seem to eliminate it 100%. Changing the "Pause between scans" setting to 5 seconds causes the print time to be substantially longer, but it's the only thing I've found to make a difference with the banding.

Given how much longer it takes to print, I don't think this is a great solution. But perhaps it can help folks in the future if they're in a time crunch or out of warranty.

[MichalMazur]

Hello,

I decided to share my story, because I was struggling with the same problem (or even worse).

I was having white horizontal lines that looked like scratches along entire photo.

I was for sure thinking that the print head is “scratching” the surface.

1. I did Nozzle Check and everything looked fine (key is “looked”)
2. I ran all possible combinations of settings for print head:

• Alignment: auto and manual
• Position: from low to high
• Prevent paper abrasion
• Feed adjustment
• God knows what else…

There were 2 important aspects that I didn’t know that looked wrong…

The nozzle check is described for plain paper and on that paper everything looked almost perfect.
Almost, because if you don’t know exactly what to look for or how this should really be, then nothing “outstanding” was present.

I printed nozzle check on Fine Art paper, which I believe was Ilford FA Smooth Pearl.

All the patterns looked perfect except… The black (actually these are not all black) bars next to patterns, which are not highlighted in manual.

I noticed the same white lines I saw in every picture…

Also CO pattern got very very light lines, which do not look “wrong” if you don’t know how it should look like…

The next thing was manual head alignment.

I read somewhere to buy 10x loupe and I did.

So I microscoped patterns and the D01 and D13 and D19 (greys) looked different than all others.

All others indeed had perfect straight lines somewhere, while those 3 never had lines - it was more like deformed (more or less) worms but never “crisp” lines.

Additionally the white lines were more prominent when the head was “higher” than “lower” and this got me thinking that this cannot be print head height…

I did 3 times print head clean (the normal one)

Under 10x loupe:

• I have perfect lines on manual alignment across all patterns incl. D01, D13, D19
• And the Nozzle Check on Fine Art paper looks perfect.

Printed already like 20-30 A4s on different papers and everything looks perfect.

I hope this might help someone.

[MichalMazur]

Just wanted to give update that unfortunately the good results were either temporary or related to some specific cases.

the problem continued to happen. Canon sent replacement but new unit has exactly the same problems in exact same places. It’s so devastating

[jeffophotos]

Any update with your issue. I'm having a similar problem that seems to only occur on a portion of the image and when printing from Lightroom, appears toward the end of the feed. It seems to be feed related but then the lines don't go across the entire image. I'm about to call Canon but wanted to check with you first.

[MichalMazur]

Hello,

I was able to resolve my issues, however I still think either the software should be optimized or there should be clearer instructions or both.
Here is my post from dpreview:
"I know that many of you tried everything, I thought I tried everything as well but point nr 2 was really something I didn't want to try, since "official" recommendation was different media type (I thought they know better).

3 Standard things:
- Unidirectional
- Print head alignment
- Feed adjustment
These help with quality when prints are without issues.

3 non-standard things from my side:
1) Color management
t's easy to corrupt/mess color management and for whatever reason this printer has a problem with that.
So from very start from RAW to print I maintain AdobeRGB:
2) Media type
My main paper of choice is Fotospeed Natural Smooth 310.
The recommendation on their site is to use Matt Photo Paper or Heavy Weight Art.
On this media type I experienced banding. I had a look on the spec:
Heavyweight Fine Art Paper (Approximately 0.1mm to less than 0.3mm)
however the paper is around 0.5mm thick.
I changed to: Extra Heavyweight Fine Art Paper (Approximately 0.3mm to less than 0.6mm) and the banding was gone.
3) Nozzle clean
Sometimes I experienced severe banding or color shifts but simple nozzle clean solved the problem

Right now I printed a lot between A4 and A2 even with 5mm margins on thick mat paper and all the prints are literally perfect.
As mentioned I also experienced banding on this printer but was able to solve with above points."

There is one more thing I noticed with some particular papers - black smudges at the end and only at the edges of the print. However this is related to some papers where they absorb a lot of ink and tend to "curl" at lift just the edges at the end, since it's weakest point of a sheet of paper and also transportation mechanism.
However if you straighten or even curl the opposite way you can print without this problem.
You can also lift print head but this will reduce print quality e.g. sharpness.

[ChrisJordan]

Hi, I'm having the identical problem with my Pro-1100, tried every possible combination of adjustments, calibrations, etc., to no avail. Can you tell me who you talked to at Canon? They don't appear to be reading this forum so I don't know how to contact them. Many thanks. 

[jeffophotos]

I did call them. They had me run through all the typical troubleshooting. I learned that I installed the driver using the default macOS version the website chose, but I had to go back and pick the actual version of macOS I was using. The support rep claimed there were different versions depending on your OD. The website auto selected Catalina and I was running Tahoe. All of my prints with issues were printed on Canon’s pro luster paper. The rep then asked me to print on something else, thicker, which I did and didn’t have any issues for the four prints I made (not Canon paper). I haven’t gone back to try the pro luster paper again so not sure if that resolved the issue or not. I will call back to continue the support if the issue still exists. 

[ChrisJordan]

Hi Jeff, many thanks for responding. I just did the full re-install, not only the driver but all the other software too. Same problem persists. Banding only in the last inch or so of the print. Happens with every kind of paper, and also ever size of paper. It's driving me nuts and costing me lots of ink and paper. Any idea how to contact Canon? They don't seem to be monitoring this forum, strangely enough...

[jeffophotos]

1-800-OK CANON

[MichalMazur]

Hello,

I was able to resolve my issues, however I still think either the software should be optimized or there should be clearer instructions or both.
Here is my post from dpreview:
"I know that many of you tried everything, I thought I tried everything as well but point nr 2 was really something I didn't want to try, since "official" recommendation was different media type (I thought they know better).

3 Standard things:
- Unidirectional
- Print head alignment
- Feed adjustment
These help with quality when prints are without issues.

3 non-standard things from my side:
1) Color management
t's easy to corrupt/mess color management and for whatever reason this printer has a problem with that.
So from very start from RAW to print I maintain AdobeRGB:
2) Media type
My main paper of choice is Fotospeed Natural Smooth 310.
The recommendation on their site is to use Matt Photo Paper or Heavy Weight Art.
On this media type I experienced banding. I had a look on the spec:
Heavyweight Fine Art Paper (Approximately 0.1mm to less than 0.3mm)
however the paper is around 0.5mm thick.
I changed to: Extra Heavyweight Fine Art Paper (Approximately 0.3mm to less than 0.6mm) and the banding was gone.
3) Nozzle clean
Sometimes I experienced severe banding or color shifts but simple nozzle clean solved the problem

Right now I printed a lot between A4 and A2 even with 5mm margins on thick mat paper and all the prints are literally perfect.
As mentioned I also experienced banding on this printer but was able to solve with above points."

There is one more thing I noticed with some particular papers - black smudges at the end and only at the edges of the print. However this is related to some papers where they absorb a lot of ink and tend to "curl" at lift just the edges at the end, since it's weakest point of a sheet of paper and also transportation mechanism.
However if you straighten or even curl the opposite way you can print without this problem.
You can also lift print head but this will reduce print quality e.g. sharpness.

PS if you are on a Mac make sure you do NOT install AirPrint but the actual canon driver - there is plenty info on google or YouTube