User manual EPSON STYLUS C86

[. . . ] Use paper only under these conditions: Temperature: 59 to 77 °F (15 to 25 °C) Humidity: 40 to 60% RH Since the quality of any particular brand or type of paper may be changed by the manufacturer at any time, Epson cannot guarantee the quality of any non-Epson brand or type of paper. Always test a sample of paper stock before purchasing large quantities or printing large jobs. Load envelopes flap edge left with the flap side down. Printable Area A B-L B-R Normal C Envelope Borderless* A B-L B-R C D * The minimum top margin is 0. 12" (3. 0 mm). The minimum bottom margin is 0. 78" (20 mm) for envelopes When printing with the borderless feature, print quality may decline in the expanded area. [. . . ] For best results, always use Epson papers. 6 - Epson Stylus C86 3/04 Epson Stylus C86 As with traditional photos, Epson recommends proper care that will minimize color changes and lengthen display life: Frame prints under glass or a protective plastic sleeve to protect them from atmospheric contaminants like humidity, smoke, and high levels of ozone. For proper storage, keep your prints in a photo album or plastic photo storage box in acid-free, archival sleeves commonly available from most camera stores. Always keep unused paper in the original package. Caution: When you don't turn on your printer for a long time, print quality can decline, so turn it on and print a few pages at least once a month to maintain good print quality. Running the Head Cleaning Utility 1. Make sure the printer is turned on but not printing, and the red ink light is off. (If the ink light is flashing or on, you need to replace a cartridge. ) 2. Windows: Right-click the printer icon on your taskbar (in the lower right corner of your screen). Select Head Cleaning. Note: If you don't see the icon, go to your printer properties window, click the Maintenance tab, then select Head Cleaning. Loading Paper Load paper as shown below. Insert paper against the right edge Macintosh OS X: Open the Applications folder and double-click Epson Printer Utility. Select Stylus C86 in the printer list, click OK, and select Head Cleaning. You see a screen like the following: Slide the left edge guide against the paper Always load the short edge first, even for printing landscapeoriented photos. Make sure the paper is under the tabs on the left and right edge guides. The printer makes noise and the green power light flashes. Caution: Never turn off the printer while the green power light is flashing, unless the printer hasn't moved or made noise for more than 5 minutes. Cleaning the Print Head If your printouts are unexpectedly light, or dots or lines are missing, you may need to clean the print head. This section explains how to clean the print head using the Head Cleaning utility. You can also clean the print head by holding down the button on the printer for three seconds. When the green power light stops flashing, make sure paper is loaded in the printer, then do the following: Windows: Click Print nozzle check pattern. The nozzle check pattern prints (see "Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern" on the following page for details). 3/04 Epson Stylus C86 - 7 Epson Stylus C86 5. If the nozzle check pattern has no gaps or white lines, click Finish. 4. Follow the instructions on the screen to print a black vertical alignment test page. You see a screen like this: If the pattern has white lines, click Clean to clean the print head again. You can also turn the printer off and wait overnight--this allows any dried ink to soften--and then try cleaning the print head again. Examining the Nozzle Check Pattern Examine the nozzle check pattern you printed. Each staggered line should be solid, with no gaps, as shown. If your printout looks okay, you're done. If you see any gaps (as shown below), clean the print head again. 5. For each set, if you see a pattern with no visible vertical lines, enter its number in the corresponding box on the screen and click Next. If you can't find a pattern without any vertical lines, select the best pattern. [. . . ] Caution: To avoid damaging the printer, never move the print head by hand. 5. Open the cartridge cover. Caution: Be sure to remove the tape and reinstall the ink cartridges immediately after installing the printer in its new location. 10. Close the printer cover, push in the output tray extension, then close the output tray. Repack the printer and its attachments in the original box using the protective materials that came with them. [. . . ]