EPSON B-500DN Technical Support Bulletin

Epson B-500DN

Technical Support Bulletin

Steps to Address

Banding

Last update 9/14/11

Abstract: Epson B-500DN / Steps to Prevent, Reduce or Eliminate Banding

Some potential causes:

1) Wrong resolution or color profile selected. Select appropriate profile for your paper type and
manufacturer, as results may vary. Recommended minimum resolution is 720 x 720.

2) ADSI recommends the use of ADSI approved media with the color profiles from ADSI for these
medias, which are available at http://www.allendatagraph.com/techsupport/axxisfirmware.html.

If using label substrates other than ADSI media, then an ICC color profile should be created for
that specific media to achieve maximum quality. In most cases using the proper ICC Color
Profile will eliminate or reduce banding. ADSI has a referral to a qualified ICC Color Profiling
service.

3) Inkjet heads need cleaning and / or alignment. Most commonly a few head cleanings will solve
quality issues.

First step: Checking Print Head Nozzles

Note you can skip the Nozzle Check and run some head cleanings first, then do Nozzle Check.

Refer to: Chapter 8 - Page 137 to 142 from Epson B-500DN manual – Maintaining Your Printer

If you find that your printouts are unexpectedly faint or have gaps in them, you may be able to identify
the problem by checking the print head nozzles. You can check the print head nozzles from your
computer by using the Nozzle Check Utility or from the printer by using the control panel or buttons.

Using the Nozzle Check Utility for Windows

Follow the steps below to use the Nozzle Check utility.

1. Make sure that no lights are indicating errors.

2. Make sure that letter/A4 size paper is loaded in the front paper cassette.

3. Click on Start > control panel > printer and faxes or printers > Right click on the b500dn printer

and select printing preferences (fig. 1).

fig.1

Then go to Maintenance tab and select Nozzle Check (fig. 2).

fig. 2

4. Follow the on-screen instructions.

Note: You may need to run multiple head cleanings on occasion
used the Epson printer to achieve maximum quality results. Always have a spare maintenance kit.

, especially if you have not recently