Black Printhead: Decap Problem

Description of problem

When the Black Printhead does not fire any ink during one swath, but only prints at the end of the swath, a thin vertical line (a defect) can be seen:

Some information to take into consideration:

The part of the thin line which is before the black box is of much better quality compared to the part which has not been printed for at least the last 37.5 inches (95.3 cm).

The longer the Black Printhead is not printing, the more visible the defect will be.

The defect is not seen with thicker lines.

If the Black Printhead is not printing at the beginning of the print (e.g. no black frame around the print), the defect can be worse. This specific defect is called "Inter Swath Decap".

When the Black Printhead is printing at the beginning of the swath (e.g. when there is a black frame around the print), the specific decap defect is called "Intra Swath Decap".

Corrective Action

1. Check that the Printer has the latest Firmware version. If not, update the Firmware to the latest version.

2. Try rotating the print by 90, 180 or 270 degrees.

3. Since this problem is only seen when printing thin lines, try to avoid printing thin lines whenever possible.

4. To decrease the probability of having the "Inter Swath Decap" issue, a black frame around the print should be added.

5. Switch to the Best print quality setting and turn Off the "Maximum Detail" option in the Driver.