Epson 3800 - ink smear trails on back of paper and edge

Hi,

I'm having some trouble with dark ink smears on the trailing edge of prints and

on the reverse side of the printed sheet with the Epson 3800 Pro using

watercolor papers. It means I can't make a book of prints because the reverse

side of prints will be marked with ink, and that I must trim the prints after

printing to clean up the edge.

My suspicion is that ink expended during automatic printer maintenance

procedures, is building up somewhere (the maintenance tray?) and comes into

contact with the paper as it is being printed. Maintenance cartridge life is at

43% but the printer has been exhibiting this problem since I bought it.

Anyone know what this is about and how to avoid it?

Thanks,

Douglas

I just had some similar problems with my 4800, went to Epson website, printers, select your

printer and go to frequently asked questions and you may find the answer. I had to clean the

wiper blade etc. They will tell you how to do it. if you have more than that problem, email

or call Epson. should be able to fix it.

The ink smears are common on all Epson printers and is caused by ink collecting on the bottom of the cartridge carridge. This happens after several head cleaning in suscession when the absorbent foam pads and park pad being wet and not collecting the ink from the bottom of the carridge. On my R2400 I do the following and the R3800 and other models should be simular:<br>

Power on if printer is off and press the ink button when the startup routine finishes.<br>

When the ink carridge moves to the cartridge load position unplug the power cord.<br>

Turn the power switch off if the manual locking position type switch.<br>

The ink carridge will now move freely across the paper path opening. Push the ink carridge to the left.<br>

Fold a paper towel into a squaare or rectangular blotter pad about 2 to 3 inches wide. Put on rubber cleaning gloves to protect your fingers.<br>

Refering to the top of the attached picture blot the park pad with the paper towel being careful not to bend the wire frame on top of the foam park pad. The R2400's will move downward 3/8 to 1/2 inch so just keep the pressure even but firm. Turn the towel several times and blot until the towel comes off near clean.<br>

The entire paper path is covered by foam padding that wiks off excess ink from the bottom of the ink carridge and it too becomes wet and saturated. Blot the foam pad in the paper path area with the paper towel until it is dry. Move the ink carridge to the right and blot the lfet side of the printer.<br>

A single layer of paper towel can be placed over the paper path foam and the ink cartridge passed over it to clean the bottom of the ink carridge. You may have to press down on the lead edge of the paper towel to get it to go under the ink carridge. This step is optional.<br>

Once the blotting of excess ink in finished push the ink carridge to the extreme right and verrify that the power switch is in the OFF position.<br>Plug the printer in then turn it on, it will reset itself and be ready to print as normal at the end of the startup rountine. <br>The other option is to allow the printer to sit for 12 to 24 hours and wait for the ink pads to dry out.<div></div>