Durst Printo scratching prints

SteD · Sep 5, 2018

Has anyone who uses a Durst Printo experienced scratching on the emulsion? Have cleaned it thoroughly but it still scratches a the same point on the print. Two or three inches long at the 'end' of the print. It's over to one side so I can make clean prints up to 12x8 but no larger. Have looked and looked but can't figure it out.

btaylor · Sep 5, 2018

Yes, I have. I had a couple of issues: one was the paper itself. I bought the house brand RA4 paper from Freestyle and there were some scratches in the some sheets, all in the same area which fooled me. Thought it was the Printo, but another batch of paper proved that wrong. Second, my Printo was completely gummed up with dried chemistry when I got it. After complete disassembly, getting the rollers back in is tough!, I still got a few scratches with perfect Fuji paper. I think I ran a solution of toilet bowl cleaner in the baths and just ran ruined paper through it again and again until the scratches stopped. It’s a great system when it works!

SteD · Sep 5, 2018

When you say complete disassembly do you mean taking every roller off the rack/s? Haven't gone that far yet, maybe I need to. After cleaning with photo finish a few times and printing I was still getting the scratches. I did run some scrap paper through it with the lids off just to try and isolate the problem and it did not scratch. Did it a few times to make sure it wasn't fluke but the paper came out scratch free. Puzzling thing is that the lids are immaculate, no dirt no damage.

AgX · Sep 5, 2018

Running only one module at a time would depict the faulty one.

Roger2000 · Sep 6, 2018

When the paper comes out of the last module, you’ll be able to see a few notches coming down from the top of the aperture. Sometimes these can scratch the paper if it’s coming out emulsion side up.

The trick is to watch for the paper coming out, and then carefully hold it down so that it misses the notches as it comes out.

Hope that helps.

btaylor · Sep 7, 2018

Yes I did completely disassemble the roller assemblies— somewhat difficult to re-assemble. But if you don’t see scratches when running with the lids off there is something else going on. As suggested above, isolate the units try it. Also, concerning the exit notches, you might try holding it down or put some tape over them to experiment.

SteD · Sep 7, 2018

Roger2000 said:
When the paper comes out of the last module, you’ll be able to see a few notches coming down from the top of the aperture. Sometimes these can scratch the paper if it’s coming out emulsion side up.

The trick is to watch for the paper coming out, and then carefully hold it down so that it misses the notches as it comes out.

Hope that helps.

I did suspect the notches so I watched the paper exiting closely but the scratch is not in line which any of them.

SteD · Sep 7, 2018

Roger2000 said:
Sometimes these can scratch the paper if it’s coming out emulsion side up.

Can the paper be put in emulsion down?

Durst Printo scratching prints

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