Large Format Printer
EPSON Stylus Pro 7800
| MachineInfoBox EPSON Stylus Pro 7800 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Type: | Large Format Printer |
| Material: | Paper |
| Used with: | Seminar Laptop (Affinity Photo) |
| Location: | Seminar Area |
| Access Requirements: | Large Format Printer Introduction |
| Status: | In Commissioning |
| Manual: | Epson-Europe.com Installation Manuel
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| Tutors: | |
The EPSON Stylus Pro 7800 is a large format inkjet color printer. It uses pigmented inks to produce photo-quality printouts up to 60cm width.
Because of the pigmented inks the printer can not be used with certain media such as PVC.
This tool is not ready for use yet since not all commissioning steps have been completed. The process is also tracked on GitHub. Feel free to contribute to making it usable, any help is very welcome!
| Task | comment | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Name the tool: | - | Done |
| Take a picture | - | Done |
| Find the manual as PDF | needed for all machines - add a link to the InfoBox or comment where you could not find it | Done |
| Documentation | this page, status: in commissioning | Done |
| Print QR-Code | use the MachineQR Factory | pending |
| Introduction | - | Done |
| Security Check | to be done or witnessed by a manager | pending |
| Test | to be done or witnessed by a manager | pending |
| tool's name, owner and approx. value | provide to Johannes for inventorization | Done |
| Last step: make it available | physically and in the wiki - then delete this template | pending |
This printer is a professional machine, and has a lot more features (and things that can go wrong) than a consumer-type inkjet printer. This includes potential printer damage (especially when removing or changing paper stock or inks). Here are a few examples:
- the printer uses a suction-system to flatten the paper (the suction level, for example, may need to be adjusted for heavy and lightweight papers)
- a built-in camera is used for calibration purposes
- drying time is adjustable to make the print head pause for up to 10s after each pass (necessary for certain media)
- changing inks keeps the printer busy for about 10 minutes (and uses a lot of ink) (Do not remove, change or replace inks yourself).
Please read this wiki page, and ideally also the manual. (The manual's paper handling pages are a must-read, really: p56 for roll paper and p64 for cut sheets).
Familiarise yourself with the printer (and its options in the printer driver). Do not just "send a file" and then walk away, especially when using the printer for the first time.
For example: a wrong setting can easily waste several meters of roll paper. The wrong paper setting can waste valuable ink (without any added benefit to print quality).
If the print quality is not good enough: contact a manager or tutor. If the ink levels in the printer driver dialogue look below 25%: contact a manager. (Due to minimum order value, we need to order at least 2 inks, so if only one ink is low, also mention the 2nd lowest).
General Information
- At the moment, the printer is not connected to the network and can only be used via the attached USB Cable and with your own Mac or PC.
- In order to print, you first need to install the printer driver from the Epson downloads page: Windows 10 , Windows 11, MacOS 15. For detailed installation instructions, please see p43-49 in the English manual linked above.
- Linux is not supported.
- Downloads for older operating systems can be selected from the download page and go back as far back as Windows XP or MacOS 7.6
We're using third-party inks from easy-inks.de, which are considerably cheaper than the original Epson inks. Color accuracy is very good, but the ink-tank's vacuum-seal is not quite the same quality. If the printer hasn't been used for a prolonged period, it may be required to remove and re-insert some of the in-tanks. If this is the case, just follow the instructions on the printer's LCD display.
Visual "How to print" guide
Quick Reference PDF with Screenshots of Affinity Photo and printer driver settings. This does not replace the mandatory introduction with a tutor!
Attention --- Avoid Printer Damage
- Don't move the printer, especially not across several meters! Each ink-cartridge has a an ink-chip, and moving the printer across uneven floors can "rattle" and damage the connection between the ink chip and the printer's pin sensors.
- If the power light is flashing: do not turn off the printer, release the paper lever or open the front cover. This may damage the printer!
- Never(!) move the print head by hand. This may damage the printer!
- Do not move the cutting blade carriage. This may damage the printer!
