Maintaining and Transporting the Printer 135

Aligning the Print Head

If banding appears on your prints, or vertical lines are not straight, you need to align the print head. Although you can align the print head using the printer software, it’s best to do this from the control panel. This aligns the print head for all modes and resolutions.

If you haven’t already done so, make sure you’ve run a nozzle check, as described on page 132, before you begin. This ensures that the nozzles are clean and the print head alignment patterns will print correctly.

 

Follow these steps to align the print head using the control panel:

 

1.

Make sure the printer is turned on, then load roll paper that is at least

 

 

24 inches wide. For best results, use EPSON Doubleweight Matte paper

 

 

(this is the type of paper that came with your printer).

 

2.

Press the SelecType button on the control panel. You see PRINTER

 

 

SETUP.

 

3.

Press u until you see HEAD ALIGNMENT, then press r. You see

 

 

PAPER THKNS.

 

4.

Press r until *STD appears on the display. This is the correct thickness

 

 

setting for most EPSON papers.

Caution

5.

Press Enter.

When performing the BI-D adjustments, always do them in this order: UNI-D ALL, then BI-D BLACK, then BI-D ALL. Do not repeat the BI-D BLACK (K1) adjustment afterward.

6.Press the u or d button to select the desired alignment mode (UNI-D ALL, BI-D BLACK, or BI-D ALL), then press Enter to start printing the alignment patterns. After they print, see the appropriate section on the following pages, depending on the selected mode.

In general, you should perform all three types of alignments. If you plan to print only unidirectionally, you may only need to adjust UNI-D ALL. If you plan to print bidirectionally, perform the UNI-D ALL alignment first, then BI-D BLACK, then BI-D ALL.