- Turn off the cutter function if you're using: fine art paper, vinyl , matte board or any other heavyweight paper
- Do not change or replace inks. Contact a manager.
- also: do not remove/re-insert inks unnecessarily. This can wear out the seal and allow air into the ink system, and in the worst case scenario cause nozzle damage.
- Only use media suitable for pigment inks. (For example: do not use PVC-based vinyl). If the paper does not absorb the ink, it will cause the printed ink to spill inside the printer, which may cause damage to the printer.
- Thick paper (more than 0.5 mm for roll paper) can damage the built-in cutter.
- Always turn off the printer from the control panel. Do not pull the power plug until the printer has been turned off properly.
- Don't touch the ink supply port, or the green IC chip on the ink cartridge.
- Do not try to update the printer's firmware!
How to change or insert paper
- If the power light is flashing: do not release the paper lever or open the front cover. This may damage the printer!
- Please read the manual and its illustrations. The following page numbers refer to the EN language manual linked above:0
- remove roll paper: p62
- load roll paper: p58-61
- load sheet paper: p65
- load small cut sheet paper: p66
- load posterboard or any media thicker than 0.5 mm: p67-70
- Make sure you select the correct Media Type setting in the printer driver. Always select the correct paper source (roll or sheet) in the printer driver and the printer's control panel.
- The control panel displays one of three icon types: "sheet", "roll" or "roll + scissors" (if you want the printer to cut the paper automatically after your job is printed).
What paper can I use?
- the printer can use roll paper or cut sheets
- max paper width is 24 inches (60 cm)
- max paper thickness is 0.5 mm (roll paper) and 1.5 mm (cut sheets)
Printer driver options – Colour Management
The Epson Stylus Photo 7800 can produce stunning photo-quality prints. To get the best possible print results, familiarize yourself with the Epson Driver's paper configuration and color management options. See p80-97 (Mac OS) and p100-115 (Windows).
When using non-Epson media such as Hahnemühle fine art papers etc, you should install the paper manufacturer's ICC paper profiles to your computer. (Hahnemühle's papers, for example, come with a small instructions leaflet about this). The Epson Stylus Pro 7800 is the smaller version of the 9800, so color profiles are interchangeable. Both printers are way beyond their production date, but Hahnemühle, for example, still offers profiles in their ICC profiles archive page.
To install a printer/paper color profile:
- download the profile and if it's a ZIP file: unzip/extract it
- register the .icc or .icm file into Windows
- Option 1: Right-click the extracted ICC profile file and select Install Profile
- Option 2: Copy and paste the profile file directly into the Windows system directory path: C:\Windows\System32\spool\drivers\color
- Restart your software (Affinity Photo, Photoshop etc). A computer restart is usually not required.
- Configure your software's print dialogue box:
- set Color Handling to Performed by App (durch Programm erledigt) - this tells Affinity Photo to handle the colors instead of the printer driver
- set the Printer Profile (Druckerprofil) dropdown menu and select your paper profile (profile names can be confusing, so maybe take a note of its name)
- Set the Rendering Intent to Relative Colorimetric (recommended for most fine-art photo prints) or Perceptual
- to avoid "double profiling" (which ruins print colors), you must turn off color control inside the Epson print driver:
- Click Properties (Eigenschaften) inside the Affinity Print dialog box.
- Set the Paper Type and Print Quality to the settings specified in the Hahnemühle instruction PDF that came with your downloaded profile
- Set Mode (Modus) to user-defined (Benutzerdefiniert) and then "off" ("Aus, keine Farbkorrektur)
- If you plan to use a paper/profile regularly, you can save these configurations as a print preset. (Please give it a meaningful name, so it can't get confused with other settings)
Safety Precausions
- The printer weighs 60kg. Do not try to detach the printer from its stand!
- Do not open the printer or put your hand inside the printer during printing.
- Caution – the printer contains a sharp knife to cut roll-paper after printing.
- the lightbulb inside the printer contains mercury.
